The White War Audiobook By Mark Thompson cover art

The White War

Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919

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The White War

By: Mark Thompson
Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
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The Western Front dominates our memories of the First World War. Yet a million and half men died in northeast Italy in a war that need never have happened, when Italy declared war on the Habsburg Empire in May 1915. Led by General Luigi Cadorna, the most ruthless of all the Great War commanders, waves of Italian conscripts were sent charging up the limestone hills north of Trieste to be massacred by troops fighting to save their homelands.

This is a great, tragic military history of a war that gave birth to fascism. Mussolini fought in those trenches, but so did many of the greatest modernist writers in Italian, German, and English: Ungaretti, Gadda, Musil, Hemingway. It is through these accounts that Mark Thompson, with great skill and empathy, brings to life this forgotten conflict.

©2009 Mark Thompson (P)2009 Audible, Inc. Military Wars & Conflicts World War I War Italy Middle Ages Imperialism Soviet Union Africa Socialism

Critic reviews

"[A] study as pioneering as it is brilliant.... Drawing on an impressive array of British, Italian, and Austrian sources, including fascinating interviews with survivors, Thompson re-creates the Italo-Austrian conflict in all its facets.... The White War is the work of a bright young historian proving his mettle." ( The Weekly Standard)
"Thompson's book is beautifully written, and he skillfully interweaves vivid accounts of military progress with telling vignettes about the more extraordinary figures caught up in the fighting." ( Independent)
Fascinating History • Engrossing Account • Excellent Reading • Incredible Lessons • Detailed Research
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Much has been written about the terrible battles of WWI, Ypres, Verdun, the Somme, Passchendaele, but very little about the horrors of the Italian Front and the battles of the Isonzo. This is a must read book for anyone who wants a complete understanding of the history of WWI, but even more for those interested in the history of Italy. Italy's dreams of expansion and it's desire to become a colonial power led it to participate in a devastating war that cost in excess of 1 million military and civilian lives. This books explores the political and cultural context of the time, and the personalities that so influenced Italy during the first half of the last century.

My only quibble with the book is the obvious lack of maps, but that is easily remedied by resorting to Google maps.

The Other Front...

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THE WHITE WAR is an indispensable contribution to the study of the Italian experience of World War I. It is all the more valuable in that it is written in English and available on audio. I read it years ago and have given the book as a gift. All of use who have read it and have been impressed by Mark Thompson's straightforward style and immense research and recommended it to still more readers.

I've been obsessed with World War 1 from childhood, and also have a passion for Italian history. The focus of this book perhaps makes it a specialist's subject, although it certainly deserves a wider general readership. If you are not interested in the minutiae of Italian life, both at home and on the front, you might prefer to look elsewhere. But if you're like me and you devour such detail with relish, you might just love this book as much as I do. The characters, both honorable and reprehensible, and the experiences, will stay with me forever.

Apparently the narrator is an all or nothing proposition. I didn't mind him at all because he reminded me of another narrator I enjoy, Paul Panting. Furthermore, he didn't slaughter the Italian language. There are all too many narrators on audible who cannot pronounce their native English properly, far less another language, so for Gerard Doyle and others like him, I am truly grateful.

An indispensable contribution

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This was a good listen. it does concentrate on the social effects of the war on Italy and it's national identity. it does not go into great detail on tactics or evolution of tactics as the war progressed. it covers the air and naval aspects of the war not at all.

Good Overview of the war

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In content and construction, this is a fascinating book, a narrative account of the events that led Italy into the Great War against the Central Powers generally and the crumbling Austro-Hungarian Empire in particular. Thompson has crafted what should be a gripping listen from start to finish, capturing the political sentiment of the months leading up to war, weaving together the viewpoints of characters ranging from anonymous soldiers to the martinet Generalissimo Luigi Cadorna, and providing evocative descriptions of the beautiful but rugged landscape that compounded the suffering caused by the brutal trench warfare and doomed assaults ordered by the Italian high command.

I say "what should be a gripping listen" because of the narrator's style. Doyle's reading is monotonous and rather than being immersive is distracting. His Italian pronunciation is more or less fine (for example, he knows that "gl" in italian names does not sound like "gl" in "glass"), but every sentence is spoken with an identical cadence that sounds like a cross between a question and statement of surprise, without pauses to allow the listener to detect the end of a paragraph.

This is a tragic, fascinating, and under-appreciated part of the story of the Great War, and Thompson deserves kudos for telling it. It just should have been read by someone else.

Fascinating history that deserves better narration

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I knew very little of the Italian front in WWI other than what I had read in A Farewell to Arms. This exhaustive account provides a great mix of strategic and tactical detail. My only complaint is that the narration is wanting in spots. Some sections had some technical issues with whistling from the microphone and the volume was not always consistent.

Great story - Ok narration

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This reader was the most mechanical unexpressive reader I have EVER heard. Painful to listen to him

Hard book for listening

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This book is incredibly detailed on the political and military events in Italy during the Italian front. It focuses far more on Italy than Austria-Hungary, but is a great, balanced read.

A comprehensive volume on the Italian Front.

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I enjoyed the information and the layout of the book. I wasn't a fan of the narrator which sometimes made listening a chore.

Great historical record of this war.

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The reader did an excellent job with the reading! The content was also very interesting, interspersed battles along with philosophy and the why! Highly recommend!

Excellent read

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Perfect book for Great War enthusiasts about italian front, italian nationalism and sad absurdity od it all.

Story of italian incompetence, pride and Its price

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