Silent Night: the Story of the World War I Christmas Truce.Stanley Weintraub Stanley Weintraub (born. April 17, 1929) is a professor, historian, and biographer. He is an expert on George Bernard Shaw. Weintraub was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the eldest child of Benjamin and Ray Segal Weintraub, followed by siblings Herbert and Gladys. . 2001. Read by Edward Holland Edward Holland was the Mayor of New York from 1747 to 1757. • • [ . 4-1.5 hour tapes. Books on Tape. 0-7366-8322-4. $32.00. Vinyl binder; content note. JSA JSA - Japanese Standards Association. This true story occurred during the first winter of WW I. On Christmas Eve 1914, an informal cease-fire occurred between soldiers of the Allied and German armies along the Western Front. Nothing official had been declared. After months of depressing trench warfare trench warfare. Although trenches were used in ancient and medieval warfare, in the American Civil War, and in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–5), they did not become important until World War I. , the idea of a Christmas truce, possibly initiated by the Germans, spread rapidly. The author describes the men exchanging gifts, singing carols, playing soccer, renewing acquaintances, and participating in other very "unwarlike" activities--much to the chagrin of their superior officers. The respite ended as informally as it had begun and the soldiers returned to the bloody business of killing each other. Holland's British-accented, semi-voiced presentation captures the feeling of the men who lived with mud, rain, vermin vermin /ver·min/ (ver´min) 1. an external animal parasite. 2. such parasites collectively.ver´minous ver·min n. pl. , rats and other miseries while facing an enemy entrenched en·trench also in·trench v. en·trenched, en·trench·ing, en·trench·es v.tr. 1. To provide with a trench, especially for the purpose of fortifying or defending. 2. on the other side of "no man's land." Holland's accent glides from British to German with ease. Weintraub closes with a look at alternative history and speculates on what might have happened if the truce had held. Thousands of lives would have been spared; there might never have been a Hitler or a Holocaust; Germany might have become the dominant economic power in Europe; and some life-saving drugs might not have been discovered. Stimulating and thought provoking, as well as entertaining. Prof. John E. Boyd, Jenkintown, PA |
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