Back from Hell

Benson, Samuel Cranston, 1884-Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.7

Word count: 275K words
Chapters: 28

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today."Back from Hell" by Samuel Cranston BensonAuthor: Benson, Samuel Cranston, 1884-,Language: English, Class: D501: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: World War I (1914-1918), Release Date: May 19, 2015

Editor's review

Back from Hell is a first-hand account of the First World War, in which the author, Samuel Cranston Benson, looks back on his wartime experience as a participant. The title itself states the theme: the experience and state of mind of returning from the extreme conditions of the battlefield. The book's value lies not in grand strategic analysis but in its presentation of the war environment, everyday circumstances, and psychological shock from an individual perspective, bringing readers close to the real experience of ordinary participants of that era. The language bears clear marks of its period, and its narrative rhythm differs from today's nonfiction, requiring some adjustment from the reader. It works well as a personal narrative sample within First World War reading, and when read alongside campaign histories or political and diplomatic histories, the macro and micro perspectives complement each other. As a public-domain e-book, it is friendly in both length and accessibility, suitable for thematic reading or as classroom supplementary material.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in personal narratives of the First World War
Students who wish to understand the wartime experience from a participant's perspective
Readers of history and literature collecting first-hand World War I materials
General readers who enjoy memoirs and witness literature

Not a good fit for

Military history readers expecting systematic campaign analysis and strategic discussion
First-time readers who find it difficult to adjust to English narrative style from a century ago

Reading tips

Read it as personal testimony rather than demanding a complete campaign timeline
Compare it with general histories of World War I to identify the historical background behind the personal account
When encountering differences in period terminology or expressive habits, first grasp the overall mood and situation

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a novel or an account of real experience?

According to the materials, the author, Samuel Cranston Benson, writes as a participant; it is a personal account related to the First World War, not a work of fiction. Specific details should be based on the book's content.

Does the book describe the course of battles in detail?

The book focuses on wartime experience and feelings from a personal perspective rather than systematic campaign analysis. To learn about the deployment and progress of specific campaigns, it is advisable to read it alongside a general military history of World War I.

Why is the book titled Back from Hell?

The title points to the experience of returning from the extreme conditions of the battlefield and emphasizes the participant's personal feelings about the war environment. It signals to readers that the book's focus is individual experience rather than strategic discussion.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Benson, Samuel Cranston, 1884- Author · 1884

Samuel Cranston Benson (1884– ) is an author about whom little public information is available. He is known only to have been born in 1884, and further biographical details are difficult to establish. One work by him is held in the collection, Back from Hell. Judging from its title, the book likely deals with themes of returning from extremity or survival after ordeal, and may carry a strong narrative or personal-testimony quality, perhaps touching on human experience and psychology in extreme situations such as war or disaster. Owing to a lack of reliable biographical and critical material, Benson's education, professional identity, the overall shape of his writing career, and the contemporary influence of his work cannot be confirmed. The present note can only offer cautious inferences from the title of his surviving work and should not add unverified plot details or evaluations. Further public documents and edition information are needed for a fuller understanding.