The First World War (1914-1918) marked a turning point in modern history and culture and its literary legacy is vast: poetry, fiction and memoirs abound. But the drama of the period is rarely recognised, with only a handful of plays commonly associated with the war."First World War Plays" draws together canonical and lesser-known plays from the First World War to the end of the twentieth century, tracing the ways in which dramatists have engaged with and resisted World War I in their works. Spanning almost a century of conflict, this anthology explores the changing cultural attitudes to warfare, including the significance of the war over time, interwar pacifism, and historical revisionism. The collection includes writing by combatants, as well as playwrights addressing historical events and national memory, by both men and women, and by writers from Great Britain and the United States.Plays from the period, like "Night Watches" by Allan Monkhouse (1916), "Mine Eyes Have Seen" by Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1918) and "Tunnel Trench" by Hubert Griffith (1924), are joined with reflections on the war in "Post Mortem" by Noel Coward (1930, performed 1944) and "Oh What A Lovely War" by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop (1963) as well as later works "The Accrington Pals" by Peter Whelan (1982) and "Sea and Land and Sky "by Abigail Docherty (2010).Accompanied by a general introduction by editor, Dr Mark Rawlinson.

The conquest of the air-and beyond
This interesting book, which includes photographs and diagrams, describes the early years of man's attempts to gain mastery of the air. It chronicles the first, rudimentary attempts at flight in balloons to their ultimate development including their use during the Great War. Next came the age of the dirigible including, of course, the mighty Zeppelin. Allied dirigibles of the First World War are also considered. Most significant, however, was the development of powered, heavier than air, winged, machines and in this account they are described from their genesis with the Wright brothers to their use in the first great conflict which led to the creation of the air forces of the world. German and Allied aircraft are discussed, together with their various uses, applications and the deeds of the intrepid young men who flew them. There are not many accounts of the early days of aviation in peace and war so any addition to their number is welcome. This book was written before the potential of the aircraft had been fully realised and is an interesting perspective on how the first pilots, aircraft designers, manufacturers and visionaries saw them and their future in the opening decades of the twentieth century. An essential addition to any library of early aviation, this book is recommended.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.

The Women of the Great War
It has been a salient feature of twentieth century warfare that the industrial nature of conflict, combined with the huge number of men required and the numerous machines and armaments involved, has meant that industry has-of necessity-had to increase its capacity to keep the fighting forces constantly and consistently supplied. Yet each conflict has inevitably drained the places of industry of the very workforce it required to function effectively. The solution in both World Wars has been for women to step forward to fill the roles formally undertaken by men who were by then enlisted into the armed services. Of course, women invariably proved themselves to be equal to the tasks assigned to them and indeed without them wartime industrial production would inevitably have been compromised to the point of peril for the military outcome. The work was invariably hard and often dangerous, but women on the home front have long been regarded as the essential, if largely unsung, heroines of the war effort. The principal benefit of this book is that it not only describes the activities of women in the workplace, but that it includes many photographs of women at work, demonstrating the multitude of weapons, armaments, equipment and vehicles they manufactured during the First World War. This concise Leonaur edition includes two books-that were originally so short as to not have seen re-publication in modern times-for good value.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.

War in the East African bush
The First World War was inevitably a global conflict because the rush by the principal powers of Europe to establish trading bases and colonies, principally during the 19th century, guaranteed it would be so. In Africa, German and British settlers were close neighbours and at the outbreak of hostilities were ready for immediate confrontation. National and imperial forces were dispatched to augment local military operations. This book concerns the struggle for East Africa. It was written, drawing on memory and diary entries, by a British senior staff officer, a brigadier-general, who was central to the organisation of the British campaign and who has left posterity a concise, thorough and detailed historical overview of it from the British perspective. This book qualifies as a campaign history rather than a first hand account and is recommended to readers seeking that perspective on this interesting 'sideshow' theatre of the war.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.

A German view of war at sea
It is inevitable that most books in English on any conflict in which British Forces were engaged tend to view the subject from a British perspective. The number of accounts or histories from the other side of the battle smoke translated and published in English are Hard to find and in the minority, they are therefore essential for any student who seeks a well-rounded view of a historical event. The great actions at sea during the First World War were few in number so it is fortunate that we have been left with this account by von Hase, who was both a German and a sailor in the service of his country. The book is part history and part a report from an eyewitness and it examines in depth the momentous Battles of Kiel and Jutland fought in the Skagerrak. An invaluable source work on the Imperial German Navy at War.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.

A great war correspondent reports from the Great War
Richard Harding Davis is well regarded as a writer of fiction, but it is for his work and writings as a journalist-particularly when covering the battle front-that posterity has awarded him the accolade 'the first famous American war correspondent.' Davis' first experience as a war correspondent was during the Spanish-American War and he later covered the Boer War in South Africa. The outbreak of the Great War saw him travelling to Europe and once there his pursuit of the story and vital information propelled him through many theatres of the conflict. The passage of time filters away those who have experienced momentous events until the few who are remembered are those who have left a written record. Each account is beyond value when their number is finite, but occasionally we are blessed not only with an invaluable account but also a fine author to convey it. By this time Davis had perfected his craft and these two books brought together by Leonaur for good value demonstrate that perfectly. They are augmented here with some of Davis' letters sent during the Great War. This was to be Davis' last campaign on returning home to New York he fell ill and died suddenly in 1916 aged just 52 years old. Available in softcover and hardback with dust jacket for collectors.

A unique Leonaur edition-never before available in this form
John Buchan was a popular author of historical and adventure fiction whose works remain in print to the present day. He also wrote important works of non-fiction that are less well remembered. Among these was a commissioned, multi-volume history of the First World War that was so well regarded that it became a source-work for other historians. This Leonaur Original, drawn from Buchan's history, and including many maps, battle plans, photographs and illustrations, has been published to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War on the Western Front as overwhelming German forces swept through Belgium and France. This was a mobile war-much like the wars fought in Europe for hundreds of years-of marching infantry and cavalry armed with lances and swords. The battle at Mons, the dogged retreat of the 'Contemptible Little Army' of the B. E. F., the incredible resistance of the out-dated Belgian Forces, the battles of the Marne and Aisne as the tide turned, and the carnage of the First Battle of Ypres as the war became a stalemate of wire, mud and trenches at the close of the year, are all covered in Buchan's brilliant take on just six months of war in 1914.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.

The quantity of journalism produced during World War I was unlike anything the then-budding mass media had ever seen. Correspondents at the front were dispatching voluminous reports on a daily basis, and though much of it was subject to censorship, it all eventually became available. It remains the most extraordinary firsthand look at the war that we have. Published immediately after the cessation of hostilities and compiled from those original journalistic sources-American, British, French, German, and others-this is an astonishing contemporary perspective on the Great War. This replica of the first 1919 edition includes all the original maps, photos, and illustrations, lending an even greater immediacy to readers a century later. Volume X features personal sketches by war leaders, the formulation of postwar treaties, a chronology of the war, and the index for all 10 volumes. American journalist and historian FRANCIS WHITING HALSEY (1851-1919) was literary editor of The New York Times from 1892 through 1896. He wrote and lectured extensively on history; his works include, as editor, the two-volume Great Epochs in American History Described by Famous Writers, From Columbus to Roosevelt (1912), and, as writer, the 10-volume Seeing Europe with Famous Authors (1914).