It seems that we are getting very close to Christmas now as we have reached the twentieth book in my Advent calendar. This is The Face of War by the American journalist Martha Gellhorn and is a collection of articles she wrote from various wars in the course of her eventful career. I have heard of the author before but I have never read anything which she wrote so this should be interesting.
The wars where the author was a correspondent start with the Spanish Civil War and include WW2, Vietnam and the Six Day War. She also takes the opportunity to write about her views of various aspects of warfare including nuclear weapons. These are articles written by someone who was there and who also had the ability to convey in writing what she saw and felt.
This looks like an interesting book. I know a reasonable amount about our world wars but a lot of what I have read of this was written by academics after the events. This book is eye witness accounts so it won’t necessarily give an overview but will manage to make it much more personal and immediate.
I am not sure that this is a book I would have picked off the shelf to buy but I think that I will find it useful to have read. My copy is about twenty years old but in very good condition.
Anne Is Reading 