The Faber Book of Reportage

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We pushed them into the sides of the trench but bits of them kept getting uncovered and sticking out, like people in a badly made bed. Lastly, and possibly as a consequence of the emphasis on WW2, almost half the statements in the book are taken from the 20th century.

The Faber Book of Reportage by Professor John Carey - Waterstones The Faber Book of Reportage by Professor John Carey - Waterstones

I know not how much merit there may be in the system; but I do know that, in the administration of the penal code, there are abominations which should bring down the fate of Sodom upon the city. There will always be disagreement over the selection of material for a collection like this, but in my opinion there’s also an over-concentration on descriptions of wartime events. Keeping in mind that the most memorable events are those that assault the senses, it’s hard for me to imagine a book filled with joyful moments as being a real look at history. Graves recommended Baxter for the Victoria Cross, but “the authorities thought it worth no more than a Distinguished Conduct Medal.Overall good, a bit unbalanced in the timeline, about a third of the book was 1914-1950, almost nothing from 1950-1980, I would expect less from ancient and ramping up to printing, as was the case, but it felt like the editor was very focused on early to mid 20th C. Looking at the other editions, this book seems to have also been published under the title Eyewitness to History. There seemed to be a loud bang and a blinding flash of light all round me, and I felt a tremendous shock – no pain, only a violent shock, such as you get from an electric terminal; with it a sense of utter weakness, a feeling of being stricken and shrivelled up to nothing. In the introduction, Professor Carey informs us that the book is one of reportage, of written accounts by eyewitnesses. I could not help but be particularly moved by women's stories, even if by necessity recorded by men, so we have the cruelty of the Great Mogul (Jahangir) towards a wife in 1618, as witnessed by Edward Terry: “For his cruelties, he put one of his women to a miserable death; one of his women he had formerly touched and kept company with, but now she was superannuated; for neither himself nor nobles (as they say) come near their wives or women after they exceed the age of thirty.

The Faber Book of Reportage - John Carey - Google Books

I should only make myself ridiculous in my own eyes if I clung to life and spared it, when there is no more profit in it. Fantastisk genvej til mere horisontal historie (hvad skete der samtidigt rundt om i hver i givne perioder) og sætte noget kronologi på nogle af de begivenheder vi kender til, samt gøre fortiden 'genkendelig' og relevant. I knew immediately that I was hit, but because of the seeming bang and flash I thought it was a rifle nearby that had gone…. Tsar Nicholas II and the Russian Imperial family shot 1918 - not sure why they had to shoot the doctor, the maid and 2 waiters also?In the negroes’ apartment I saw much which made me blush that I was a white man, and which, for a moment, stirred up an evil spirit in my animal nature. Dominated by war, especially the 20th century, but also interspersed with insights into civilian life. And the mostly well-known authors of these vignettes added even more flavor to the stories, and Carey's massaging makes every reflection and memory an easy, yet compelling read.

Faber Book of Reportage | Stanfords Faber Book of Reportage | Stanfords

A piece from Robert Graves, from 1915, described the incredible courage of a “tender-hearted lance-corporal named Baxter”, who walked out on his own into No-Man’s Land on the Western Front, waving a handkerchief, to go to a wounded soldier trapped close to the German lines. M. Macoll: After her male partner had been quickly and mercifully beheaded, the woman was given one hundred debilitating blows with a stick, and while lying sagged on her side, a crowd of men and boys began pelting her with stones. The reports include a disproportionate number of incidents that either occur in Britain or at least involve British people in other countries.

I think anyone who is serious about studying history or more important BEING an historian needs to read this. Lots of fascinating material, although obviously it's patchy, and there are an awful lot of battle reports. Reading too much of it in one sitting would have been a bit overwhelming and - certainly in the latter 20th century chapters - also somewhat depressing. I had a numb, dazed feeling, a consciousness of being very badly hurt, but no pain in the ordinary sense.