Aftermath: Travels in a Post-War World
by Farley Mowat
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Mowat returned to Europe in 1953 to retrace his wartime footsteps. Encountering populations changed by tragedy yet determined to move forward, he returned with stories of the courage and resilience of ordinary people.Tags
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Every time I read a Farley Mowat book I am reminded again what a great writer he was. He was a great addition to the Canadian book scene and it is too bad he has finally gone to that great nature preserve in the sky (he died on May 6 2014). On the other hand he was so prolific that it will be a long time until I run out of his books and then I could start reading them over again.
This memoir captures a trip that Mowat made with his first wife Fran to Europe in 1952. He had received an advance to write a book about his army regiment, the Hastings and Prince Edward regiment. He decided to spend the whole advance by flying to England, buying a new car, and then travelling Europe revisiting the sites he had been with his regiment. If you show more know Mowat at all you can imagine that this trip involved lots of liquor and hijinks. It also has some of the most heart-wrenching accounts of the battles of World War II that I have ever read. The chapter about the resistance fighters in the Vercors region of France was enough to make me weep and that was all second-hand because Mowat had never been there during the war. When he talks about the battles he was actually in you can practically hear the bombs explode and the screams of the dying men.
Thanks Farley for showing us the world through your eyes. show less
This memoir captures a trip that Mowat made with his first wife Fran to Europe in 1952. He had received an advance to write a book about his army regiment, the Hastings and Prince Edward regiment. He decided to spend the whole advance by flying to England, buying a new car, and then travelling Europe revisiting the sites he had been with his regiment. If you show more know Mowat at all you can imagine that this trip involved lots of liquor and hijinks. It also has some of the most heart-wrenching accounts of the battles of World War II that I have ever read. The chapter about the resistance fighters in the Vercors region of France was enough to make me weep and that was all second-hand because Mowat had never been there during the war. When he talks about the battles he was actually in you can practically hear the bombs explode and the screams of the dying men.
Thanks Farley for showing us the world through your eyes. show less
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In 1953, Mowat (Never Cry Wolf), who had been a soldier in the Canadian army, returned to see the France and Italy he had known only under wartime conditions. He relates how he and his wife, Frances, bought a car in England and drove through both countries, where he was astonished to be welcomed as a returning war hero. Savoring scenes both familiar and changed, the couple avoided tourist show more centers, sought out quiet places and relished local histories, architecture, landscapes and, above all, the regeneration of people who had put their wartime suffering behind them. Among his memorable discoveries, Mowat recalls the little pottery commune in an Italian seacoast cave near Positano where, without modern technology, the craftsmen and their families lived and worked, taking pleasure in ancient methods of refining and working clays; and, farther along the road, a fishing village where the fishermen limited their catches to what they and their neighbors could eat to avoid overfishing and thus preserve an age-old way of life for their children. Although time must now have changed much of what Mowat found, this is a disarmingly upbeat and gracefully written memoir. show less
added by VivienneR
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Author Information
60+ Works 15,308 Members
Farley Mowat's nearly forty books have sold millions of copies & have been published in more than twenty languages. His books include "Never Cry Wolf", "Sea of Slaughter", "The Farfarers", "People of the Deer", "The Dog Who Wouldn't Be", "The Desperate People", & "Ordeal by Ice". (Publisher Provided) He is one of Canada's most popular & show more distinguished writers. Through the past five decades he has recorded his experiences in several highly successful books for both adults & children. He has received scores of literary awards & his works have been translated into more than 30 languages. (Publisher Provided) Farley Mowat was born in Belleville, Ontario, Canada on May 12, 1921. During World War II, he fought in the Allied invasion of Sicily. He was discharged in 1945 with the rank of Captain. He studied at the University of Toronto. Farley was an author, activist, and environmentalist. He wrote more than 40 books during his lifetime including both novels and non-fiction works. His books include Never Cry Wolf, My Father's Son, Otherwise, and Eastern Passage. He received several awards including the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Medal in 1956, the Governor General's Award for Lost in the Barrens in 1956, the Leacock Medal for Humour for The Boat Who Wouldn't Float in 1970, and the Order of Canada in 1981. He died on May 6, 2014 at the age of 92. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Aftermath: Travels in a Post-War World
- Original title
- Aftermath: Travels in a Post-War World
- People/Characters
- Farley Mowat
- First words
- It is our nature to travel into our past, hoping therby to illuminate the darkness that bedevils the present.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"And where will we go then, poor things?"...And where will we go then?
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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- English, French
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- ASINs
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