As of right now: preference for fiction over nonfiction (having gotten a lot more nonfiction recommendations than fiction so far), with British, American, Canadian forces, trench warfare over other types, focusing on individuals rather than large-scale, and on life after the war if possible.
I like Deathwatch quite a lot, but be forewarned that it’s a horror movie.
John Dos Passos: Three Soldiers (1920) for fiction
Capt. B. H. Liddell Hart: The Real War (1930) for non-fiction
Definitely second Graves.
I second a lot of what’s already been recommended, especially Storm of Steel, Paths of Glory and The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916 .
For a fictional take on the Gallipoli campaign from the Turkish perspective (and a whole lot more) try Louis de Bernieres Birds Without Wings. It ticks nearly all your boxes above, except the British, American or Canadian forces part.
To the extent that the Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup satirized an actual war, it was WWI.
Excellent movie. I came into the thread to recommend it.
It does come on AMC and the Military Channel on occasion, so it’s not totally obscure.
Joyeux Noel is a movie about the Christmas Truce. Excellent piping.
That’s the one I was going to say! That and Oh What A Lovely War. I love that one, too.
An unusual French movie : Noir et Blanc en couleurs (Black and white in colour) about WWI in the French African colonies.
Also, Passschendaele. About the battle in Flanders, and The red baron, Hell’s angels and Flyboys about the airwar.
Seen Passchendaele a long time ago. Definitely checking the rest out. Currently waiting for Birds Without Wings to ship in.
I really enjoyed The Great War and Modern Memory by Paul Fussell. Some history, some discussion of how it changed our culture, lots of discussion of war poets and poetry.
I’m certain this is NOT what you are looking for, but “Johnny Got His Gun,” both the book by Dalton Trumbo and the movie from the early 1970’s is amazing, and should at least be mentioned here.
It’s more of a political anti-war work, but it is about WWI
Fussell was really rough on e e cummings’ “The Enormous Room,” thinking it pretentiously naif. Given the terror and bullshit Fussell himself faced as a young man in war, that may be a valid complaint. But many young people do go through horrible experiences with mostly wide-eyed wonderment. Because they are young and stupid.
All of Lyn Macdonalds books give excellent first hand accounts of WW I battles. Very moving at times.
Some movies about WW1 I have and they are good ones
DeathWatch
Beneath Hill 60
Passchendaele
The Lost Battalion
Company K
Full list on IMDB
Great WWI movies
As for books
Forgotten Voices Of The Great War
According to who you talk to, The Pity of War by Niall Ferguson is either a dull and terribly misguided screed which wrongly claims that WWI was entirely England’s fault, or a much-needed challenge to traditional historiographic orthodoxy regarding the Great War. I know Professor Ferguson too well to take sides.
Aie, now that’s something I’ll definitely have to read.
Goodbye to All That, by Robert Graves. Makes you want to laugh out loud while you are vomiting.
Regards,
Shodan
Everything bad in the world since Cromwell has been England’s fault, according to my Irish dad. He’s dead now, and that was probably England’s fault too.
Seconded. An excellent book for someone new (if that is the word) to the war, as I was when I read it. I’ve since read Barbara Tuchman’s book — also excellent, though as noted it only covers the first 30 days or so.