The Great War (2006)

Carlyon's writing style is very appropriate for this engaging story of Australians on the Western Front. His research is thorough, and indeed, it picks up from where 'Gallipoli' finishes. But Carlyon suffers the same problem of CEW Bean. How does one tell about three years of carnage on the Western Front in under 800 pages? Copies of Carlyon's recent time are stacked in bookstores like the trench breastworks he describes at Fromelles, and I nearly suffered from RSI reading this one in bed. I felt like I was fighting my own campaign with this one as the AIF wprogressed from the Somme, to Ypres and back to the Somme again. For me, this was reading with an entrenching tool, but that aside, a ripping tale highly recommended. ( )

Magnificent. Following on from the triumph of Carlyon's "Gallipoli". I don't think you could find a better book encompassing World War One from the point of view of the involvement of Australian soldiers. Carlyon takes you into battels with real soldiers, of all ranks, and each time you follow them to their fate. A balanced appraisal of the generals' and politicians' roles as well...and a timely reappraisal of the views of C.E.W. Bean, the great commentator and historian of that conflict (whose works a re magnificent, but so full of minute detail, which often gets in the way of narrative flow). I loved Caryon's book so much, I immediately began reading it again upon finishing. ( )