“Mr Gibbs says things well: his fault is that he says them too often. Some of the repetition is clever emphasis that drives home the point while the speed saves the effect of boredom. If the book lasts it will be as a record of matters which properly belong to history, but with which history does not always deal.”
+ − Review 2:394 Ap 17 ’20 1500w Review 2:404 Ap 17 ’20 100w R of Rs 61:557 My ’20 100w
“We cannot honestly recommend anyone to read this book just now, valuable and interesting though it may be to the next and succeeding generations. Power of graphic description Sir Philip Gibbs undoubtedly has; but his bitterness of spirit and his emotional worship of youth are not moods to be prolonged at the present hour.”
− + Sat R 129:349 Ap 10 ’20 1200w
“He has a keen eye for the telling detail that impresses a picture indelibly on the mind, and his quick sympathy with all who suffer helps him to keep the human side of the great tragedy foremost in our thoughts. His style is sufficient without being distinguished. He has, however, the defects of his qualities. He sees what is to be seen so intensely that he is inclined to forget the existence of what he does not see.”
+ − Spec 124:493 Ap 10 ’20 850w The Times [London] Lit Sup p142 F 29 ’20 80w
“From the beginning to the end he resolutely refused (and it is a great thing to say of him) to become familiar with war. He took no intellectual pleasure, as it was so easy to do, in all the human ingenuity that was concentrated on it. So too Mr Gibbs kept himself remote from everything that concerned war as a profession, with its inevitable indifference to suffering. He is single-minded in his desire to be the spokesman of youth that went to the war.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p151 Mr 4 ’20 900w
“If ‘The judgment of peace’ is a flame, ‘Now it can be told’ is a slow and smoldering fire. These books, accepted by mankind, would be sufficient in themselves to end war forever.” G. H.
+ World Tomorrow 3:189 Je ’20 700w