Ghosts of War: A History of World War I in Poetry and Prose

By Andrew Ferguson

The First World War produced a unique outpouring of prose and poetry depicting the stark realism of a brutal and futile war; no war before or since has been so extensively chronicled nor its misery so exposed. First-hand experiences in the trenches compelled poets such as Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen to write with a resolute honesty, describing events with more feeling and sincerity than the heavily censored letters that were sent home. Accounts of the Great War are typically written from an English perspective, but Ghosts of War encompasses a selection of contributions from across Europe and America, with an emphasis on the Scottish involvement. Using the words of over one hundred poets and writers, Andrew Ferguson recounts the war from its optimistic beginning to its sombre conclusion, bringing the conflict to life in a dramatic, emotive and, at times, humorous way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: Nov 7, 2016
• ISBN: 9780750969710

Andrew Ferguson

Andrew Ferguson, a senior editor at the Weekly Standard, is the author of Fools’ Names, Fools’ Faces, a collection of essays, and Land of Lincoln, named by the Wall Street Journal and the Chicago Tribune as a Favorite Book of the Year. Formerly a senior writer for the Washingtonian magazine, he has been a contributing editor to Time magazine, as well as a columnist for Fortune, TV Guide, Forbes FYI, National Review, Bloomberg News, and Commentary. He has also written for the New Yorker, New York magazine, the New Republic, the American Spectator, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and many other publications. In 1992, he was a White House speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush. He lives in suburban Washington, D.C., with his wife and two children.