{"product_id":"9781805000600","title":"Diary of a Dead Officer : Being the Posthumous Papers of Arthur Graeme West","description":"\u003cp\u003eBorn in September 1891, Arthur Graeme West was a quiet and self-effacing youth with a passion for literature, who went on to become a keen Oxford scholar. When war broke out in 1914, for some time it left him untouched. However, in January 1915, in a rush of enthusiasm, he enlisted as a private in the Public Schools Battalion. From that time, until his death in April 1917, his life was a succession of training in England and fighting in France, with short intervals of leave.�West joined due to a feeling of duty and patriotism, but the war was to have a profound effect on him. He developed an intense abhorrence of army life and began to question the very core of his beliefs - in religion, patriotism and the reason for war. This growing disillusionment found expression in two particularly powerful war poems, _God! How I Hate You, You Young Cheerful Men_ and _Night Patrol_, which stand deservedly alongside those of Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen.�In August 1916, he became a second lieutenant in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. Shortly after, he wrote to his CO renouncing the war and any further part in it - but he could not bring himself to post the letter. Less than a year later, on April 3rd, 1917, he was shot dead by a sniper's bullet near Bapaume.   Written with complete frankness and sincerity, _Diary of a Dead Officer_ gives voice to West's struggle to come to terms with the realities of war and is a poignant tribute to a lost generation of soldiers.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rye Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45470860968157,"sku":"9781805000600","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0064\/1368\/0730\/files\/9781805000600.jpg?v=1720193400","url":"https:\/\/ryebooks.co.uk\/products\/9781805000600","provider":"Rye Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}