The Secret Annexe: An Anthology of the World's Greatest War Diarists

Edinburgh: Canongate, 2004 9781841956701. Softcover. VG.. First Edition. First printing. Complete numberline. No annotations or inscriptions. 8vo. 676 pages including detailed index, bibliography, short biographies of diarists and a chronology of wars in brief. War infects everything it touches. For everyone, whether combatant or not, it is the most testing of times, when the old certainties and moral imperatives cannot be guaranteed. Life hangs by a gossamer thread and many people who would otherwise not keep diaries feel the need to record what they see, feel and do. The Secret Annexe takes its title from the hiding place Anne Frank and her family found refuge in during the Second World War. From the creators of "The Assassin's Cloak" comes an anthology of powerful and sometimes surprising daily wartime diary entries from war fronts throughout history. An intriguing book of authentic diary entries from people who have experienced living through wars. These entries from as long ago as the 1600s to the present century. This book brings together--in their own words--the stories of men and women who have endured life at its most intense and dangerous. By turns horrific and comic, the entries retain the candid intimacy that is the particular preserve of those who keep diaries. From Che Guevara, Virginia Woolf, and Davy Crockett to anonymous soldiers in the trenches, these poignant and intense missives capture the immediacy, horror, and pathos of wars that span the centuries. With a remarkable cross-section of contributors--Josef Goebbels, Anais Nin, Florence Nightingale, Samuel Pepys, and Salam Pax to name just a few - Irene and Alan Taylor bring unprecedented insight into what has been described as "the most exciting and dramatic thing in life" and "the universal perversion" of war. This book is a unique gift for history enthusiasts everywhere. Review: "This is a wonderful anthology. Imaginatively compiled and thoroughly edited . . . The Taylors have a sharp eye for revealing detail and a sense of humor, so that the awesome and tragic are balanced by the humdrum and quirky." (The Herald) .