Kings, Queens and Pawns (1915), by Mary Roberts Rinehart

One of the most compelling parts of books written during World War I is the contrast between the initial observations of an eyewitness and the war-weary insights of participants who have had to learn to accept a new life.

The contrast is a running theme of Kings, Queens and Pawns, by the American author Mary Roberts Rinehart, who by 1915 had become a well-known author of novels, plays, and short stories.

Rinehart put her writing skills and experiences to good use with descriptions of weary soldiers trudging back from the front lines; refugees struggling to survive; and support workers trying to perform their tasks as efficiently and humanely as possible.

The book includes many first-hand observations of the logistics of war that are often ignored or glossed over in traditional histories.  Whole societies must be mobilized to support the soldiers—before, during, and after they have fought on the front lines.

The cover of Kings, Queens and Pawns describes the uniqueness of this book, which was researched less than one year after the war began in August 1914.

Many men have seen the War, but hitherto no woman has seen and been able to describe it, or express her woman's sympathy for the boys on both sides of the conflict—that force of woman's pity which is someday going to win the war.

Kings, Queens and Pawns evolved from an assignment given to Rinehart by The Saturday Evening Post. Part of her assignment was to give participants in the war the chance to talk directly to the United States, and help people in that country understand what was going on in Europe. 

Rinehart's interviews included the King of Belgium and French General Ferdinand Foch, who had played an important role in the crucial Marne defensive of September 1914.  Rinehart's reflections on these interviews were filled with the kind of emotion that gave readers the "woman's touch" that the book promised.

One of the most poignant parts of the book occurs when Rinehart finds Foch in a church kneeling and praying by himself.  She waits until he is finished before talking with him.  That solemn moment led her to analyze the attitude of the French towards the war.

It is a totally different attitude from the English—not more heroic, not braver, not more resolute to an end.  But it is particularly reverential.  The enemy is on the soil of France.  The French are fighting for their homes, their children, for their country.  And in this great struggle France daily, hourly, on its knees asks for help.