Because You Died: Poetry and Prose of the First World War and After

Bringing together a selection of Vera Brittain's poetry and prose, some of it never published before, this collection commemorates the men she loved—fiance, brother, and two close friends—who served and died in World War I. It draws on her experiences as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse in London, Malta, and France, and illustrates her growing conviction of the wickedness of all war. Illustrated with many extraordinary photographs from Brittain's own albums, and edited with a new introduction by Mark Bostridge, this is an elegy to men who lost their lives in a bloody conflict, and a volume of remembrance to mark the 90th anniversary of the Armistice.

Subject
history
Setting
World War I
Audience
adult
Length
medium · 272 pages
Form
poetry

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