My Fellow Soldiers: General John Pershing and the Americans Who Helped Win the Great War

The title of Carroll's (founding director, Ctr. for American War Letters, Chapman Univ., CA; War Letters) latest book comes from a letter written by Gen. John Pershing (1860–1948) to every soldier in the American Expeditionary Forces at the end of World War I. This narrative history of America's actions in the Great War uses letters from pilots, doughboys, nurses, and ambulance drivers, including a recently discovered set written by Pershing. Through these firsthand accounts, readers gain a deeply personal and immediate picture of the battles and participants. While some names are recognizable, such as Gen. George S. Patton and Gen. Douglas MacArthur, many are not. These letters and diaries offer an intimate perspective on what it was like to drive ambulances with wooden seats over crater-ridden roads, as well as the daily experiences of nurse Alta May Andrews and her work in the "Jaw Ward," where the most devastating facial injuries were sent. A gentler and private side to Pershing is revealed through letters to his son, Warren, who survived a tragic event that took the lives of Pershing's wife and daughters.