Tales of War: Expanded Edition

This is a reprint of the 1918 edition, newly typeset witha new introduction and a photograph of the author. Lord Dunsany, author of The King of Elfland's Daughter and many other stories and plays, was a Captain in the Fifth Royal Inniskilling Fusilliers during the First World War. This collection of essays and short stories describes his time in the trenches of northern France. Tales of War contains, intermixed with its evocative descriptions of the landscape, both green and desolate, many striking and memorable vignettes of the War: the funeral of Richthofen, the Red Baron. The Kaiser praying at Cologne Cathedral before a great battle. Watching a Charlie Chaplin film near the front lines. (Even then, he says, Chaplin was the most famous man in the world). The value, however, of Lord Dunsany's tales and reflections does not lie in what he contributes to the historical chronicle. Tales of War is the account of a traveller through both the old world and the new. From his example we see that the love of nature, fondness for the good and simple things of life, and kindliness of spirit, though stressed by the terrible War, need not be made extinct.