Death's Men: soldiers of the Great War, by Denis Winter

A very good description of what it was like to be a common British soldier or subaltern on the Western Front during the Great War (WW I). Very thorough, it glues together quotations from men who were there, to form a mosaic that shows the whole picture of the personal experience. Particulary interesting to me were the chapters on "Battle" and "After Battle", that activity "which qualified men for the world's most exclusive club." Also refreshing for showing what it was like when not in the trenches.

Recommended to readers interested in the effect of war on people.

One can nevertheless state with certainty that some soldiers undoubtedly did enjoy the war.
Reading through ... the memoirs ... the dominating inpression, however, is that many more men actively hated the war throughout than found pleasure in it. ... For every man who, in writing expressed approval of his war, ten can be found in writing to damn it in every respect.
Even if lovers of war and haters of war are added together, however, their combined numbers fall far short of that majority who were never able to reach a final judgment.

In short, as Chapman noted, 'a man might rave against war but from its myriad faces it could always turn towards him one which was his own'. 'It is a mode of life, a society, a custom, an intercourse, a conviviality, a business, an idleness, a madness, a monotony, a game, a penal servitude, a rebirth, a second nature - all these.'