Captured Memories

Peter Liddle was a pioneer in the recording of memories of personal experience in the First World War and in the social background of those who lived through those years. Later he moved into the recording of men and women for whom the Second World War was the formative experience of their lives. In a planned two volume collection of the most outstanding interviews of the four thousand he made, for the first volume he has chosen memories which take the reader back as many as a hundred and twenty years to days in sailing ships, a Hebridean boyhood, suffragist action, pre-1914 working class life and work in the North-East of England, city life in London, service in the Boer War, pioneering a settlement in Manitoba, Canada, and the Army's experiments in the use of man-lifting kites, airplanes and balloons.The main focus of the book is upon the First World War with The Western Front battles, the Gallipoli Campaign and the Battle of Jutland prominently featured. Liddle also represents the Mesopotamian and East African fronts and women nursing under particularly unusual circumstances. Several Victoria Cross award winners and a fighter pilot ace appear, as do those whose distinction was to come later in their lives like Harold Macmillan, Henry Moore, Gordon Jacob, Emanuel Shinwell, Barnes Wallis and Victor Silvester. There is even an interview with the first conscientious objector to be court-martialed and sentenced to death before commutation of the sentence. This book is a veritable treasure trove of the past.REVIEWS ..".both informative and useful one cannot help but admire the way each of these people seems to believe that he or she helped move their generation through a rough patch and into a better tomorrow. Whether or not Dr. Liddle set out to show that collective spirit when he first planned his book, it s difficult to know; the fact that he does indeed reveal it seems a testament to his skill as an interviewer and an editor."Sewanee Review, 02/2011"

Peter Liddle a fost un pionier in inregistrarea amintirilor experientei personale din Primul Razboi Mondial si in contextul social al celor care au trait acei ani. Mai tarziu s-a mutat in inregistrarea barbatilor si femeilor pentru care al Doilea Razboi Mondial a fost experienta formativa a vietii lor.