Serpents of War

Steven Trout is professor of English, University of Alabama, and author of On the Battlefield of Memory: The First World War and American Remembrance, 1919–1941, and two other books.Ian Isherwood is associate professor of war and memory studies, Gettysburg College, and author of Remembering the Great War: Writing and Publishing the Experiences of World War I.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionEditors’ Note1. Camp Meade2. Our Voyage and Arrival in France3. In the Training Area4. The Army School at Langres5. The March to the Battle of the Argonne6. On the Front Line7. In Support in the Battle of the Argonne8. Leading the Attack9. Another Lost Battalion10. Relief11. The St. Mihiel Front12. Holding the Line13. To Verdun14. Near Hill15. Wounded and Captured16. In GermanyBack in FranceEpilogue: The Greatest War Story I Ever HeardAppendix AAppendix BIndex

Serpents of War delivers the fascinating memoir of US combat veteran Harry Dravo Parkin, who observed the final days of Imperial Germany from a POW camp. Trout and Isherwood brilliantly situate the memoir into a context that explains the war’s social and cultural meaning to Americans of Parkin’s generation. This book speaks to the values of the Victorian Age, the class dimensions of the First World War period, and the growth of American nationalism." - Michael Neiberg, Chair of War Studies and Professor of History, US Army War College"Detailed and engaging, Serpents of War provides an intriguing, original perspective on an American officer’s adventures in a conflict rich in drama and meaning." - Edward G. Lengel, chief historian, National Medal of Honor Museum, and author of Thunder and Flames: Americans in the Crucible of Combat, 1917–1918"In this extraordinary memoir, originally written for his son, Major Harry Parkin answers the age-old question that figured so prominently in World War I—era propaganda: ‘Daddy, what did you do in the Great War?’ The war forever marked the generation that experienced combat firsthand, as this account, too long overlooked, reveals. Serpents of War interlaces Parkin’s personal story of heroic combat service with insights into the strategic and tactical blunders that made victory so needlessly costly for the United States, resulting in a captivating narrative that immerses modern readers into the throes of combat and its aftermath." - Jennifer D. Keene, author of Doughboys, the Great War, and the Remaking of America