Now It Can Be Told (1920), by Philip Gibbs

By 1920, the postwar period after World War I was well under way.  The Armistice and the Treaty of Versailles had been signed.  Throughout a much-changed world, people looked to the future with a mixture of hope and dread.

It was also a time of serious reflection about the physical and emotional destruction of the European war that had lasted for more than four years.

For noted British war correspondent Philip Gibbs (1877-1962), that reflection took the form of a 558-page book titled Now It Can Be Told.

The title says much about the book's contents, which includes much information that wartime censorship did not allow.  It also includes material that Gibbs probably had left over from his wartime writings, which included regular reporting and books.

Gibbs' preface begins with a simple—and prophetic—statement of the book's purpose:

In this book I have written about some aspects of the war which, I believe, the world must know and remember, not only as a memorial of men's courage in tragic years, but as a warning of what will happen again—surely—if a heritage of evil and of folly is not cut out of the hearts of peoples.

What follows is an intense, and often graphic, description of life on the Western Front.  Gibbs' sympathies are clearly with the soldiers in the front line, where Gibbs himself spent much time.  He often contrasts life on the front line with life elsewhere, such as officer quarters behind the line, and the home front.

Descriptions of death and destruction are constant and detailed, and often difficult for a reader to absorb at for more than a certain amount of time.

But Gibbs knew that he had to make the best of his opportunity to give a full review of the war while it was still fresh in people's memories, and provide as many learning experiences as possible.

Contemporary opinions about the book varied.

The Evening Sun (Baltimore, Maryland) (May 26, 1920)

What practically everybody who was actually in the danger zone felt and thought Gibbs has had the common sense and the courage to record and he has recorded it all with exceptional comprehension.

New York Times (March 16, 1920)

After reading what Mr. Gibbs now tells, however, the impression left on the mind is not that of having learned much that is new, but merely that of having added many details, none of them essential or important, to knowledge already possessed.

For the reader of the 21st century, Now It Can Be Told is a powerful and compelling eyewitness account of World War I.