In the Fields and the Trenches

November 15, 2015
Hollihan examines the wartime service of 12 men and three women and how it affected the rest of their lives. A few--the four sons of Theodore Roosevelt; baseball great Christy Mathewson--were famous while they served. Others, such as Missouri farmer (and later president) Harry Truman and recent Oxford graduate J.R.R. Tolkien, rose to fame much later. Harlem Hellfighter Henry Lincoln Johnson won the Croix de Guerre and, posthumously, the Congressional Medal of Honor--but the war drove him to alcoholism and an early grave, the exact location of which is unknown. A young German architect chronicled his war in a collection of 600 photographs; Marie Curie's self-possessed teenage daughter ran a mobile X-ray unit at the front; young Ernest Hemingway conflated three weeks of active duty into a lifetime of stories. Each sketch draws from the subject's own words whenever possible, with no footnotes but with endnotes and a bibliography. In clear, unsentimental, third-person language, they offer a series of small glimpses that, when taken as a whole, present a full picture of the conflict and the impact it had on ordinary lives: "The numbers were not in his favor. A chasse pilot lived an average of 11 days when Quentin [Roosevelt] arrived at the Western Front." Black-and-white photos add to the sense of humanity. A worthwhile addition to every library collection and a natural for military-history enthusiasts. (Nonfiction. 12-18)

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January 1, 2016

Gr 7 Up-Hollihan attempts to interest readers in the history of the first World War-often considered to be more complicated than World War II-by presenting the accounts of 12 different people, some famous figures and some more average citizens, who joined the war effort as pilots, soldiers, X-ray operators, performers, and more. While those less steeped in early to mid-20th-century culture might not recognize those profiled, their stories are still interesting. By including a cross section of nationalities, races, genders, and wartime roles, Hollihan provides a nuanced look at the subject. She ties it all together with photos and a time line. This volume may be a hard sell to reluctant readers but should make history enthusiasts very happy. The title has some use as a tool for research but more so as a collected biography than as a war history. VERDICT A solid addition to medium to large collections.-Elizabeth Nicolai, Anchorage Public Library, AK

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2015
Grades 7-10 Almost a century after the U.S. declared war on Germany, thus entering WWI, come these brief biographies of 18 young people who played various parts in the so-called War to End All Wars. Some are famousJ. R. R. Tolkien, Ernest Hemingway, Buster Keaton, Harry Trumanwhile others are less so, like Henry Lincoln Johnson, the only African American to appear in the book, and Walter Koessler, the only German. Only 3 of the 18 are women, unsurprisingly, since the only women to get near the field of battle were nurses; telephone operators; volunteers for the Red Cross, YMCA, and the Salvation Army; and entertainers like Elsie Janis, who is profiled. The entries are a mixed bag; some, like those for Irene Curie and Buster Keaton, are perfunctory, but others, like those of Hemingway and Truman (the best of the bunch), are paradigmatic. There are some redundancies, and the writing is sometimes less than inspired, but overall the book will hold reader interest and will be valuable for classroom use.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)