11th month, 11th day, 11th hour - Joseph E Persico

'The futility of war - and the Great War in particular - has often been remarked upon, but it was carried to its logical, nonsensical conclusion on 11 November 1918. The prospect of peace appears to have left many with an unendurable sense of unfinished business, causing them to mount attacks even when war's end had been agreed. Almost 3,000 lost their lives in the last few hours before the Armistice: here their tragic story is poignantly told.'The Scotsman

Using military archives and public records, along with journals and diaries, Joseph Persico weaves together the eleventh hour experiences of the men in the trenches, unsung and unremembered, the British Tommies, French Poilus, American Doughboys and German Feldgrau. Where, for example, was the Austrian corporal, Adolf Hitler, on that day?

The pointless fighting on the last day of war is the perfect metaphor for the four years of senseless slaughter that preceded it. This book is sure to become the definitive history of the end of a conflict Winston Churchill called 'the hardest, cruellest, and least-rewarded of all the wars that have been fought.'

Joseph E Persico served as a Navy lieutenant in the Korean War, and later at Southern NATO headquarters in Naples. Subsequently he joined the US Information Agency and for eleven years he was chief speech writer for the New York Governor and later US Vice President Nelson A Rockefeller. His books includeMy Enemy Brother: Men and the Days of GettysburgandPiercing the Reich: The Penetration of Nazi Germany by American Secret Agents During World War II,Roosevelt's Secret War,and as co-author of US Secretary of State Colin Powell's autobiography,A Soldier's Way.His workNuremberg: Infamy on Trialwas hailed by Howard K Smith as the 'best account' of the trial. Mr Persico is married with two children, and divides his time between homes in upstate New York and Mexico.

"A powerful book"
Independent