Great-Uncle Harry: A Tale of War and Empire
by Michael Palin (Penguin, 2023); audiobook read by Michael Palin (Penguin Audio, 2023)
Palin argues for his great uncle’s relevance but doesn’t really succeed. Assiduous research has seduced him into including too much detail about Harry’s parents, while the lengthy section on military service, illuminating of the First World War more generally, lacks biographical interest.
The Waler: Australia’s Great War Horse
by Russell Vines & Barry Strickland; dir. Russell Vines (ABC, 2015)
documentary narrated / audiobook read by William McInnes (Bolinda, 2015)
A short, solemn documentary about the Australian Light Horsemen who served at Gallipoli (sans horses) and then in the Middle East during the First World War. The Waler horses suffered but endured, underpinning a victorious campaign… only to be shamefully cast aside.
Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth
by John Garth (HarperCollins, 2003)
Garth’s knowledge of Tolkien’s writings leads at times to an overwhelming focus on the minutiae of his invented languages and mythology. The strictly biographical aspects are more accessible, giving a good sense of (educated) life pre- and during the First World War.