Customer Reviews (8)

Great!
Sassoon's thinly-veiled autobiography is one of the finest accounts of a soldier's life during World War One that I've come across, and, indeed, is one of my favorite autobiographies.

And, in addition to his life-during-wartime memoir ("Memories of an Infantry Officer"), the descriptions of Sassoon's life in England both before and after the "war to end all wars" are also finely detailed, giving each of these memoirs a life and vividness seldom found in similar books.

All in all, these memoirs are profound, moving, and well worth reading!

(I'd also recommend picking up Robert Graves "Goodbye to All That" for a look at the same period (and often the same characters!) through different eyes.)

A Classic!
Sassoon's three volumes wrapped up into one take the reader into another world.First volume describes life in the English country, where a young George Sherston becomes completely immersed in fox hunting.To say he becomes consumed by this is an understatement.Sassoon's intimate depictions of the countryside, to include the life of a country gentleman are so detailed you can clearly "see" and feel how young George felt.

Volume 2, Memoirs of an infantry officer take George into the trenches of France, where again with graphic details, the horror and calamity of the fighting in WWI are brought to our attention.Of note is the latter part of the volume where Sherston's morals are challenged, and how he deals with this mental dilemma.

Volume 3 takes Sherston from the trenches of France, to a stint in Ireland and Palestine, but ultimately back to France where the novel is brilliantly wrapped up.

Sassoon's experiences in the war have given us perhaps one of the greatest novels from the era.The writing is absolutely outstanding and will give you pause to put the book down.

One of the great books about World War I.
World War I had a far greater impact on Britain than the US for the obvious reasons that they were in the war for over four years and suffered horrific casualties.The literature produced by that war made a sharp break from what came before, which reflected the feeling in the country that the war had irrevocably changed life in Britain.This is well illustrated in Siegfreid Sassoon's "The Complete Memoirs of George Sherston," a fictional version of his own experiences.The first part covers Sherston's pre-war life, with his obsession with fox-hunting.This is so well written that you will enjoy it even if you don't have the least interest in the subject.

The next section, "Memoirs of an Infantry Officer" covers his experiences in World War I, during he is highly decorated.The horrors of the war, which many of Sassoon's class thought would be a great adventure, are accurately portrayed. Eventually he becomes disillusioned with the war, and writes a letter denouncing it that could have led to his court-martial.A close friend (Robert Graves in real life) gets him classified as having a mental disorder and he is sent off to a hospital to recuperate.

This book is deeply moving and is one of a handful of books that changed the way that the English-speaking world views war.Sassoon's writing style is plain on the surface, but its plainness makes the emotional impact all the greater.

A true classic
I had heard of this book many years before I was tempted to read it, and now I truly regret my lack of interest in Sassoon up to this point.He is a great poet, but as a memoirist he absolutely sparkles.Robert Graves'book, "Goodbye to all that", often described as a classic, is amere string of unrelated anecdotes compared with Sassoon's modest,humorous, poignant account of his own youth, which takes us from hischildhood in Kent to the end of his military career after the First WorldWar.Don't hesitate to read this book, especially if you enjoy seeing theEnglish language used at its very best.

The Complete Memoirs of George Sherston
I find this book completely compelling, particularly volume 2 (Memoirs of and Infantry Officer). The descriptions of degradation experienced by those who fought in the trenches and their ability to create a sub-culture ofderring-do is powerful in its modesty.Sassoon's mounting frustration isskilfully portrayed, especially in his allusion to details about provisionfor and management of warfare. His ennui is almost palpable on those trainjournies across France.

The first volume (Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man)is possibly of more interest to those of us born and raised in the parishwhere Sasson himself lived. I enjoyed playing 'spot-the-location', but mustdeclare that I am in possession of a comprehensive list, produced byBrenchley History Society,of pseudonyms/real names.

The writing in thisvolume has some of the lyrical quality of his autobiography (The OldCentury and Seven More Years - out of print)on which it is based. Ratherthan a treaties on Hunting, I consider this to be a gentle study of theawakening of Sassoon's poetic sensibilities; the Hunt and the relationshipshe formed with particular characters was, for him, an early catharsis. Theyalso augur the events and characters in the following volume.

The finalvolume (Sherston's Progress)is probably most poignant if one is aware thatthis is, indeed, a thinly veiled autobiography. Sassoon's heroism is, forme, as great beyond the era of World War I as it is within it. This volume should certainly be read within the context of the previous two, but standsalone as a testament to the debt future generations owe to the perseveranceof men such as Sassoon. ... Read more

Product Description
Siegfried Sassoon and Robert Graves were two of the most famous British authors of the 20th century, but they are remembered by many World War I buffs primarily as officers in the Royal Welch Fusiliers. Both men were critical of the war but had distinguished combat records. Sassoon was committed to a shell-shock hospital after a particularly critical anti-war article, as recounted in the book and film Regeneration. Both men lived on for over 50 years after the war; Graves gaining particular fame for the Claudius public television series.

In their prose and poetry on the war both authors at times changed the names of participants, and both men added and deleted material from later editions of their work. This unique guide traces the wartime service of the authors, identifies actual people and places in their works, and gives biographical detail on their long post-war lives and careers. Includes full bibliography. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Siegfrieds Lehrjarre

One of the, I would guess, more literate memoirs from WWI.Goes along with 'Goodbye to all that' (Graves) and 'Undertones of War' (Blunden).First novel, first person narrative.Based loosely on
Sassoon's experiences, but they are memoirs, not biography; fiction, not fact (though based on fact)
... Read more

Product Description
Derived from Jon Stallworthy's two-volume Complete Poems and Fragments (1983)—described as a "triumph" (Times Literary Supplement) and "a definitive text" (Los Angeles Times)—this is the finest single-volume edition of the work of the greatest poet of the First World War.Of all the work bequeathed by to us by that generation of young men who fought in the trenches, Owen's is the most remarkable for its breadth of sympathy and its understanding of human suffering and tenderness, at home and on the battlefield.

This new, authoritative edition, indispensable to student and general reader alike, contains the texts of 103 poems and twelve fragments, among them thirty-three poems not previously published or otherwise available in paperback edition. Many of the most famous have important new readings; illuminating notes and a detailed biographical table are also included. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

NECESSARY READING FOR OUR PRESENT PATRIOTIC POSTURING AND MILITARY ADVENTURING
As our boys (and girls) return now from war (see The Ground Truth) we do well to read this book lest we send more off to the gross immorality of modern war.

As our boys (and girls) return now from war, let this book guide us in comprehension of the horrors and crimes they have lived and witnessed.

This one book of poetry serves as a powerful treatise of Moral Theology by demonstrating eloquently why it is that modern warfare is always now evil, even more directly than the great pro-life, anti-war statement of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops the Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and Our Response a Pastoral Letter on War and Peace (Publication / Office of Publishing and Promotion Services, U). This book of poetry by Wilfred Owen is an application of the Good and Blessed Pope John XXIII's vision expressed so vividly in Peace on Earth (Pacem in Terris): Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Pope John XXIII Addressed to All Mankind.

Dulce et decorum est for us now again to read this book, and to proclaim it, and to proclaim peace, at last.

Wilfrid Owen has been called the finest poet of the First World War, who died in its final days. Thankfully we have here that powerful voice for peace, as powerful a testimony for peace as Shadows of Blue & Gray: The Civil War Writings of Ambrose Bierce, as The Red Badge of Courage, Fourth Edition (Norton Critical Edition).

Intrepid editor Jon Stallworthy prepared the 1983 two volume edition of Owen's "Complete Poems and fragments, from which this one volume selection is drawn. THis one volume holds 103 of the poems, including 33 not prevously published in paperback. This book also has 12 fragments of poems.

Each poem bears important notes from Stallworthy, not only the facts of composition, but also new readings and interpretations which help the reader very much in understanding and assessing this important young poet of nearly a century ago, killed in action November 4, 1918 at age 25.

Stallworthy has also separately written a biography of the poet entitled: Wilfred Owen (Oxford Paperbacks). As this book gives an effective overview of Owen's life's work from the early sonnets onwards to his death, those readers interested mainly in his strongest work may do very well to read as well Stallworthy's powerful collection of the War Poems of Wilfred Owen.

It is a testimony we must not miss.

Sublime
I have loved Wilfred Owen's poetry since school days.His exquisite use of language vividly conjures up the horrors of war where young men had no choice in their fate and highlighted the social context in which WWW1 took place. Very moving.

Not to be missed
Indeed, this is a book not to be missed by those who love poetry. Owen's verses are mostly gut-wrenching lines that will burn images in your brain, but that is good, particularly next to other poems that we may have beenfamiliar with, where the idea of war is an "ideal" and soldiersare knights who know no fear, who are immune to death and pain. Owen's waris different: the men die like rats in the trenches, in their own vomit,and glory and honor are not enough to protect agaist mustard gas. That thepoet perished in that war is only a final irony in the short life of asensitive man who saw too much in too short a time. Excellent.

The Truth About WWI
This touching collection of poetry stems from the horrors of Owen's own experiences at the front. From his grim, visual and detailed description of a man dying of poison gas, to his conspiracy theories of the real reasonsbehind the war, Owen uncovers the old lie and disproves it right before oureyes: Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria Mori... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Making Progress
"Sherston's Progress" is the third and final book of Siegfried Sassoon's fictionalized accounts of what he experienced during WWI.At times the events hue so closely to what Sassoon actually experienced that it is hard to tell fact from fiction.This only helps to add to the enigma surrounding the life and legacy of Sassoon, a soldier-poet who denounced the war only to return to the front as a way to find out who he really was.

Picking up where "Memoirs of an Infantry Officer" left off, "Sherston's Progress" begins with George Sherston's time spent in the Slateford War Hospital in Edinburgh where he is declared to be suffering from shellshock.To all outward appearances, Sherston is fine and his doctor, Rivers, allows Sherston to work through his own thoughts until he decides what it is he wants to do.Having essentially been forgiven for denouncing the war, Sherston decides to go back to the front.The second section is filled with his preparations for returning to battle, as well as some sidetracks into fox hunting in Ireland, reminiscent of the first book in the series "Memories of a Fox Hunting Man".The third section, which can be a little monotonous at times, is in diary entry format as Sherston records his daily experiences in Egypt and France.The final section offers the character's (and author's) final thoughts on war and all that he has experienced.

Because of its fictionalized reality, "Sherston's Progress" is an interesting read, especially for those who know about Sassoon's life and experiences.This account is very straightforward, with Sassoon as Sherston speaking directly to the reader as he questions his actions and motivations.It shows the progression of how a man who did not think it was an honor to fight for his country could learn to accept why war had to occur even if he did not agree with it.Throughout, and especially at the end, Sassoon still questions the purpose of war and the cost of life that it requires.And while he can somewhat reconcile himself with its necessity, he doesn't necessarily have any satisfactory answers to offer. ... Read more

Product Description
Webster's bibliographic and event-based timelines are comprehensive in scope, covering virtually all topics, geographic locations and people. They do so from a linguistic point of view, and in the case of this book, the focus is on "Siegfried Sassoon," including when used in literature (e.g. all authors that might have Siegfried Sassoon in their name). As such, this book represents the largest compilation of timeline events associated with Siegfried Sassoon when it is used in proper noun form. Webster's timelines cover bibliographic citations, patented inventions, as well as non-conventional and alternative meanings which capture ambiguities in usage. These furthermore cover all parts of speech (possessive, institutional usage, geographic usage) and contexts, including pop culture, the arts, social sciences (linguistics, history, geography, economics, sociology, political science), business, computer science, literature, law, medicine, psychology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology and other physical sciences. This "data dump" results in a comprehensive set of entries for a bibliographic and/or event-based timeline on the proper name Siegfried Sassoon, since editorial decisions to include or exclude events is purely a linguistic process. The resulting entries are used under license or with permission, used under "fair use" conditions, used in agreement with the original authors, or are in the public domain. ... Read more

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An Excerpt from the book-



PRELUDE: THE TROOPS

Dim, gradual thinning of the shapeless gloom
Shudders to drizzling daybreak that reveals
Disconsolate men who stamp their sodden boots
And turn dulled, sunken faces to the sky
Haggard and hopeless. They, who have beaten down
The stale despair of night, must now renew
Their desolation in the truce of dawn,
Murdering the livid hours that grope for peace.

Yet these, who cling to life with stubborn hands,
Can grin through storms of death and find a gap
In the clawed, cruel tangles of his defence.
They march from safety, and the bird-sung joy
Of grass-green thickets, to the land where all
Is ruin, and nothing blossoms but the sky
That hastens over them where they endure
Sad, smoking, flat horizons, reeking woods,
And foundered trench-lines volleying doom for doom.

O my brave brown companions, when your souls
Flock silently away, and the eyeless dead,
Shame the wild beast of battle on the ridge,
Death will stand grieving in that field of war
Since your unvanquished hardihood is spent.
And through some mooned Valhalla there will pass
Battalions and battalions, scarred from hell;
The unreturning army that was youth;
The legions who have suffered and are dust.


DREAMERS

Soldiers are citizens of death's gray land,
Drawing no dividend from time's to-morrows.
In the great hour of destiny they stand,
Each with his feuds, and jealousies, and sorrows.
Soldiers are sworn to action; they must win
Some flaming, fatal climax with their lives.
Soldiers are dreamers; when the guns begin
They think of firelit homes, clean beds, and wives.

I see them in foul dug-outs, gnawed by rats,
And in the ruined trenches, lashed with rain,
Dreaming of things they did with balls and bats,
And mocked by hopeless longing to regain
Bank-holidays, and picture shows, and spats,
And going to the office in the train.


THE REDEEMER

Darkness: the rain sluiced down; the mire was deep;
It was past twelve on a mid-winter night,
When peaceful folk in beds lay snug asleep:
There, with much work to do before the light,
We lugged our clay-sucked boots as best we might
Along the trench; sometimes a bullet sang,
And droning shells burst with a hollow bang;
We were soaked, chilled and wretched, every one.
Darkness: the distant wink of a huge gun.


... Read more

Product Description
Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Siegfried Sassoon, David Sassoon, Sassoon Mausoleum, Rachel Beer, Victor Sassoon, George Sassoon, Sir Philip Sassoon, 3rd Baronet, Sassoon Family, Sir Edward Sassoon, 2nd Baronet, of Kensington Gore, Sassoon Baronets, Albert Abdullah David Sassoon, Sassoon David Sassoon, Isaac S.d. Sassoon, Thornycroft Family, Percival David, Elias David Sassoon, Solomon David Sassoon, Sassoon J. David, Aline Caroline de Rothschild, Sir Edward Elias Sassoon, 2nd Baronet, Sir Jacob Elias Sassoon, 1st Baronet. Excerpt:Illustration of Albert Sassoon from Vanity Fair , 16 August 1879 Sir Albert Abdullah David Sassoon, 1st Baronet , KCB , CSI , (July 25, 1818-October 24, 1896), a British Indian philanthropist and merchant, was born a Jew in Baghdad , a member of a family that had lived there since the beginning of the 16th century, having been expelled from Spain in the 1490s. He was named Abdullah at birth, but changed his name to Albert later in life. His father, David Sassoon , was a leading Baghdad merchant and a treasurer under Ahmet Pasha, the governor of Baghdad. However, he fled after he was implicated in a corruption scandal, moving from Baghdad to Bushire , in Iran , and in 1832 settling in Bombay , where he founded a large banking and mercantile business. David Sassoon's business acumen soon made him one of the richest men in Bombay . Albert Sassoon was educated in India and became head of the firm on his father's passing. Sasoon was a major benefactor to the city of Bombay; among his gifts were the Sassoon Dock , completed in 1875, and a handsome proportion of the cost of Elphinstone High School. In 1867 Sasoon was made a Companion of the Order of the Star of India (C.S.I.) and in 1872 a Knight of the Bath . In 1873 he visited England and received the freedom of the city of London . Sho... ... Read more

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The first of two volumes, this biography of Siegfried Sassoon covers his life up to the end of World War I. A descendant from a dynasty of merchant princes and a line of famous artists, he was a Jew turned Catholic, a husband and father who enjoyed close relationships with members of his own sex (Stephen Tennant among others). Celebrated as the author of some of the most moving war poems and of the "Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man", Sassoon's inner feelings have nonetheless remained imprisoned in his diaries, only a proportion of which it has been deemed appropriate to publish thus far. With Wilfred Owen and Robert Graves, Sassoon struggled with his sexuality, a story he wanted to capture himself to bridge "the raging (or lethargic) river of intolerance which divides creatures of my temperament from a free and unsecretive existence among their fellow men". Prevented from doing so by the law, however, he died in 1967, the year in which homosexuality was legalised. This biography is the result of seven years of research. In this first volume the author traces Sassoon's life as one of the Gilded Youth of the Great War generation and the first modern figure of the 20th century.A friend to everyone worth knowing, ranging from the Sitwells to Sir Winston Churchill, Sassoon was forced to come to terms with the banality of a war, at the same time as dealing with changes in his own identity. ... Read more

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Chapters: Freud Family, Hart Family, Joel Family, Rothschild Family, Sassoon Family, Siegfried Sassoon, the House of Rothschild, Edward Bernays, Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild, Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery, Bethmanns and Rothschilds, N M Rothschild ... Read more

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Chapters: Siegfried Sassoon, Frederick Copleston, William Morris, Nick Drake, James Mason, Charles Sorley, Edward Frederic Benson, John Betjeman, Princess Eugenie of York, Marlborough College, Peter Medawar, Anthony Blunt, Norris Mcwhirter, Daniel Hannan, Rab Butler, Robert Peverell Hichens, John Dolphin, Mark Malloch Brown, Baron Malloch-Brown, Rayner Goddard, Baron Goddard, Louis Macneice, Henry Hughes Wilson, Murder of Tom Ap Rhys Pryce, Kate Middleton, Chris de Burgh, John Hunt, Baron Hunt, Bruce Chatwin, Philip Grierson, Alfred St. George Hamersley, Nevil Macready, William Jowitt, 1st Earl Jowitt, James Robertson Justice, Otis Ferry, Francis Chichester, Ernest Thesiger, Evelyn Wood, Robin Janvrin, Baron Janvrin, Anthony Hope, Geoffrey Fisher, List of Old Marlburians, Anthony Deane-Drummond, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Lauren Child, Henry Brooke, Baron Brooke of Cumnor, David Kindersley, Sir Edward Bradford, 1st Baronet, Nigel Gresley, Frank Gardner, William Platt, Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, John Raven, Frederick Bligh Bond, Charles Saumarez Smith, Arthur Winnington-Ingram, Ross Mcwhirter, John Maples, Christopher Chope, Edward Thompson, Alastair Ross Goobey, Ian Fraser, Baron Fraser of Lonsdale, Philip Margetson, John A. T. Robinson, Edward Buckland, Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, W.e.w. Petter, Stanley Colville, Henry Hyde Champion, Cyril Alington, Richard Jordan, Nigel Bridge, Baron Bridge of Harwich, Charles Plumpton Wilson, Charles Galton Darwin, Charles Wyndham Murray, Peter Brooke, John Wilfred Stanier, Tim Boswell, Mark Tully, Paul Williams, Richard Baggallay, Wilfred Grenfell, Beverley Nichols, Frank Kingsley Griffith, Mark Phillips, Grahame Clark, Donald Lynden-Bell, Richard Whitaker Porritt, Maurice Petherick, Henry Arthur Pears Fisher, Alastair Goodlad, Baron Goodlad, a G Steel, Humphrey Carpenter, Alwyn Keith Warren, Alan Lascelles, Henry Everard, John de Courcy Ireland, John Zachary Young, Phil Hammond, Eric Char...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=33277 ... Read more

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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Siegfried Sassoon, Erich Maria Remarque, Walt Whitman, Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brooke, Mercè Rodoreda, Frederic Manning, R. C. Sherriff, Cornelius Ryan, Willi Heinrich, William Douglas Lansford, E. M. Nathanson. Excerpt:Cornelius Ryan , (5 June 1920 23 November 1974) was an Irish-American journalist and author mainly known for his writings on popular military history , especially his World War II books: The Longest Day: June 6, 1944 D-Day (1959), The Last Battle (1966), and A Bridge Too Far (1974). Early life He was born in Dublin and educated at Synge Street CBS , Portobello . He was an altar-boy at St. Kevin's Church (Roman Catholic), Harrington Street and studied the violin at the Irish Academy of Music in Dublin. Ryan moved to London in 1940, and became a war correspondent for the The Daily Telegraph in 1941. He initially covered the air war in Europe , flew along on fourteen bombing missions with the Eighth and Ninth United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), and then joined General George S. Patton 's Third Army and covered its actions until the end of the European war. He transferred to the Pacific theater in 1945, and then to Jerusalem in 1946. Ryan emigrated to the United States in 1947 to work for TIME , where he reported on the postwar atomic testing done by the United States in the Pacific. Then reported for TIME on the Israeli war in 1948. This was followed by work for other magazines, including Collier's Weekly and Reader's Digest . He married Kathryn Morgan (1925-1993), a novelist, and became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1951. Career What I write about is not war but the courage of man. Cornelius Ryan On a trip to Normandy in 1949 he became interested in telling a more complete story of Operation Overlord . He began compiling information and conducting... ... Read more