Best of
War

1929

Brown on Resolution


C.S. Forester - 1929
    Alone on the barren island of Resolution in the South Pacific, he fights against the might of a German battleship. This is the first of C.S.Forester's novels about the sea.

Falcons of France


Charles Bernard Nordhoff - 1929
    First they learned to fly penguins-tricky birds that almost never flew in a straight line.Then, the best of them, went on to master the coveted Hispano Spads, sleek ships that refused to go down.And those who could stand the firey pace became the men of the Lafayette Flying Corps, ready to do combat with the top German aces.Facing crackling machine-gun fire, the wings of their planes often riddled with bullets, they struck at the heart of the enemy's winged power.

The Forbidden Zone: A Nurse's Impressions of the First World War


Mary Borden - 1929
    This beautifully written book, to be read alongside the likes of Sassoon, Graves, and Remarque, is a collection of her memories and impressions of that experience. Describing the men as they march into battle, engaging imaginatively with the stories of individual soldiers, and recounting procedures at the field hospital, the author offers a perspective on the war that is both powerful and intimate.

The Generalship of Ulysses S. Grant


J.F.C. Fuller - 1929
    It brilliantly refutes the notion that Grant relied only on brute force to achieve his victories, demonstrating instead the mastery of mobility, surprise, cool judgment, and strategic coordination that made Grant the premier Civil War general."--James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom"A classic analysis of U.S. Grant, Fuller's work makes a strong case for the general as the pre-eminent soldier of his era. It is essential reading for students of Civil War military leadership."--Gary Gallagher, editor of Fighting for the Confederacy

The Middle Parts of Fortune


Frederic Manning - 1929
    It is a peculiarly human activity.Originally published in 1929 anonymously under the pen name Private 19022, The Middle Parts of Fortune follows ordinary soldiers as they fight to survive in the trenches of a raging war. It was revised and published again in wider circulation in 1930. The book details the brutalities of the soldier's experiences and their internal struggles, as well as the raw complexities of human interaction when comradeship and conflict collide. Most of the book's events are filtered through the main character Bourne, who is enigmatic and detached and considered to be a self-portrait of the author.Frederic Manning was an Australian poet and novelist who died in 1935. He had fought in the Battle of the Somme in 1916 during the first World War, and his war experiences allowed him to infuse his characters and their perspectives with authenticity and fragility. While the subject matter may be bleak and grim, Manning's writing is fluid and striking in its description. Beloved by T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, and Ernest Hemingway, who called it a noble novel, The Middle Parts of Fortune is regarded as a classic war novel.

With the Dublin Brigade: Espionage and Assasination with Michael Collins' Intelligence Unit


Charles Dalton - 1929
    By 1920 he had been appointed to Michael Collins' elite intelligence unit.In this book he describes his role in the assassination of the 'Cairo Gang', a team of undercover British agents working and living in Dublin, on Bloody Sunday, 21 November 1920. He also details his involvement in the seizure of arms from Messrs Guinness's boat the 'Clarecastle', the filling of home-made hand grenades with gelignite, the attempted shooting of hangmen on their arrival at Dublin to carry out executions, attempted rescues of prisoners in military custody (including Dan Breen from the Mater Hospital, after he had been wounded) and the encirclement of Grafton St. shortly before the Truce.His duties also involved tracing the activities of enemy agents and spies, keeping records of enemy personnel, contact with friendly associates in government and Crown service and organising and developing intelligence in the Dublin Brigade.This account, originally published in 1929, when he was only 26 years of age, is complemented by the inclusion of his statement to the Military History Bureau made 20 years later, which, though not significantly different in terms of fact, is remarkably different in tone.