Wednesday, November 06, 2013

THE SILENT DIVISION & CONCERNING ONE MAN’S WAR 1914 – 1919

Next year marks the centenary of World War One and already many titles have been announced for publication coinciding with the centennial. Here is some advance information about an important NZ title coming in February from John Douglas Publishing.
For more information contact - publish.johndouglas@xtra.co.nz



Title: THE SILENT DIVISION & CONCERNING ONE MAN’S WAR 1914 – 1919
Author: ORMOND E. BURTON

The Book is in three Parts

BIOGRAPHY OF ORMOND BURTON:
By David Grant a Wellington-based historian and well-credentialed
author who has 13 books to his credit. He has also written
numerous essays for anthologies, dictionaries, journals and
newsletters.
PART ONE: a re-issue, unaltered, of the acclaimed The
Silent Division – New Zealanders at the Front 1914 – 1919, first
published in 1935, but now including maps and illustrations.

PART TWO: issued for the first time; that part of
Ormond Burton’s hitherto unpublished autobiography which
deals with his heroic, front-line service in The Great War, entitled
Concerning One Man’s War, 1914 -1919. This is a vibrant
account at an individual level; arguably the finest writing by a
New Zealander about that war. Edited by John H Gray, an acknowledged
historian and published author, specialising in the
The New Zealand Division on the Western Front.

FOREWORD: Major General Sir A H Russell KCB, KCMG (D)

This is in no sense a book of fiction but one of facts and
of the reaction of a kindly soul to his experiences as a
front-line Digger.
In it is to be found a truer reflection both of the grim
side of the thing we call war as of its lighter and carefree
aspect than is commonly found in war books. If the sense
of tragedy grows deeper as the story unfolds and becomes
almost overwhelming in the description of life in the
trenches and of the realities of the battlefield, there yet
runs through the fabric of the narrative a golden thread—
a sense of beauty, of humour: and while he laments the
apparent futility of war, the writer glimpses the glory of
sacrifice, of the endurance of hardship and of the suffering
of wounds that others may escape.
To everyone who has shared in the Iliad, in which the
writer took part, the vivid descriptions of the wanderings
of the N.Z.E.F. will inevitably recall his own experiences,
nor will the memories be all unpleasant.
May it bring to its other readers a more lively appreciation
of the inevitable after effects on the health, both physical
and mental, of those whose lives at the front are written in
these pages.
It is natural and perhaps inevitable that such experiences
should lead to criticisms and to the free expression on the
writer’s part of opinions with which his readers do not
agree. They are none the less interesting, and share with
the rest of his story the merit of being an honest record of
his experiences.

Publication Date: February 2014
RRP: $75.00
SIZE: 180mm X 240mm
EXTENT: 464 Pages
ILLUSTRATIONS: 56 Photos,22 Maps
BINDING: Hardback, dust jacket
ISBN: 978-0-9876675-4

JOHN DOUGLAS PUBLISHING LTD
PO BOX 14022
27 SHEFFIELD CRESCENT
CHRISTCHURCH 8544
PHONE: +64 3 360 3307
MOBILE: 027 2210138

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