Eighty-five years before there were embedded journalists with American armed forces in Iraq, eight brave artist-soldiers risked their lives in the trenches and battlefields to bring the reality of World War I back home.
In Portrait of War, Peter Krass shares the heroic adventures of these men as they witnessed, explored, and depicted the trials and triumphs of the American soldier and the tragedy of war. Written with the intensity of a novel, this compelling narrative follows the artists as they marched shoulder to shoulder with the doughboys, sketching while under fire and doing their best to stay alive. Studded with examples of their remarkable work and excerpts from the artists' journals, this thrilling account places us at the front lines as surely as our television cameras do today.
1 The Journey into the Maelstrom.
2 Into the Trenches.
3 A Brother Goes to War.
4 Last Peaceful Forays.
5 A Grim Harvest along the Marne.
6 Questioned Sacrifice in Belleau Wood.
7 The Desperate Peace Offensive.
8 Visiting the Wild Cowboy Spirits.
9 Marshal Foch’s Counteroffensive.
10 The First Casualty of War Is Truth.
11 Ramping Up in August.
12 The Saint-Mihiel Salient: A Bloodless Offensive.
13 The Meuse Argonne and the Goddess of War.
14 The Festival of the Dead.
15 The Restoration of Light.
16 The Occupation and the Stories of Hardship.
17 Penetrating the Fatherland.
Afterword: The Artist-Soldiers.
Acknowledgments.
Notes.
Selected Bibliography.
Index.
Overview
—Col. H. A. Chenoweth, USMCR Ret., Korean War veteran, Vietnam and Gulf War combat artist, and author of Art of War A Searing Account of World War I as Seen by the Artist
Eighty-five years before there were ...