The Edinburgh Companion to the First World War and the Arts

This omnibus volume edited by Einhaus and Baxter is richly illustrated and packed with a remarkable array of studies devoted to the cultural ecosystem in Britain during the war. It reaches out geographically to include reportage on the Ottoman front, Anglophone writing in Ireland or America and the colonies, as well as cultural legacies, such as sculptural memorials, in some other European countries. Every conceivable genre from poetry to propaganda poster is represented. At the same time, individual chapters unsettle conventional distinctions among forms and offer economic and statistical as well as textual analyses. Contributors explore diverse audiences with a social reach from high to low, or mainstream to avant-garde and general to local. Useful historical analyses of political conditions that constrained or promoted production inform our understanding of both canonized and popular texts. A welcome representation of media, and vivid descriptions of performances, including conflicts within their audiences, bring the moment to life. One comes away astonished by the vast range of culture enjoyed on the home front, in music halls, cinema, in large audiences as well as in the comfort of one's armchair. While full attention is given to material from 1914-1918, a distinctive accomplishment of this collection is the sustained pursuit of the afterlife of the war in novels, films, memorials, children's literature, television and even computer games. The conflicts of the past, we learn, continue to challenge and divide audiences even today.--Margaret Higonnet, University of Connecticut