Synopses & Reviews
A war correspondent's breathtaking account of early twentieth-century wars, including the Greek-Turkish War (1897) and the Spanish-American War (1898). These events have fallen into relative obscurity, following the two World Wars, yet remain important forces shaping modern politics. ‘Moments in Hell’ reveals the conflicting loyalties of the war correspondent, caught between political ideologies and personal suffering, and provides an enlightening background to recent conflicts. Harding Davis was a dashingly fashionable figure in turn-of-the-century New York, and cited as the inspiration for the 'Gibson man' – fitting the adventurous image of the journalist popular in film and literature. While his accounts highlight the brutality and inhumanity of war, they are riveting pieces of reportage. Harding Davis makes it clear that these moments in hell can make heroes and villains of us all.
Review
'He had a rare faculty of stirring by a phrase the imaginations of men, of including in a phrase a picture, an event – a cataclysm.' —Winston Churchill
Review
'He was as good an American as ever lived and his heart flamed against cruelty and injustice. His writings form a text-book of Americanism which all our people would do to read at the present time.' —Theodore Roosevelt
Synopsis
Riveting, piercing accounts of early twentieth-century battles from the finest and most celebrated war journalist of the period.
Synopsis
A war correspondent's breathtaking account of early twentieth-century wars, including the Greek-Turkish War (1897) and the Spanish-American War (1898). These events have fallen into relative obscurity, following the two World Wars, yet remain important forces shaping modern politics. ‘Moments in Hell’ reveals the conflicting loyalties of the war correspondent, caught between political ideologies and personal suffering, and provides an enlightening background to recent conflicts.
Synopsis
A war correspondent's breathtaking account of early twentieth-century wars, including the Greek-Turkish War (1897) and the Spanish-American War (1898).
About the Author
Richard Harding Davis (1864–1916) was a popular and prolific writer of fiction and drama, and a journalist famous for his coverage of the Spanish-American War and the First World War. Captured by the German Army in Belgium in 1914, he was threatened with execution as a British spy as his passport had been issued in London and not Washington. Eventually Davis was able to convince the Germans he was an American reporter and he was released. A controversial figure, some have accused Davis of involvement in William Randolph Hearst's alleged plot to start the Spanish-American War in order to boost newspaper sales. After a long residence in Europe, he returned to the US shortly before his death, still determined to produce powerful writing, proclaiming he had not returned ‘to write sidelights’.
Janine di Giovanni has been covering global conflict since the 1980s, and is considered one of Europe's most respected journalists. She is a writer for The Times of London and Vanity Fair, and contributor to The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, The Spectator, National Geographic and many others.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations; Introduction by Janine di Giovanni; The Cuban-Spanish War (1895-8): The Death of Rodriguez; The Greek-Turkish War (1897): The Battle of Velestinos; The Spanish-American War (1898); The South African War (1899-1902); The Japanese-Russian War (1904-5): Battles I Did Not See; A War Correspondent’s Kit; Appendix 1: A Price List During the Siege of Ladysmith, (1899-1900); Appendix 2: E. F. Knight’s Combination of Panniers and Bed