The Unknown ANZACs

I've read The Unknown ANZACs by Michael Caulfield which was very well written.  Caulfield has used diary entries and letters to sit a human story within the historical context of the war in which Australian and New Zealand troops were involved.  He began with the stories of the newly minted soldiers as they left their homeland aboard the ships that would take them to Egypt, leading up to the Gallipoli campaign.  The nurses who attended the wounded soldiers are also included in the story.  It was hard to read some of the letters sent home to loved ones knowing there was the possibility of imminent death.  This was the case with many of the letters, with a short addition by Caulfield to say the letter-writer had died shortly thereafter.  The letters were mostly cheerful so as not to expose their loved ones to the real horror of their circumstances.  The staggering death toll at Gallipoli and the Western Front is hard to imagine from a country of only 5 million people.  The author blended the soldiers' own words seamlessly with the historical record. I have read many books about World War I and this one was easy to read though the subject matter was heartbreaking. If you read only one book about this terrible War, read this one. 5/5