Reddit reviews At the Sharp End Volume One: Canadians Fighting the Great War 1914-1916

I am not actually an historian (please don't fire me, Artrw), but rather a part-time professor in the English department at a large Canadian university.

Nevertheless, my research focus is the historiography of the Great War and the degree to which developments in same have resolutely failed to be incorporated into how my own discipline (that is, English) chooses to teach the War and its attendant literature. Virtually all of my professional and recreational reading has to do with the history and cultural memory of the War, and I sometimes find myself identifying more with the cultural concerns and realities of the 1910s-20s than I do with those of my own age as a result.

Anyway, my daily life is pretty straightforward:

• Most days I have to myself, whatever else I have to do. I live hand-to-mouth, officially below my country's poverty line, but in a manner that is still quite comfortable for all that. My needs are modest and my scope limited. I am not married, and live with a couple of housemates; my girlfriend is in a similar financial and professional situation, so we have a lot of mutual complaints and a lot of fun as well.
  
  
• When classes are in session (which I'm glad to say they will be again in a fortnight), I spend anywhere from two to four days of the week on campus. Each class I teach typically operates in two 1.5-hour sessions on different days, and I've got to have my office hours besides. Working on campus is just more efficient even apart from this, though -- none of the distractions of home, and immediate access to the library to boot.
  
  
• A fair amount of time is devoted to class preparation and presentation, and I'm sorry to say that the classes themselves typically have nothing to do with my historical focus. I've managed to sneak in some stuff from time to time, but mostly I just need to acquaint the students with other things. I love doing it all the same, though.
  
  
• Still, this may not forever be the case! While I'm teaching a delightful course on myth and fantasy this fall, I've been working on getting the department to set up a "Literature of War in English" course for the next academic year. It's a gap we've keenly felt for a while now, and I intend to fill it.
  
  
• When I'm not teaching, prepping, office-houring or marking, I spend my time working on the other projects that sustain me. My current focus is on the amazing propaganda bureaus in Britain during the Great War (Masterman's Wellington House and Lord Northcliffe's Crewe House specifically), but I have lots of other irons in the fire -- some even in fields far-removed from this one (i.e. the intersection of religious and aesthetic modernism in early 20th C. England, the works of a major Canadian humourist/economist, Ezra Pound's and Thomas Hardy's treatment of the life of Jesus in their poetry, etc.).
  
  Anyway, apart from all of this, from time to time I get to come into contact with interesting figures in Canada's literary-historical establishment. I've had some delightful beers with Tim Cook, taken tea/sherry/all sorts of hospitality with the amazing Peter Neary, and been put in the company of the likes of Jack Granatstein, Gwynne Dyer and Jonathan Vance.
  
  In all, my life is wonderful. I'm paid a living wage to do things I'd probably do for free, and in my spare time I get to interact with you lovely people. It's pretty good.

One of my favourites is The Armada by Garrett Mattingly. Exceptionally well written and entertaining, very well researched but accessible to a general audience. Bit difficult to find these days, but you should be able to order it online.


And there's lots of interesting stuff in Canadian history! If you're interested in comemorating the centennial of the First World War, I suggest reading At the Sharp End by Tim Cook, about the Canadian Corps from 1914-16. The sequel, Shock Troops, covers 1916-18. Both very well written, engaging and well researched. Prepare for some disturbing and heartbreaking stuff though.

For World War 1:

At the Sharp End By Tim Cook, well written and very interesting https://www.amazon.ca/Sharp-End-One-Canadians-1914-1916/dp/0670067342

(At the Sharp End is 1914-1916, and his second book Shock Troops is 1917-1918)

If you want an Afghanistan based novel read Wounded by Eric Walters, more of a teen novel (it's relatively short) but it's about a JTF2 sniper who comes home to his family and suffers from PTSD.