Trench Literature

Of course there are books about World War I, but what books were read by World War I soldiers in the trenches? AbeBooks takes note of these ones.

From the piece...

Reading material was in heavy demand from the men living in cramped conditions in a war that was static for long periods of time.

Perhaps the safest answer is anything they could get their hands on. Most soldiers travelled light to the front and then craved books and magazines once they were embroiled in the stalemate. They would read anything that could take their thoughts off the mud, the rats, the shelling, the smell, the snipers and the prospect of going over the top and charging machine gun emplacements. Nat Gould

Rudyard Kipling, H.G. Wells and John Buchan were popular as were the horse racing novels of Nat Gould – the Dick Francis of his day, who penned more than 130 books, many of which were published as affordable yellowbacks. Captain R.W. Campbell’s Private Spud Tamson novel would also have offered light relief.

One of the most popular magazines in the British trenches was The War Illustrated – one of many magazines created at the outbreak of war. Targeted at working class men, the magazine was heavily illustrated and often carried stories about German atrocities – both true and fabricated.