Now It Can Be Told comprises of Philip Gibbs recollections regarding the First World War, in which he served as an officially commissioned war reporter. Titled in reference to the relieving of censorship laws following the conclusion of World War One in 1918, this book is noticeably different from the censored or dumbed-down accounts published under Gibbs' byline in popular newspapers as the conflict wore on. In this book, the full scale of the horror wrought in Europe is told unflinchingly with the aim of showing the depravity of conflict and the destruction that results. Early in the war, Gibbs' frank and accurate accounts of the carnage of modern warfare unnerved the British government, who were concerned his accounts would demoralize citizens and turn them against the war effort. Gibbs was ordered home; on refusing to cease reporting, he was arrested and forcibly brought back to Britain.

The Sykes-Picot Agreement was one of the defining moments in the history of the modern Middle East. Yet its co-creator, Sir Mark Sykes, had far more involvement in British Middle East strategy during World War I than the Agreement for which he is now most remembered. Between 1915 and 1916, Sykes was Lord Kitchener's agent at home and abroad, operating out of the War Office until the war secretary's death at sea in 1916. Following that, from 1916 to 1919 he worked at the Imperial War Cabinet, the War Cabinet Secretariat and, finally, as an advisor to the Foreign Office. The full extent of Sykes's work and influence has previously not been told. Moreover, the general impression given of him is at variance with the facts. Sykes led the negotiations with the Zionist leadership in the formulation of the Balfour Declaration, which he helped to write, and promoted their cause to achieve what he sought for a pro-British post-war Middle East peace settlement, although he was not himself a Zionist. Likewise, despite claims he championed the Arab cause, there is little proof of this other than general rhetoric mainly for public consumption. On the contrary, there is much evidence he routinely exhibited a complete lack of empathy with the Arabs. In this book, Michael Berdine examines the life of this impulsive and headstrong young British aristocrat who helped formulate many of Britain's policies in the Middle East that are responsible for much of the instability that has affected the region ever since.

The 'Cockney Jocks' at war in Flanders and France
The wide distribution of Scots throughout Britain and the Empire led to the formation new 'Scottish' regiments and the London Scottish, formed in 1859 as a volunteer rifle corps and originally commanded by Lord Elcho, was a primary example. Elcho, anxious to embrace all the fighting men of Scotland into one brotherhood irrespective of their clan origins, uniquely clad the regiment in kilts of 'Hodden Grey, ' a traditional hard wearing Scottish homespun cloth devoid of the tartan check and, as he perceived, being a drab colour suited for life on military campaign in the most practical way. Pinkerton, the author of this book was a soldier among the ranks of the regiment who answered the nation's call to arms during the First World War. The regiment was mobilised at the outbreak of hostilities and the 1st battalion had the distinction of being the first Territorials to go into action during operations at Messines in October 1914. Pinkerton takes his readers to war with the London Scottish on the western front where it took part in all the major offensives of the conflict. Predictably this vital account is filled with immediate first hand account action and anecdotes and is essential reading for anyone interested in the war in the trenches the kilted infantry knew.
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