Back to the Front

Sidney Allinson is a Victoria-based communications consultant, Canadian
news correspondent for Britain’s The Army Quarterly and Defence, and
author of The Bantams: The Untold Story of World War I.

Anyone who is interested in the Great War will appreciate this book by
Canadian journalist Stephen O’Shea. Part military history, part
travelogue, and part journey of self-discovery, Back to the Front
chronicles the author’s 10-year fascination with the Western Front,
the trench line that for four bloody years stretched from the Belgian
short to the Swiss Alps.

O’Shea’s trek along the 750-kilometre trench line became something
of a pilgrimage as he explored the ghosts of his ancestors who had
served there and re-examined his own values. He ably describes the
still-scarred battlefields and huge war cemeteries and recounts sundry
encounters with French villagers, innkeepers, and fellow Great War
pilgrims he met along the way.

Readers of this engagingly written book can follow the course of the
author’s trek along the trench system by referring to the basic maps
that are included.