A Part of History.

A Part of History: Aspects of the British Experience of the First World War. Sir Michael Howard et al. Continuum. [pounds sterling]18.99. xx + 229 pages. ISBN 978-0-8264-9813-7. This collection of twenty-two essays is introduced by Sir Michael Howard. The range of topics covered is very wide: a revisionist look at the army's performance, the British 'Tommy', executions for cowardice, the role of the press. Gallipoli, Jutland, the Somme, India, the role of religion, filmmakers, women's work, the Imperial War Museum, the importance of poetry, postwar disenchantment, prose of the war years (an often overlooked field), the importance of oral history, memorials to the war, Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, the nature of courage, popular culture and the war, the archaeology of the remaining trenches and the whole question of remembrance. While the essays are not exhaustive (and were not intended to be) they cover an extremely wide range of topics, bring the latest research to bear and act as a good 'refresher course'. (T.B.)