“The indictment of war is written in the same spirit as Barbusse’s famous novel ‘Le feu’ or Sassoon’s war poetry, and with as much literary skill as either. Mr Gibbs’ emotional reaction to the horrors of war fuses the miscellaneous details of the book into a powerful picture of the whole. His intellectual reaction is not so clear.”
+ − Ind 103:54 Jl 10 ’20 290w
“It is a great triumph for him to have written this book, to say the things he does say and reveal the facts he reveals.” F. H.
+ New Repub 22:356 My 12 ’20 2150w
“This volume marks the close of that great work done by Mr Philip Gibbs as a chronicler of war. It is a wonderful close, and a public tired of war books must not make the mistake of neglecting this, which has a frankness, a truth and a stern reality never before shown in all the literature of the war.” Cecil Robert
+ N Y Times 25:115 Mr 14 ’20 1100w
“Different from his other books in that it shows no particular design, is painfully fragmentary and reveals Mr Gibbs as an unsatisfactory psychologist.”
− N Y Times 25:192 Ap 18 ’20 70w
“A book which, however unpleasant it may be, is to all appearances both truthful and sincere. Its truthfulness is its greatest virtue. In several ways, however, the book is somewhat unsatisfactory. Its tone, one may say, is not that of well-balanced thinking or of altogether unbiassed criticism; it does not wholly convince. Furthermore, one cannot rid oneself of the feeling that Sir Philip leans somewhat toward the pacifist fallacy.”
+ − No Am 212:142 Jl ’20 1200w