Retracing the experiences of a private in the Great War — the follow-up to the bestselling First World War memoir Somme Mud. With a mighty roar the shell explodes, spouting flame and phosphorous fumes everywhere... A man five ahead of me is sobbing — queer, panting gasping sobs. He bends his head towards his stomach just twice and is still. We've had our baptism of fire, seen our first man killed... When Will Davies discovered the manuscript for Somme Mud, he knew he had found a lost treasure. Private Lynch's powerful story of his time in the trenches of the Somme has become a classic. In this new book, Will Davies follows in the footsteps of Lynch and his battalion, from their long route marches to lice-ridden billets, into the frontline. Using an innovative "then and now" approach in words and pictures, the book brings to life the young men who sacrificed their youth over 90 years ago.

In the Footsteps of Private Lynch: Retracing the Experiences of a Private Soldier in the Great War

Davies, Will

Biographies & Memoirs

Bantam]

Massood was the legendary leader of the ethnic groups that defeated the Soviets in Afghanistan. He later led the Northern Alliance against the Taliban until assassinated by Al-Qaeda operatives on 7 September 2001. This is the gripping personal story of his right-hand warlord, Abdullah Shariat, and contains Massood's diary extracts, photos from Mujahideen archives and KGB documents.

Massood's War: Saving Afghanistan - an inside story

Leaders & Notable People

UNKNO

The extraordinary little-known true story of the cat-and-mouse war waged beneath the trenches of the Western Front and the subject of a major new film."Ten seconds, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one -- fire! Down goes the firing switch. At first, nothing. Then from deep down there comes a low rumble, and it is as if the world is splitting apart."On June 7th, 1917, nineteen massive mines exploded beneath Messines Ridge near Ypres. The largest man-made explosion in history up until that point shattered the landscape and smashed open the German lines. Ten thousand German soldiers died. Two of the mines -- at Hill 60 and the Caterpillar -- were fired by men of the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company, comprising miners and engineers rather than parade-ground soldiers. Drawing on the diaries of one of the key combatants, Beneath Hill 60 tells the little-known, devastatingly brutal true story of this subterranean war waged beneath the Western Front -- a stygian battle-ground where men drowned in viscous chalk, suffocated in the blue gray clay, choked on poisonous air or died in the darkness, caught up in vicious hand-to-hand fighting.

Beneath Hill 60: The Extraordinary True Story of the Secret War Being Waged Beneath the Trenches of the Western Front

History

Military

Jarold, aka, Jazz, is a typical sixteen year old boy. He lives at home with his two remarkably un-divorced parents, his holier-than-thou sister, and his overbearing grandmother. It's a life straight out of a TV show. Or so it seems…
The truth is that Jazz's life is anything but picture perfect. He's seeing a shrink because his mom and dad found out he's gay; his schoolmates torment him every day; and he keeps bumping into his high school teacher at a local gay bar. To make matters worse, his best friend, Al, keeps pulling him into trouble. Jazz knows he has to keep everything together, at least through finals, so he can get away from this life once and for all. But, in his haste to leave everything behind, he comes to find out that the only thing he can't escape is himself. 
Witty, sardonic, and incredibly funny, My Side of the Story is the perfectly rendered portrait of a precocious, troubled teenager faced with the awkward process of growing up and coming out.

My Side of the Story: A Novel

Literature & Fiction

Bloomsbury USA

Beautifully presented young readers' edition of the bestselling memoir of a young soldier on the First World War's Western Front "It's the end of the 1916 winter and the conditions are almost unbelievable. We live in a world of Somme mud. We sleep in it, work in it, fight in it, wade in it and many of us die in it. We see it, feel it, eat it and curse it, but we can't escape it, not even by dying." Private Edward Lynch was just 18 when he enlisted in the army. When he returned to Australia almost three years later, he wrote Somme Mud, a vivid account of the horrific realities of trench warfare from an ordinary infantryman's point of view: the traumatized soldiers and ravaged landscapes, the curious mixture of hatred, empathy, and admiration for the equally naive enemy soldiers, the disillusionment and the camaraderie. Lynch's candor and down-to-earth wit make Somme Mud engaging for any reader, while archival photographs, a full glossary, and editor Will Davies' explanatory chapter introductions make this edition an illuminating text for students. As well as a memoir of one man's experience of war, Somme Mud is an evocative record of the language and attitudes of early twentieth century Australia.

Somme Mud : An Australian Teenager in the First World War

Children's Books

Random House Australia

We all remember images from WWI of massive artillery barrages and soldiers crossing shattered landscapes towards certain slaughter. Beneath these killing fields of the Western Front, another war was taking place, a deadly game 30 meters down, played between thousands of troops. These were not infantrymen, but miners. Their mutual goal was to tunnel beneath "no man's land," under the opposing lines and destroy the German enemy from below. Unfortunately, the Germans had the same idea and were digging in from the other side. Over 4,585 Australian miners took part in this secret subterranean war, fighting under stress and conditions that terrified even the most hardened infantryman on the surface. The 1st Australian Tunneling Division was responsible for the mines set under "Hill 60," a high point that dominated that part of the killing fields of Belgium. They were led by Captain Oliver Woodward who had started his mining career in Charters Towers, Queensland and went on to head BHP in Australia. His bravery and that of his men in guarding those underground mines and their subsequent massive explosions broke the gridlocked trench warfare that had continued for three years. Through exhaustive research, Will Davies has uncovered first-hand accounts of life for the tunnelers and soldiers at the front. In sharing their hopes, dreams, victories, and disappointments he tells the broad story of day after day in the mud at the front line and uncovers the glorious spirit of these men who fought and died for their countries. Beneath Hill 60 is an unforgettable story.

Beneath Hill 60

Australia & Oceania

Vintage Australia

We all remember images from WWI of massive artillery barrages and soldiers crossing shattered landscapes towards certain slaughter. Beneath these killing fields of the Western Front, another war was taking place, a deadly game 30 metres down, played between thousands of troops. These were not infantrymen- these were miners. Their mutual goal was to tunnel beneath 'no man's land', under the opposing lines and destroy the German enemy from below. Unfortunately, the Germans had the same idea and were digging in from the other side. Over 4585 Australian miners took part in this secret subterranean war, fighting under stress and conditions that terrified even the most hardened infantryman on the surface. Through exhaustive research, Will Davies has uncovered first-hand accounts of life for the tunnellers and soldiers at the front. In sharing their hopes, dreams, victories and disappointments he tells the broad story of day after day in the mud at the front line and uncovers the glorious spirit of these men who fought and died for their countries.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Davies, Will. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Davies, Will

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Davies, Will. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

In the Footsteps of Private Lynch: Retracing the Experiences of a Private Soldier in the Great War

Massood's War: Saving Afghanistan - an inside story

Beneath Hill 60: The Extraordinary True Story of the Secret War Being Waged Beneath the Trenches of the Western Front

My Side of the Story: A Novel

Somme Mud : An Australian Teenager in the First World War

Beneath Hill 60

Beneath Hill 60