Trench Talk/Trench Life: A Beginner's Guide to World War One

Winkowski (100 Planes, 100 Years: The First Century of Aviation) details the everyday life of WWI soldiers, including what they wore, ate, and read, in this illustrated history of "trench vernacular" and paraphernalia. The book draws on training manuals, correspondence of soldiers (including Pete Seeger's uncle), and even contemporary songs, eschewing photography for original illustrations that provide a strong history of the conflict in objects such as rifles and mess tins. The slang from that era evokes anything but grim circumstances of war. The Moaning Minnie, Whizz-Bang, and Silent Susan sound like dance moves but were rather names for artillery shells, and French soldiers dubbed their gas masks "le groin de cochon" (pig snouts). Levity and fashion are two words not often associated with books on WWI, but both are present here, along with plenty of information about the actual lived experience of trench warfare. (May)