In the fields and the trenches : the famous and the forgotten on the battlefields of World War I
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"When it started, many thought the Great War would be a great adventure. Yet, as those who saw it up close learned, it was anything but. In the Fields and the Trenches traces the stories of eighteen young idealists swept into the brutal conflict, many of whom would go on to become well-known 20th-century figures in film, science, politics, literature, and business. Writer J. R. R. Tolkien was a signals officer with the British Expeditionary Force and fought at the Battle of the Somme. Scientist Irène Curie helped her mother, Marie, run twenty X-ray units for French field hospitals. Actor Buster Keaton left Hollywood after being drafted into the army's 40th Infantry Division. And all four of Theodore Roosevelt's son--Kermit, Archibald, Quentin, and Theodore III--and his daughter Ethel served in Europe, though one did not return"--publisher.

Grade 9 to 12.