Peace at Last: A Portrait of Armistice Day, 11 November 1918

Cuthbertson (Wilfred Owen), an associate professor of English literature at Liverpool Hope University, marks the centenary of Armistice Day by compiling a thorough evocation of that day and how the armistice was received and celebrated throughout the world, particularly by Britain and British troops abroad. His emphasis on the human element—the reactions of everyone from soldiers to schoolboys, government to civilians—captures a spontaneous, temporary mass insanity in full bloom. As befits Cuthbertson’s expertise in poetry and literature, his narrative voice is romantic, even flowery: “The day was a vast party with its drinking, music, dancing, fancy costumes, romance, beauty, vulgarity and vandalism; with people coming and going, paths crossing and strange encounters taking place, and crowds that swelled, surged, dispersed and re-emerged.” He also covers the anniversary’s subsequent transformation into a day of remembrance. Although the level of detail (for example, an 11-page section on the role of church bells in the celebrations) and sometimes dense prose may put off some readers, Cuthbertson is nothing if not thorough in creating this vivid picture of the British response to the end of the war. (Nov.)