TOMMY: THE BRITISH SOLDIER ON THE WESTERN FRONT, 1914-1918

A history of the ordinary British soldier in the First World War. Richard Holmes deploys his skills of historical analysis to tell the human story of the men that comprised the British army. "Richard Holme's landmark book Tommy puts the direct experience of the ordinary British soldier centre stage. This is not the war as interpreted retrospectively by historians, but the war as it was felt--in the midst of battle, enduring the boredom of waiting, the exhaustion of travelling to and from the Front, of sharing a mug of tea with a friend and seeing him blown to tatters moments later. This is not an army of 'lions' led by 'donkeys'. It eschews such cliches. This is the war as it was fought, in the words of those that fought it."--Book jacket.