For instance, Graves also reports the killing of captured Germans by British troops, although Graves himself had not witnessed any massacres. His account of trench life is the thing that still grips the reader 100 years on. Among several set pieces, Graves’s account of the heroism of “Samson”, who died in no man’s land, is especially poignant: “The first dead body I came upon was Samson’s. In a richly entertaining coda to his passing, while also mourning his death, Graves’s family received word from him that he was alive, and put an announcement to that effect in the newspapers. Goodbye to All That ends with Graves sailing for Egypt to become professor of English at Cairo University.

Source: The Guardian November 28, 2016 05:37 UTC