I have read the book "In the footsteps of Private Lynch" the follow up to Somme Mud.

What I will do is post it to the first person who responds to this thread as long as they promise to send it to the next person and so on. You must fill in your name on the back page to say that you have read it, lets see how many names we get on it. The book is free but if you could make a small donation to the forum that would be great. I will pay the first postage and whoever gets it next pays the postage to the next person and so on.

So if you are up for a bit of fun, and have a great read for next to nothing then post your name below. When you recieve the book let the forum know you have it and who it's going to next.

Kevin

Kevinaka1888 posting to Irishmen 1916 on 10 Jan 2009 (done)
Irishmen 1916 posting to Pighills (done)
Pighills posting to BruceHubbard (done)
BruceHubbard posting to Will O'Brien (done)
Will O'Brien posting to Magicrat (done)
Magicrat posting to bpc59 (done)
bpc59 posting to Icetiger (done)
Icetiger posting to Bods (done)
Bods posting to Martin Bennitt (France)(done)
Martin Bennitt posting to Doug Lewis (Wolverhampton) its nearly home

Me please

Peter

PM me your address and I wing it over the water this weekend

Kevin

Me second please!!

What a GRRRREAT idea Kev - thanks!!!!

Can I join the queue?

Me after Bruce please.

PM Sent Kevin,
Pighills as you are next can you pm me your address.
Fairplay to Kevin always seems to have some great idea's.

Peter

Kev, what a brilliant idea! Can I join the queue please?

Ta

Alan

I've pm'd Peter with my address, once I receive it, as I'm coming to the end (I don't take too long to read things usually!!), I will pm Bruce for his address.

Kevin

Excellent idea - can I join the queue please ?

Brian

Please accept my apologies, Sue
I must have missed your post.
From wherever the idea originated, it is a good one.
I have pm'ed my address to Kim.....and so wait with baited breath its arrival....and i will then mail it on.
Bruce

Fair point Sue, but I think this is a little different - lots of us have read (or have plans to read) "Somme Mud", and the companion book "Footsteps" only appears to be available on import for £30 or so. Not available from libraries either.

Postage should be minimal as it is only a paperback. Also, probably not a book anyone would particularly need to consult after reading it.

Just my tuppenceworth...

Alan

I think its because this book cost £30 from America and not a lot of folk in the U.K. have it yet but have heard how much of a brilliant read it is. Rather than a bookring its just 1 book doing the rounds, a bit of fun, I have photographed it before its posted and hope it comes back with cup rings and dog ears just to show that is has been read by many. Your idea was great Sue but how many folk would post off a hard back or something that they love to read over and over again just incase it came back dog eared.

Kevin

I don't think I ever suggested they should - that came from the respondents, not me. But old news now.

Sue

Thanks Kevin, Book received today, soon as I read it, it will be passed on to Kim.

Peter

Until April that is when it's being released for circa £17 in hard-back (and, probably about a week later, in Tescos for (probably)about a tenner!)

Why wait for such a great book, it is a book that was well worth the £30, money well spent if you ask me.

K

Hi All,

"In the Footsteps Of Private Lynch" a great read, and how on to the next on the list "Pighills"

Peter

I have it now!!!!

Received this morning - many thanks Peter.

I couldn't resist looking at the photos first - wow!

I shall get on with reading it and pass it on to Bruce.

This UK seller has 3 available

http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchRe...tby=3&sts=t

When it has done the rounds of those much quicker to find this thread than I was, can I have it?

Promise to pass it on to the next request when read

Andy

Andy

I think I am currently at the end of the list - so if you PM me your address - I'll post it on after I read it - it's currently with Kim (Pighills).

Regards
Brian

Many thanks Brian

PM sent

Andy

Fantastic idea, I'd like to join in please.

Can't wait, I thought 'Somme Mud' really revealed how brutal the trenches must have been.
It made me even more sympathetic to the poor blokes (of all nations) who had to go through that bloody experience.

Andy,
I think I must be in the queue after you.
Perhaps you could PM when you have the book and I shall send my address over?

Regards
David

David

No problem.

Will pm you as soon as I have read it

Andy

Cheers Andy,

By the way - just had a quick look at your website. Nice work.
David

In answer to the question Who has it now - the answer is me. The book arrived yesterday. So if Alan (Magic Rat) would like to PM me his address, I will send it on in a few days (currently on Chapter 5 so it shouldn't be too long)

I hope the poor starving author - Will Davies never sees this thread!!!!

Pete

Pete

There was some logic behind this - see MagicRat's post no.13 - the book was only available from Australia on import & couldn't be ordered from libraries. Having said that it is finally coming out in the UK in April.

Regards
Brian

PS - I have just bought a copy of your Passchendaele - does that help ?!?

You will never know if the 9 folks that have borrowed the book will now go out and buy it for themselves and the poor starving author sells more copies because of this thread. If Will Davies could comment on this thread he is more than welcome to.

Kevin

It's not a book I would have read normally, but because I have now read it, thanks to Kev, I will go out and buy Somme Mud - so he does get a sale afterall!

I read them the other way round....Somme Mud first, and then this one.
A good companion to the first.

Bruce

Is the sequel as racist as the appalling Somme Mud? Or is it simply yet another work of 'faction'?

Ken

Here we go again!!!

Will (some) people please understand that this forum is a site for those who wish to gain further specific knowledge by the study of the history of the Great War & that small period in time.

HISTORY CAN NOT BE RE-WRITTEN

History, to be accurate, MUST be what happened, how it happened and why it happened. No more, no less.

To look into the 1910 - 1920 period of time you must accept that some things were different than they are today. They were accepted at the time; rightly or wrongly depending on your personal opinion, but that IS the way it was.

You can't judge the past by what is or what is not acceptable by the standards of today.

Please can we now leave the racist debate out of this thread; I for one don't want it hijacked causing the thread to be closed.

Andy

Amen to that.

Please do not let this thread disintegrate, or it will get the chop.

Last comment on this.

G'day all,
I have been following this post (along with other posts on 'Somme Mud' and 'In the Footsteps of Private Lynch') with great interest and have forwarded to Will Davies the high regard that his work has received from GWF members.
Thr recent debate that has been censured will, I think be a disappointment to him and the Lynch family.
I am trying to get Will to make his own posting to congratulate all those that have admired his work in enabling us to have access to such an important primary source.
Regards
Pop
(Sean McManus)

As one of those who has now had the opportunity to read both books, I suppose I ought to comment.

I read Somme Mud first. I thought it an fascinating read. Being British, it was interesting to read the points of view of an Aussie. Yes, the racist remarks did jar a bit, but then I read them as being the attitudes of the time. We can't change social mores in retrospect, and that is how people in the past thought. I took the book to be an account of the author's experiences, ending in his return to his native land. I was almost sorry to have finished it.

Turning to Footsteps, it is to the author's credit that he managed to get Somme Mud published. This book puts the original into context. Pages are devoted to explaining where the author was, and the events that were going on at the time. By a lot of research of available records, Will is able to point out where the original narrative must have been fictional. For instance, the author describes actions on the Western Front as if he were there, when the records show him at the time in hospital in England. That in no way detracted from my enjoyment of both. Footsteps also brings the author's life up to date, including what happened to him after his return to Australia. As an ex-teacher, I sat and wondered what life could have been like as the one teacher in a tin shack school miles from anywhere and having to teach all ages and subjects! The love of his children also comes through in the last chapter of Footsteps, and rounds off the story nicely.

This is the first time I have read an original, and then a commentary and update on one. It was really interesting to notice the differences, and I think Will is to be congratulated on both getting the original Somme Mud published and also for his research and writing of Footsteps as its companion.

Bruce

Our family has both books, already much thumbed and passed around all the kids. They may well buy their own some day. We love them and are a treasured addition to the growing list of WW1 books on our shelves, (need another bookcase).
It is through reading books, thoroughly grounded in the era they are written, that we are informed, make judgements, learn from history and move on.
Onya Nulla!

Cheers
Shirley

Will has now sent the book to me. Once read, I'll send to Brian

Alan

I hope everyone who has read it has remembered to sign the back of it before posting it on.

Enjoy the read Alan,

Kevin

Book now sent on to Brian

Alan

Crooneart was correct.
Copies of the Hardback for sale for £10-00 in my local Tesco Store this morning.
George

I'll put my hand up and ask for it to be sent down to Oz.
Then shall send it on to the next.

Cheers
Kim

A homecoming!



Bruce

Hey everyone, i recently read "Somme Mud" and really enjoyed it. I haven't been able to find this next book for sale so would love to participate in this.
Thanks.

Latest update - I've just about finished it so it will be winging its way to Andy (IceTiger) very shortly!

Brian

List updated, keep it going pals, I wonder if we can get it round the world twice, I hope you have all signed the back of it, I hope its dog eared, cup ring stained, broken spine, as long as the pages are still intact lol

Kevin

Thanks Brian

Looking forward to reading it.

Andy

hi, dont know if its already been mentioned but if you live in uk, then u can pick up a copy for £10 hardback from tesco
great idea guys! should be done more often with books.

Thanks Brian

It arrived safely in the post today.

If Bods will kindly PM their address I shall post it on once read. It will be joining me on my next cruise (Sail Tuesday) so will post it on my return.

Kevin
It is signed by all the readers as requested & has also aquired a number of book marks which I will add to.

Andy