The second half of this book won it a fourth star. I've read so many books (maybe too many) about WW1 that much of the first half was not new to me. However, the second half regarding the building of the Cenotaph in London and the creation of the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster was fascinating. Many times I was moved to tears, not just by a nation in mourning, but by the individual losses. The woman who lost a husband and all her sons. A child placing flowers at the Cenotaph and believing it was a beautiful garden just for his father.

Of the 3 individual missing warriors Hanson chose to focus on, the life and death of Alex Reader was most touching to me. My Grandfather's brother was also killed on the Somme and Alex Reader was one of the missing, his body never recovered. It was touching to discover that Alex Reader's name is on the same monument at Thiepval in France as my Great Uncle.

A very fine book.

7 s Susan Liston1,442 44

This took me ages to read because I could only cope with a few pages at a time, it was that upsetting. I've read plenty about the trenches before but this was something else again. We follow two different soldiers, one British, one German through the war. Towards the end they add in an American pilot, but he doesn't last long enough to get as attached to as I did to the other two. I thought that knowing going in that none of them survived was a bummer, but if I hadn't known, and had it just sprung on me, my reaction would have been scary to contemplate. As utterly disturbing as the level of detail in this book is, its a stunning achievement, everyone should read it. (and if you are of the female gender, don't waste time trying to spark even the tiniest glimmer of understanding of the male brains that come up with this shit, it's not remotely possible)history own-it read-2020-non-fiction ...more5 s Juliette385

'An English officer came across with a white flag and asked for a truce from eleven o'clock to three to bury the dead. The truce was granted, it is good not to see the corpses lying out in front of us any more. The truce was moreover extended. The English came out of their trenches into No-Man's-Land and exchanged cigarettes, tinned meat and photographs with our men, and said they didn't want to shoot any more . . . . Suppose the whole English army strikes and forces the gentlemen in London to chuck the whole business!'
I am emotionally exhausted after reading this book. I thought I knew about the First World War -- the war to end all wars. I know the date that the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated and the day the first shots were fired. I know who fought whom. In theory, I know about trench warfare and gas attacks. I know about the Somme. I visited the tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey and said a prayer for him.
I didn't know nearly enough to say I knew anything about the war.
Hanson used letters from the men who fought in First World War to write The Unknown Soldier. Indeed, the book is more of a quilt: large patches of narratives from the warriors (to use the contemporaneous term) that Hanson stitched together. It's one thing to know about the tactics and the history, and it's completely different to read what the men endured and what they hoped after the war. At times, I had to stop reading because the tears in my eyes made it impossible to continue.
To be sure, the book is heavily anti-war and indicts the governments (both Allied and Central) for whom the soldiers fought. However, since most of the book is told by the men in the trenches and the airplanes, I can't fairly consider this a fault of the book.
The coffin was placed on the bars laid across the open grave, sited in front of the West Door, squarely 'in the pathway of kings, for not a monarch can ever again go up to the altar to be crowned, but he must step over the grave of the man who died that his kingdom might endure.' 2014 biography history ...more3 s Asha Stark567 16

One of the most informative, and heartbreaking books I've ever read.

Un many non-fiction accounts of war/conflict, Neil Hanson manages to write in a very engaging and, for lack of a better word, 'interesting' manner. I certainly learned a lot from this book, and especially regarding the men and women who lost someone- or someones- during the first world war.

It was particularly sad to read of how little was thought of soldiers by the English king at the time, how they were effectively spat on by their public school officers, and how in the end, millions of lives are nothing when it comes to saving face politically.americas britain-ireland non-fiction ...more3 s ?373 19

i crumpled into tears so many times while reading this, and so ferociously, that it startled even me, the weeping willow..... what an extraordinary act of remembering this book is. we love you alec
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