A very good military read
If the mods think this is more suited for Jetblast, with apologies, I'll leave it to them to move it there.
Occasionally, people post here asking if anyone can recommend a 'good read'. I've just finished one such book, 'A Storm in Flanders - The Ypres Salient, 1914-1918', by Winston Groom.
The author may be familiar to some as the man who wrote 'Forrest Gump'. He's an American, and writing to an American audience, but don't let that put you off. The Americans don't arrive until page 243, and he does not in any way exaggerate their role.
I'd rate the book as top shelf. I'd like to think I'm pretty well read on WW1, but he trouches on aspects of Ypres that I was unaware of, and the personal accounts he draws on are extraordinary in the detail they give of what must have been among the more horrible battlefield conditions any troops have fought in in modern - perhaps any - times.
One aspect he touches on surprised me. He explodes the myth of the British 'Chateau generals', giving details of the rather large number of British general officers killed in action in WW1. Also, if you're a Canadian, you'd come away after reading this book feeling very, very proud of the part your soldiers played at Ypres.
On a similar subject, the Canucks have just made a movie based (rather loosely, I suspect) on the life of one of their more highly decorated soldiers at Ypres. It's called 'Passchendaele', and is also well worth looking out for.