![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Crane brings out the complexities of Ware’s character. The story of the foundation and achievements of the War Graves Commission has been told before, but never so well or so perceptively. He is acutely aware of the ambiguities and nuances surrounding the issues of war and death and that makes this a fine and troubling book, as well as a riveting read’ Literary Review David Crane writes exuberant, joyful prose. And he reveals that this Herculean task was accomplished largely due to the efforts of one man: Fabian Ware’ Independent on Sunday Crane shows how extraordinary a physical, logistical and administrative feat it was to bury or commemorate more than half a million dead in individual graves. Crane succeeds in doing so by looking at the achievement of Fabian Ware, who to this day is almost an unknown in the pantheon of heroes or villains associated with the conflict’ Evening Standard It strikes at the heart of the current debate about what we are commemorating, celebrating or deploring in the flood of ceremony, debate and literary rows about the meaning of the First World War today. Mercifully, it is also one of the shortest. ‘Of the avalanche of books to commemorate the centennial of the opening of the Great War, ‘Empires of the Dead’ is the most original, best written and most challenging so far. ![]()
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