Captain Claud WilliamsÕ memoir tells, firsthand, what it was like to be a Light Car Patrol commander during the First World War, while Russell McGuirkÕs commentary provides the historical background to the formation of the Patrols and follows their activities from the British raid on Siwa Oasis to desert exploration and survey work and the Kufra Reconnaissance Scheme. Lavishly illustrated with original photographs from Light Car officers, this combined memoir and history provides a fascinating and informative picture of an unsung hero of the desert Ð the Model T Ford.

Captain Claud WilliamsÕ memoir tells, firsthand, what it was like to be a Light Car Patrol commander during the First World War, while Russell McGuirkÕs commentary provides the historical background to the formation of the Patrols and follows their activities from the British raid on Siwa Oasis to desert exploration and survey work and the Kufra Reconnaissance Scheme. Lavishly illustrated with original photographs from Light Car officers, this combined memoir and history provides a fascinating and informative picture of an unsung hero of the desert Ð the Model T Ford.

Captain Claud Williams' memoir tells, firsthand, what it was like to be a Light Car Patrol commander during the First World War, while Russell McGuirk's commentary provides the historical background to the formation of the Patrols and follows their activities from the British raid on Siwa Oasis to desert exploration and survey work and the Kufra Reconnaissance Scheme. Lavishly illustrated with original photographs from Light Car officers, this combined memoir and history provides a fascinating and informative picture of an unsung hero of the desert - the Model T Ford.

This volume aims to provide a wider view of First World War experience through focusing on landscapes less commonly considered in historiography, and on voices that have remained on the margins of popular understanding of the war. The landscape of the western front was captured during the conflict in many different ways: in photographs, paintings and print. The most commonly replicated voicing of contemporary attitudes towards the war is that of initial enthusiasm giving way to disillusionment and a sense of overwhelming futility. Investigations of the many components of war experience drawn from social and cultural history have looked to landscapes and voices beyond the frontline as a means of foregrounding different perspectives on the war. Not all of the voices presented here opposed the war, and not all of the landscapes were comprised of trenches or flanked by barbed wire. Collectively, they combine to offer further fresh insights into the multiplicity of war experience, an alternate space to the familiar tropes of mud and mayhem.

Think of a map of World War I and chances are that map will be of Europe—but the First World War had just as heavy an impact on the Middle East, shaping the region into what we know it as today. This book gathers together leading scholars in the field to examine this impact, which is crucial to understanding the region’s current problems and the rise of groups like the Islamic State. In addition to recounting the crucial international politics that drew fierce lines in the sands of the Middle East—a story of intrigue between the British, Russians, Ottomans, North Africans, Americans, and others—the contributors engage topics ranging from the war’s effects on women, the experience of the Kurds, sectarianism, the evolution of Islamism, and the importance of prominent intellectuals like Ziya Gökalp and Michel ‘Aflaq. They examine the dissolution of the Ottoman empire, the exploitation of notions of Islamic unity and pan-Arabism, the influences of Woodrow Wilson and American ideals on Middle East leaders, and likewise the influence of Vladimir Lenin’s vision of a communist utopia. Altogether, they tell a story of promises made and promises broken, of the struggle between self-determination and international recognition, of centuries-old empires laying in ruin, and of the political poker of the twentieth century that carved up the region, separating communities into the artificial states we know today.

Pioneers of Armour in the Great War tells the story of the only Australian mechanized units of the Great War. The 1st Australian Armoured Car Section, later the 1st Australian Light Car Patrol, and the Special Tank Section were among the trailblazers of mechanization and represented the cutting edge of technology on the Great War battlefield.The1st Armoured Car Section was raised in Melbourne in 1916, the brainchild of a group of enthusiasts who financed, designed and then built two armored cars. Having persuaded the Australian Army of the vehicles' utility in the desert campaign, the armored car section, later re-equipped with Model T Fords and retitled the 1st Australian Light Car Patrol, provided valuable service until well after the Armistice.The First World War also saw the emergence of the tank which, despite unpromising beginnings, was to realize its potential in the crucial 1918 battles of Hamel and Amiens. A British Mark IV tank which toured Australia in 1918 demonstrated the power of this new weapon to an awestruck Australian public.Much of the story of the armored cars is told in the voices of the original members of the section and in newspaper articles of the time which highlight the novelty of these vehicles. Painstaking research has produced a remarkable collection of images to accompany the narrative, many never previously published. Biographies of the members of these extraordinary units are also a feature of this book, their stories told from the cradle to the grave. Appendixes provide a wealth of supporting biographical and technical information that enriches the text and adds factual detail.

A fascinating and highly original contribution to the study of Egypt’s religious folklore. First published in Cairo during World War II, The Moulids of Egypt is a study of moulids, the popular Egyptian religious festivals celebrated by both Muslims and Christians in the first half of the twentieth century. The book talks in detail about the secular side of moulids, where sports, games, theatres, dancing, and laughter were as much part of the festivals as the religious processions and the whirling of dervishes. Some of the rites and customs analyzed here date from as far back as the Pharaonic period, but the moulids are gradually dying out; many of the 126 festivals described in Moulids of Egypt have since faded away, making the book of lasting interest.