Recollections of John Mcwilliams: His Youth, Experiences in California and the Civil War Book

I've looked for a good World War I book for many years. Most were so dense or tedious that I gave up, relying more on poetry or novels to get a sense of that horrific time. James Carl Nelson gets to the heart of the American place in the war with this book, written as an homage to his late Grandpa, who was badly wounded in the wheat fields alongside the Paris-Soissons Road outside of Cantigny in June of 1918. James Nelson follows up on the AEF Company D infantry batallion that reflected in its diversity America filled with immigrants who returned to the 'old country' to serve their new country beneath a rain of Hun artillery and gas shells and bullets from the murderous Maxim guns.

The book follows the arc of the war from Company D's beginnings in the Mexican Civil War, then the run up to the draft and deployment in France. Very readable and heartfelt, not too obsessed granular detail of military movements. I'm actually buying a copy to give to a military history buff for Christmas, I enjoyed it so much.