The Library is closed today, beloved patrons, in honor of Veteran’s Day.  As we mentioned before, the origins of the holiday are rooted in the armistice that ended hostilities on the western front during the First World War, on November 11, 1918.

Generally speaking, the United States’ involvement in the First World War was quite an ambivalent one; it sold arms to both the Allied and Central Powers, even while it remained nominally neutral, and only sent soldiers in early 1918.  As a result, we don’t talk about the First World War nearly as frequently, or as in-depth as we do the Second World War, despite the fact that it was, perhaps, the most impactful event of the 20th century.

Any world map owes more to the First World War than, perhaps, to any event since.  As a result of the Treaty of Versailles, which ended the war in Europe, the nations of the Middle East, including Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia were created (badly–the mapmakers had never been to that area of the world, and had no idea about the real populations of the places they defined).  Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were established.  Germany was significantly reduced in size and industrial potential, which became a staple demand of the Nazi party in later years.  The Russian Revolution, which occurred in 1917 as a result of the extreme deprivations of the war, formed the Soviet Union; though the Cold War wouldn’t officially start for another 36 years, tensions between the Soviets and the United States were present even in 1918.

In somewhat lighter news, the spork–or, at least, it’s grandfather–was utilized by the American Army, after a model invented earlier in the century known as the “runcible spoon” after an Edward Lear poem.  Hoping to save on metal that could be used for munitions, the Army combined a spoon and fork with rivets for soldiers, giving rise to the most entertaining piece of flatware available.

The First World War is considered the first “literate” war, meaning that the vast majority of soldiers were able to read and write, and, as a result, there are a wealth of memoirs, letters, and novels available to help us learn about the War.  We’ve all heard about All Quiet on the Western Front and A Farewell to Arms, but did you know that J.R.R. Tolkien based The Lord of the Rings on his experiences as an ambulance driver during the First World War?

So this Veterans’ Day, here are five books about the First World War and it’s enormous legacy to help you understand why this day, above all other days, is one to be remembered:

The Greatest Day in History: Nicholas Best charts the events leading up to Armistice Day 1918, the day the First World War finally came to an end, using newspaper sources, private diaries and letters, as well as later memoirs and novels in order to show what a life-changing day November 11, 1918 was, not only for the men at the front, but for the nurses and drivers behind the lines, the government officials who had directed the war for over four years, and the civilians at home who had suffered through total war in their own way.  From prisons to Parliament, from ocean-bound ships to mud-stained hospitals, the voices in this book bring the end days of the First World War to life, and help us realize its full impact.  And because Best offers each voice without a great deal of commentary, these voices are allowed to speak fully for themselves in a way that becomes utterly haunting.

To End All Wars : A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918: “The War to End All Wars” is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot when we talk about the First World War, but no one ever stops to think about what participants truly meant when they used the phrase.  The First World War was not fought in order to bring unending peace–instead, it was so brutal, so terrifying, and so destructive that it was thought that no war would ever be able to surpass it.  Adam Hochschild’s ground-breaking work focuses on another aspect of the war that offers new insight into the phrase–by looking at those conscientious objectors who were imprisoned, punished, and ostracized for their stance against violence.  This is not a typical history of pacifism, however,  Hochschild shows protestor’s stories within the context of the war itself.  Many of those who spoke out publicly against the war had family members off fighting, showing yet another way in which war could tear families apart.  With infinite sympathy and customary insight, Hochschild’s book is a vital addition to the history of the First World War, and those who fought to end it.

Wounded: A New History of the Western Front in World War I: The First World War helped scientists and military tacticians develop whole news ways to kill and main–the flame-thrower, poison gas, and aerial bombardments were all created by and for the First World War.  But, along with those developments came rapid advancements in medicine that still change lives today, from plastic surgery to blood transfusions, from skin grafting to prosthetic limbs.  Emily Mayhew’s book turns away, largely, from the destruction of war to look at the medical network that was established with stunning speed in order to treat those injured by war. She focuses not necessarily on battle fronts, but on the journey of the wounded, from the front to mobile hospitals and triage units to base hospitals, creating a whole new kind of history of the First World War that reminds us of some of its more positive and enduring legacies.

Her Privates We: 1929 was a big year for war fiction; people who had served in the war were finally able to discuss the events in a comprehensive way, and the reading public were eager “to never forget”–or, in the case of people who were too young to serve, were eager to hear stories of the Front.  Frederic Manning’s book was published in this first wave of war literature, along with Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front.  Manning was an Australian poet who served with an Irish regiment throughout the war, and this book was meant both as a tribute to the men with whom he served, and as a way for him to cope with the horrors they all endured.  For me, it is one of the best books to come out of the First World War.  Manning didn’t try to dress up his experiences–there are plenty of expletives (which got the book expurgated and occasionally banned in its early years), as well as men’s frank conversations about prostitutes, death, and lice.  But what also comes through is the absolute devotion that Manning felt for the men with whom he served, and the strange beauty that he was able to find in the midst of the war.  His prewar career in writing poems about nature gave him the strength to write about the front as a place that was at once terrifying and haunting and strangely captivating, and the result is a book that will take your breath away–I know it did for me.

Three Comrades: Most people I know had to read Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front as part of their studies of the First World War, and while it is indeed a powerful and insightful book about the German experience of the war, very few people realize that the book wasn’t Remarque’s only novel.  In fact, he wrote three books about German veterans of the First World War, culminating with Three Comrades.  This novel is set in Germany during the early years of the Nazi rise to power, and tells the story of three veterans who run a car repair business, fall in love, have adventures, and continually cope with the war they can’t forget, and the world it forged.  Though not specifically about the First World War, Remarque’s book is a deeply moving, stunningly emotional reminder that no war is ever over for those who lived through it.  Even as these three inseparable friends race cars and swindle hypocritical customers and seek out cheap drinks, the war is a constant presence with them.  The Library’s Classic Book Group read this novel, and universally agreed that is was one of our favorite books to date, and one that lingered long after the final page had turned.

Until next week, beloved patrons–happy reading!

And a very Happy Birthday to Victoria Woodhull, American suffragette, activist, and the first woman to run for President of the United States in 1872.

Not only that, but Woodhull, born on this day in 1838, was the first woman to run a newspaper, the Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly, founded in 1870, which she ran with her sister, Tennessee Claflin.  Not only that, but that same year, she became the first woman to operate a brokerage firm on Wall Street, called Woodhull, Claflin & Company (also run with her sister Tennie).

Woodhull was born in Ohio, and though she had no formal education, she certainly had a remarkable mind and impressive will.  She made her first fortune as a “magnetic healer” (not precisely a legitimate form of medicine, but one that was incredibly popular in the mid-19th century).  During this time, she also met Cornelius Vanderbilt, who became a lifelong friend, a constant source of financial support, and very nearly her brother-in-law (rumors had it that he had proposed to Tennie, but his family refused to allow him to marry her).  It was her work as a medium that allowed Victoria to fun her brokerage form and newspaper, and the intensity of her convictions that won her national attention.  Woodhull was a champion of women’s legal, voting, and sexual rights, which polarized not only the women’s suffrage movement, but society in general.  She was also an advocate for equality between races, as well– when nominated for president, nominated Frederick Douglass in turn for her running-mate.

Though votes weren’t counted in the same way they are now, so we can’t know for sure how many votes Woodhull received, but we know it wasn’t many.  Her campaign was seriously harmed when a self-proclaimed “moral defender of the nation” named Anthony Comstock had Woodhull, her husband, and Tennie arrested for “publishing an obscene newspaper” a week before the election.  They were acquitted at trial six months later, and Woodhull ran for president again in 1884 and 1892.  Following her two defeats, she moved to England, where she offered lectures on health and the human body, and married her third husband (she had divorced her two previous ones, much to the chagrin of the American public).  Victoria Woodhull passed away on June 9, 1927, leaving a legacy with which we, as a people, are still grappling today.

If you would like to read more about Woodhull and her radical run for president, check out this website from American Experience.

And now…on to the books!

The Last Days of Jack Sparks: This book…it’s a weird one that tricky to sum up in a few sentences.  What you need to know going in is that (fictional) journalist Jack Sparks died while writing a book on the supernatural, and his quest to prove it definitely true or false.  As a tribute, his brother Alistair, has put together Jack’s manuscript, along with notes that Alistair made in his quest to track down the truth about Jack’s final days, and how on earth a video got posted to Jack’s YouTube account that he insisted was not of his making.  The result is a myriad of unreliable narrators all fixated on their own agendas and needs, and a story where nothing–or everything–is true, and the implications for both are really quite chilling.  At turns hysterically, cynically funny, at times horribly insightful regarding the horrible isolating narcissism of social media, and at times just plain weird, Jason Arnopp’s book, I promise, is like nothing else you’ve ever read.  Paul Tremblay, who wrote the sensational A Head Full of Ghosts, said that this book was “Funny, creepy and totally nuts.”  And I agree.  (For real devotees, Jack Spark’s website is still online, just to add to the verisimilitude.)

The Wonder: As we noted here last week, fall is the Season for Books, with publishers putting out all their heavy hitters now in time for literary awards and holiday shopping sprees.  Irish author Emma Donoghue’s new release is among the most noted of the year, and being hailed as her masterpiece–high praise indeed considering the success of her previous works.  Set in small Irish village of Athlone in 1859,  the plot of this story centers on eleven-year-old  Anna O’Donnell, who believes that she is living off the manna of Heaven, and thus, reportedly hasn’t eaten for months, yet shows no signs of fatigue or ill-health.  As international interest in Anna’s case grows, Lib Wright, a veteran of Florence Nightingale’s Crimean campaign, is hired to watch over the girl for two weeks, and prove her story true or false for the press.  The result is a deeply searching, insightful book about relationships and faith and darkness that shows Donoghue is as skilled in historical fiction as she is in any other genre.  Booklist agrees, giving this one a starred review, and calling the book, “Outstanding…. Exploring the nature of faith and trust with heartrending intensity, Donoghue’s superb novel will leave few unaffected.”

Blood Crime: Another example of historical fiction done right, Sebastià Alzamora’s gothic thriller takes us to 1936, during the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, and to the besieged city of Barcelona.  Death is everywhere, but when a Marist monk and a young boy are discovered dead, drained of their blood, the event is gruesome enough for the police to take notice–and for a thirteen-year-old Capuchin novice to take matters into her own hands, and risk meeting a monster face-to-face in order to discover the truth.  Inspired by true events, but given a fascinatingly dark, unique twist by Alzamora, this book was a sensation in Spain when it was first published, and earned a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, that called it “”Extraordinary… Alzamora deftly balances a swiftly moving, multithreaded plot set firmly in a historical context with a transcendent, nearly timeless exploration of the dark, violent nature of humanity and the vain search for God’s mercy, and, in doing so, creatively fulfills the challenge of reinventing gothic horror for a modern age.”

Everfair: For a time, steampunk and neo-Victorian books were the stuff of romances and graphic novels, imaging a world of other-wordly inventions and providing an escape from the painful realities of our own history.  But Nisi Shawl has reinvented the steampunk genre by using it, instead, to explore, question, and contest history, by creating a world where imperialism was challenged by natives who have harnessed the power of steam and established what our history calls the Belgian Congo into a utopia called Everfair, where native Africans and European socialists and escaped slaves from the United States can live in freedom.  Told from a number of voices that have long been silenced by our histories, and whose complex relationships have gone painfully overlooked, this book uses alternative histories to tell a powerful story that is both wildly imaginative and deeply reflective of our reality.  This also earned a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, who said of it, “This highly original story blends steampunk and political intrigue in a compelling new view of a dark piece of human history.”

Wilber’s War : An American Family’s Journey Through World War II:  Written by local author–and Library patron!–Hale Bradt, this book is the reconstruction of his father life, his parents’ love, and the world events that shaped and defined his family.  While Norma Bradt endured the Second World War on the American home front, protecting her family, dealing with rationing, and managing the daily stress of having a husband serving in the Pacific, Wilber Bradt fought with the U.S. Army in the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, and The Philippines, sending home richly detailed letters about his experiences, which form the backbone of his highly original work, that also looks at Hale Bradt’s own visits to the battlefields on which his father fought, and his considerations of the toll war takes, not only on armies and nations, but on individual families who are forced to endure it all.  The Midwest Book Review called this book an “inherently fascinating read…deftly crafted…[and] very highly recommended”, and we are honored to have our patron’s work displayed right here on our shelves!

Until next week, beloved patrons…happy reading!