Books and DVDs - War poetry, war poets
and the history
and issues relating to war and peace
The list will be expanded during 2010.
Prices
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David Roberts, Editor of The War Poetry Website.
Anthologies of the First World War
The
Wordsworth Book of First World War Poetry (Wordsworth Poetry Library)
Edited by Marcus Clapham. Not the best quality paper. Paperback
- 1 Dec 1995. £3-99 |
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Poems of the Great War: 1914-1918 (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics) anonymously edited. Tiny book (pages approx. 4”by 5.5”) but with over 80 well-chosen poems. No supporting information or commentary. Random order. Good to take on a journey. Paperback - 1998. £4-99. |
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The Penguin
Book of First World War Poetry (Penguin Classics) Edited by George
Walter (replaces the previous Penguin edition edited by Jon Silkin)
Paperback - 2006.
£8-99. |
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Out in the
Dark: Poetry of the First World War in Context and with Basic Notes.
Edited by David Roberts. Paperback – 1998.195 poems by 47 poets.
Includes 20 poems by Wilfred Owen and 27 by Siegfried Sassoon. A wealth
of background information including basic notes on unusual vocabulary.
Illustrated. Ideal for students and the general reader. 190 pages.
£8-99. More
information. |
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Up the Line
to Death: War Poets, 1914-18 Edited by Brian Gardner. Paperback - 1964. £8.99. |
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| The Bloody Game Edited by Paul Fussell. Scribners/Macdonald, 1990. £12.95  |
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| Minds at
War: the Poetry and Experience of the First World War Edited by David
Roberts Paperback – 1996. 250 poems by 80 poets including 27 by Wilfred
Owen and 32 by Siegfried Sassoon. Other major poets are well
represented. A wealth of background information. Illustrated. 400
pages. £14-99. More information. 
REPRINTING AVAILABLE 6 AUGUST 2010 |
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War Poems:
Student's Book. Edited by Christopher Martin. Poems from wars from the
Napoleonic era to the nuclear bomb. Includes 54 poems of the First
World War. With questions for students. 96 pages. Paperback, large
format (a little less than A4). Illustrated. - 2004.
£17.99  |
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Voices of
Silence: The Alternative Book of First World War Poetry Edited by
Vivien Noakes. Hardcover
- 2006. £18.99  |
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War poems
by Christopher Martin, Teaching Resources. Includes 75% photocopiable
worksheets covering differentiated activities, extension material,
homework, exam style questions, stimulus materials and additional
poems.(Large format.) £70-00. |
To top of pageWlfred Owen
Wilfred
Owen's poetry, Wilfred Owen's letters,
Wilfred Owen's life
Wilfred Owen, who died at the age of twenty-five a few days before the end of the First World War, is widely recognised as the greatest of writers of war poetry in the English language. In all he wrote only about thirty poems and fragments on the subject of war and his reputation rests on less than a dozen of these poems. More about Wilfred Owen >>>
Wilfred Owen's Poetry
The Poems of Wilfred Owen
(Wordsworth Poetry Library). Contains some 59 poems and fragments
by Wilfred Owen including all his most important war
poems. Texts are based on the 1931 Edmund Blunden edition of Owen's
poetry. Paperback. Not great quality paper. £3.99 |
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War Poems of Wilfred Owen by Wilfred Owen. Edited by Jon Stallworthy. Paperback. Each poem is accompanied by detailed notes describing the poem's origin, references, influences and special vocabulary. £5.80
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Wilfred Owen's Letters
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Wilfred Owen, Selected Letters, Oxford Paperbacks. Edited by Jon Bell. A selection of Owen's letters from 1902 to1918. - 326 of the original 673 letters, but containing almost all of Owen's letters from the war years. Valuable reading to help understand Owen's life and poetry. Currently (February 2010) only available second hand, at about £70-00. |
Wilfred Owen's Life
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Wilfred Owen: A Biography, by Jon Stallworthy. Oxford Paperbacks (1974). Professor Stallworthy's groundbreaking study of the life of Wilfred Owen. 330 pages. £15-99.
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Wilfred Owen: A New Biography
by Dominic Hibberd. Hardcover (2002). Builds on Jon Stallworthy's earlier work.
This is a tremendous work of research, insight, and comprehensive understanding
by the foremost authority on Wilfred Owen. Hardcover £25. |
| Wilfred Owen: A New Biography
by Dominic Hibberd. Paperback.(2002). Builds on Jon Stallworthy's earlier work.
This is a tremendous work of research, insight, and comprehensive understanding
by the foremost authority on Wilfred Owen. Paperback, £12-99. .  |
| Siegfried Sassoon | |
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If you want to study in some depth the war poetry of Siegfried Sassoon there are two books you need: his war poems and volume 1 of the biography by Jean Moorcroft Wilson. Sassoon’s war poems Biography of Sassoon After a surprisingly long period of time the first full scale biography of Sassoon was published in hardback in 1998. Written by Jean Moorcroft Wilson it came out in two volumes. The one that will matter to most Sassoon war poetry readers is volume 1 which covers the years 1886 to 1918, Siegfried Sassoon, the making of a war poet, a biography, 1886-1918. It provides insight into Sassoon’s complex character, his very wealthy background and his life, friendships, thoughts and actions including his “wilful defiance of military authority” which resulted in Sassoon being detained in a psychiatric unit in Scotland . 600 pages. Available in paperback. Published by Duckworth £10-99. Sassoon, Critical study
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Edward Thomas
Two collections of Edward
Thomas's poems with notes.
Edward Thomas Collected Poems.
Faber. (Paperback)
Introduction by Peter Sacks with a biographical sketch of the writer and
also a critical appreciation of Thomas’s poetry.
There are notes on each of
the poems (that include the author's comments), Thomas' war diary and four
appendices.
Edward Thomas - The Annotated Collected Poems,
Oxford. (Paperback) Edited by Edna Longley.
Extensive commentary on poems with references to Thomas’s letters and
notebooks.
Biography of Edward Thomas
Under Storm's Wing (Paperback)
Carcanet.
by Thomas's wife, Helen Thomas, and his daughter, Myfanwy Thomas.
Publisher's introduction:
Under Storm's Wing collects all that Helen
Thomas (1877-1967) wrote about
the poet Edward Thomas (1878-1917): the celebrated volumes As It Was
and
World Without End, her letters to Edward, and separate memoirs of
her
meetings with W.H. Davies, D.H.Lawrence, Ivor Gurney, Eleanor Farjeon,
Robert Frost and W.H.Hudson. The book has been assembled by Myfanwy,
Edward's and Helen's youngest daughter. She includes her own enchanted
account of childhood with her father, and the tragedy of his death at the
Battle of Arras in 1917. She adds an appendix of six letters from Robert
Frost to Edward Thomas.
Helen wrote As It Was, the story of her courtship and early
marriage,
shortly after Edward's death, and World Without End a few years
later. In
the original editions and later reprints fictitious names were used for the
protagonists. In this edition the actual names are restored.
The book provides a brilliant, lasting evocation of one of Britain's
best-loved poets. £12.37
Second World War
The Casualties Were Small, by
May Hill
Wartime Poetry and Diaries of a Lincolnshire Seaside
Villager, Chapel St Leonards, near Skegness, 1940-1944, edited by Tom
Ambridge and Margaret Ambridge. Illustrated (33 black and white photographs)
with index, 117pages, A5 (21.0 x 14.8 cm), high quality paperback. (Ambridge
Books, 2009, £8.99) Contact Ambridge Books for further information
or to purchase. Ambridge Books.
Three of May Hill's poems may be seen on this
website.
Iraq
| Behind the war on terror –
Western Secret Strategy and the Struggle for Iraq by Nafeez Mosaddeq
Ahmed |
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How was a country that was supposed to threaten
the very existence of western civilisation overcome in so few days
in 2003? This book explains how Iraq had been economically and
militarily crushed by western powers before that invasion. |
DVDs
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2-disc DVD The Hurt Locker. The war in Iraq. Portrayal of US elite soldiers who disarm bombs in the heat of combat. The film has won numerous awards including Best Film and Best Director awards at the BAFTA's 2010. Also 2009 Directors Guild of America Award to the film’s director, Kathryn Bigelow, for Outstanding Achievement in Feature Film. Plus 6 Oscars, 2010 £5.95 . |
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Blu-ray. The Hurt Locker. The war in Iraq. Portrayal of US elite soldiers who disarm bombs in the heat of combat. The film has won numerous awards including Best Film and Best Director awards at the BAFTA's 2010. Also 2009 Directors Guild of America Award to the film’s director, Kathryn Bigelow, for Outstanding Achievement in Feature Film. Plus 6 Oscars, 2010.
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Click to visit links to the above DVDs on Amazon
The cost of the war in Iraq
The Three Trillion Dollar War by Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes
Published by W. W. Norton (USA) 2008 Hardback. 192 pages
Joseph Stiglitz won the Nobel Prize for Economics in2001 and was Chief Economic Advisor the World Bank. Linda Bilmes is a professor at Harvard where she specialises in public policy, budgeting and public finance.
The book examines the full cost of the Iraq War, including many hidden costs such as the enormous expenditures that will be required to care for very large numbers of wounded veterans.
Numerous US government studies including that of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress and the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office have suggested costs approaching those estimated by these authors.
Available in paperback and hardback.):
Some people see within the capitalist system a built in tendency to use money, weapons and violence in ways that are harmful to the environment, human society and peace. Banks and big corporations seem to have a significant role in this process. The following books and DVD's explore these ideas in compelling and impressively researched ways.
Fahrenheit 9/11 is Michael Moore's brilliant investigation into George Bush, his disastrous and immoral foreign policies and the invasion of Iraq. With interviews, documentary footage they would never show on our supposedly free media, and humour too. Riveting, moving, entertaining, and above all truthful and important. Everyone interested in the Iraq War issue should see this
double
DVD. £6.99
Capitalism, a love affair, Michael Moor DVD £10.52
"The Shock Doctrine cracks open the secret history of our era. Exposing these global profiteers, Naomi Klein discovered information and connections that shocked even her about how comprehensively the "shock doctors" beliefs now dominate our world - and how this domination has been achieved. Raking in billions out of the tsunami, plundering Russia, exploiting Iraq - this is the chilling tale of how a few are making a killing while more are getting killed." - Publisher's statement. £6.18
Web of Deceit by Mark Curtis £6.73. For more information see "Books on the attitudes of the governments of the US and UK to war and international law" below.
Globalization and its discontents by Joseph Stiglitz. "Globalization today is not working. It is not working for many of the worlds poor. It is not working for much of the environment. It is not working for the stability of the global economy." From a leader of the anti-globalization movement, a statement like this would not be remarkable. But coming from Joseph Stiglitz - former Chief Economist at the World Bank, former Chairman of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisors and winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics - it is startling and challenging. £9.99
Captive State, The Corporate Takeover of Britain by George Mombiot £8.00
War on Terror, INC by Soloman Hughes £14.44
Books for writers of war poetry
Penguin Rhyming Dictionary.
A really useful tool for all poets and lyricists with rhymes for
over 40,000 words. Paperback. |
The Writers' and Artists' Yearbook 2010.
This is a book few writers in the UK would be without - with over
800 pages of information. For poets there is advice about getting
poetry published, lists of contact details for poetry societies,
poetry courses/workshops, poetry performance venues, festivals of
literature in the UK, information about competitions, copyright,
publishing your own book, publicising your work, setting up a
website, starting a blog, and media contacts. There are articles
about writing in a number of genres written by leading
practitioners. Paperback. |
Penguin Thesaurus. When you can't
find the exact word you want this book will suggest alternatives to
the word you have thought of. In fact there are over 400,000
suggestions here, mainly standard English, but also jargon, slang
and colloquial expressions. Over 660 large format pages. A bargain
even at full price. Paperback.  |
Click to visit links to the above titles in Amazon (Close Amazon page to return to this page)
Books on the attitudes of the governments of the US and UK to war and international law
After the Second World War the US and UK were leaders in the establishment of international laws to prevent wars of aggression and to protect human rights. Unfortunately both countries have blatantly set aside international laws and subverted the United Nations to condone acts of aggression. I recommend two books (plus Behind the War on Terror, mentioned above) for insights into this topic.
Killing Hope - US and
CIA Interventions since World War II by William Blum. This gives, in
considerable detail and from publicly available records, an account of the
US Governments' behaviour around the world from China and North Korea in
the 1940s to the bombing of Iraq in 2003.
"Far and away the best book on the topic" - Noam Chomsky.
"I am impressed. It is a valuable contribution." - Ramsey Clark, former Attorney General of the United States.
"A very valuable book. . . extremely impressive." - AJ Langguth, former New York Times bureau chief.
Lawless World - America
and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules by Philippe Sands.
This account of the abuse of international law by the US under George
Bush and the UK under Tony Blair is by a leading international lawyer. A
richly informative, revealing and passionate book describing both the
failings of international law, its successes and the profound need for it.
Web of Deceit by Mark
Curtis
This book details the true story of Britain's
shameful role in world affairs and parallels to some extent the book by
William Blum on US foreign policy (mentioned previously). Above all it is a story of hypocrisy and misrepresentation
with successive UK governments
telling the British people and the world how keen they are to support
international law and the United Nations whilst very often doing exactly the
opposite.
One measure of this opposition to the UN is the number of occasions it has gone against the general will of the UN Security Council by using its power to veto decisions. Mark Curtis comments, "Open defiance of the UN is a permanent feature of British foreign policy. In the last twenty-five years of the cold war, 1965-19990, Briatin cast twice as many vetoes in the Security Council as the Soviet Union - twenty-seven compared to thirteen, mainly to support the racist regimes in south Africa and Rhodesia." (P 10.)
Comment on Web of Deceit
"Scrupulously, relentlessly . . . rescues the historical and documentary record from a web of distortion and sel-serving illusion." - Noam Chomsky.
David Roberts, Editor, The War Poetry Website.