Over the Top

by Arthur Guy Empey

Infuriated by the German sinking of the liner Lusitania, the author (an American citizen) travels to England and enlists in the Royal Fusiliers, prior to America's entry into the war. This is a book about his "experiences in the language of Tommy sitting on the fire step of a front-line trench on t he Western Front-just as he would tell his mate next him what was happening at a different part of the line." He was in the front line trench of the Western Front. It was the biggest bestseller of the war, selling a million hardcover copies. The best part may be its appendix, "Tommy's Dictionary of the Trenches," which is a dictionary of slang and other terms used by British soldiers. A classic at the time by an American who fought in the British Army. Books of this sort were published as propaganda to tilt American public opinion towards the Allied cause.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War I, War, Biography, Memoir, Historical

Paperback

First published January 1, 1917

About the author

1883-1963

Reviews

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written in 1917 and must be accepted and judged by the time in was written, taking into consideration the use of language of the time, the culture, societal norms and so on. Arthur Guy Empey was born in Ogden Utah in 1883 and he died in 1963 in Kansas. Apparently he was angered by the failure of America to act and enter the War so he went off to England to join up. He wrote the book when he returned to the U.S. after being wounded and discharged by the British Army. He wrote this when his experiences of the war were fresh in this mind and relevant to the Americans about ready to enter the war. He lays out what happened from the day he joined the British Army to his return home. He gives a day by day description of life in the trenches, the weaponry used; various British Military regiments, description of the uniform wore by the British soldier (Tommy, as he calls them) as well as the songs sung, poems written and the humor of the war. When he returned to civilian life his occupation is listed as a writer and actor. He apparently acted in some movies and plays of the day. He wrote other books but none was a popular as “Over the Top”. His daughter was a model and actress Marguerite Empey (aka Diane Webber). I have read a number of these firsthand accounts of the war and find them most enlightening and educational. I read this as an audio book published in 2013 by Blackstone Audio. Joe Barrett did a good job of narrating the book.

[Leia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was first published in 1917 and was a 'best seller' at the time. It should be recognised that Empey was replicating his experiences of war and not writing a fiction novel so he portrays his experiences bluntly, just as they were. The book is very fast-paced, exciting and to the point. It is fairly graphic but not unnecessarily so. It clearly conveys the traumas that every Private experienced during this war. Empey touches on the horrific reality of war and talks about his day-to-day experiences of trench warfare, rations, lice (or 'cooties') and friends dying before your eyes. However, he also talks about the humorous side, the songs the soldiers sung, the memories they shared and how he made brothers out of strangers as well as military tactics, being a machine gunner and the firing squad. Overall, it is a fantastic memoir of one man's recollections of the First World War and I would highly recommend it. It's gripping and there's tonnes to learn from it!

[Deena]

Clearly the publisher doesn't believe in editors or proof-readers, which is extremely unfortunate.

[Don Alesi · Rating 5 out of 5]

An American soldiers experience fighting alongside the British in WW1

This is a first hand account of an American who volunteered to serve with the British in WW1. He tells his story simply, as he saw it. I couldn't put it down. If you want to know what what life was like in the trenches, then this is a must read.

[Benjamin Sobieck · Rating 4 out of 5]

For all the horror the narrator experiences as an American fighting for the British in World War I, he has a surprisingly sterile view of things. Author Empey spares no time to dissect his circumstances. He only lays out events as they happen in a blunt, journalistic fashion, detouring only to make some chest-thumping comment about defeating the Germans.

Make no mistake, this is a propaganda piece. It wouldn't have been used to rally the American war effort otherwise.

However, there's still plenty to take away from it. Life in the trenches, weaponry details, tactics and gallows humor pepper the narration. That's what kept me interested the whole way through.

This isn't the quintessential World War I book. But given the role it played as a propaganda piece, it's worth a read for its historic value.

[Paul Pellicci · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have read a good part of this book and have come to the conclusion that I really wanted to read Her Privates We. I have since had a discussion with my son and he confirmed it
This book has some instances where people should grieve and be outraged. This soldier's attitude is "well, let’s get on with our adventure!" He volunteers for so many training opportunities and gets' all these opportunities. I feel this is a propaganda piece and this guy was no soldier.
I read mostly to learn. I am a veteran and I can’t believe this for one minute.

I apologize to those whom I recommended this book.

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was quite disappointed to see that the Kindle reprint of this classic included all the photo captions from the original but none of the photos. With that said, it's easy to understand how this book became a runaway bestseller. It's well-written, skates carefully around the gory details of combat but is also full of wry trench humor. It was written by the guy so many future Sammies wanted to be in those days -- a real, live American who went "over there" and lived to tell the tale. I liked this one so much I hope to find a print copy so I can see the photos. Highly recommended.

[Ethan D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tommy atkins, a relatable bastard

Basically the book is short collected stories of the Author it very disconnected but interesting I especially enjoyed the humor but also at times I felt the story was fictional and too absurd to be true which it might have been because it's written during the war and probably served as propaganda.
It made me feel war wasn't too bad even when it describing the dead and gore

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read!

I was very disappointed to note that this reprint included all the captions from the book, but none of the photos themselves. With that said, it's easy to understand why this book became a runaway bestseller. Full of wry trench humor and personal stories of the author's experiences of the Great War.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides a unique description of trench warfare during World War I. Was written by an American, who, angered by the American failure to respond to the sinking of the Lusitania, resigns from the New Jersey National Guard, travels to England, and enlists in the British Army. Serves in the trenches. Is wounded. After several months of convalescence, he is medically discharged, returns to America, and writes this book. Wrote it to provide Americans, now in the war, some understanding of combat as it was being currently being fought - to prepare them for what their soldiers would face on the Western Front. His description the trench warfare is vivid, graphic, realistic. Is an unsurpassed account of WWI from the perspective of an individual frontline infantryman. Empey has a novelist's ability to convey a true sense of place - has a fine eye for the significant detail, an understanding of the importance of the mundane. He tells us everything about his life in the trenches - how he dressed, how he was equipped, what he ate, how the food was delivered, where he slept, tells us of his constant battle with lice and mud. Explains his weapons, what he carries, their use and value. Explains the use of the gas mask, the tactics used to establish listening posts, to do trench raids, to counter machine gun fire. Describes "going over the top" in an a major advance. Explains the trench system, provides maps of the typical layout. Empey covers everything, even the burial of the dead. Chapters of the book could serve as a "field manual" on trench warfare - while others are Empey's personal memoirs, full of his unforgettable war stories. However, what makes this book truly unique is its tone. Almost all WWI books were written after the war - are full of disillusionment, bitterness, of disgust at the waste of lives. This, however, was written while the war was still on-going - written before American involvement was significant. And the author wrote it with an almost Teddy Roosevelt bravado - with an attitude that "sure war is hell, but it is what men do". His unquestioning acceptance of this war is to a modern reader, odd. He seems to have no problem with the static nature of the conflict, the random deaths from sniper fire or artillery shelling, the trench raids that never accomplish anything, the hopeless advances "over the top" into murderous machine gun fire. His passive acceptance of all this as "just the way things are" is truly remarkable. Perhaps this is proof that human beings can adapt to anything. Or, perhaps, Empey was simply writing from the perspective of a survivor - one who survived the ordeal and does not want to discourage others or seem to be defeatist, or unpatriotic. Or a cynic might wonder if his rather positive view of the war might have been influenced by, or the book's publication promoted by, the British propaganda folks. They were at this time, 1917, the best in the world - however, there is no proof of their involvement here. And Empey continued to write successfully after the war - wrote other books, novels, pulp fiction, even screenplays. In fact, he wrote the screenplay to this book, and when it was made into a movie, he acted his role himself. Was quite successful. Acted in several other movies. Had an amazing life. And this is an amazing book - is a time machine taking the reader back to a different world.

[Stutley Constable · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just to be clear, I purchased an original edition of this book in a second hand store. It's copyright is 1917 and it has the original cloth-bound cover. GoodReads does not currently have this edition listed and I, for some reason, am unable to add it.

Given the time in which the book was written and that it was not written by a professional author, it reads pretty well. It's simple and easy to follow, though some of the events related are obviously meant as propaganda and at least partly to reassure the potential young recruits of the comparatively inexperienced U.S. army that the war wasn't as terrible as they might fear.

What I liked best about the book was that it gave me a pretty good idea of what it would have been like for an American to join the British army in the First World War. The characterization of the Tommies was endearing, though a little simplistic and never went into very much depth. They weren't fully fleshed out even when they were the subjects of one of the anecdotes. This, I think, can be chalked up to the inexperienced nature of the author.

Over the Top is not a history book. I think it would be fare to say that in large measure it is a fictitious account of the experiences of the man who wrote it. Real events are contained in the book, but not everything in the book sounds quite right. Some of it is clearly based on second or third hand stories likely recounted during lulls in the fighting. The parts with the greatest detail and most vivid characters are surely events the author lived through.

What comes across most is that A. G. Empey was a brave man who witnessed a part of history most of us would never want to experience first hand. His book is worth a read and it is sitting on my shelf next to my copy of Private Yankee Doodle.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

While there are certainly shades of propaganda running through Empey's account of his time in the British Army, as a call to arms to his fellow Americans, Over The Top is still not as in your face as Uncle Sam's (or Kitchener's) finger. To me, this memoir is a valuable recount of life in the trenches because it was written relatively shortly after leaving them. Empey does not shy away from the darker details of life at war - although certainly he omits the extensive level of gruesomeness that later memoirs would introduce - and I can't think anyone who calls this simply an adventure lark remembers reading the several times Empey recalls a man's brains spilling out, or taking a handful of them unintentionally. He doesn't go on about how this makes him feel at the time, but one mustn't fail to grasp the starkness of such an image. It undoubtedly affected him, even if he has neglected to tell us of the effect in an effort to buck up patriotism and enthusiasm for the war.

I enjoyed this WWI memoir, as I have enjoyed many others. Empey does not wax poetic about his experiences, and the details stand out all the more for it. It's nice to read something contemporary of the time, and as long as one takes the call-to-arms propaganda slant for what it's worth, Over The Top is a fascinating memoir.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Similar to Rough Riders by Theodore Roosevelt, Over the Top was a great contemporary account of World War 1. It was a nice chance to hear about a real life account of the trenches and the attitude of a soldier while experiencing it. Over the Top was almost certainly a slightly conflated account, but it remains that it was written by a man who actually experienced the trenches and wrote the book based on his experiences. It is amazing how any soldier could return home from World War 1 and live a normal life again. The warfare of that first war was horrendous. Even with the slightly dry and wry humor/take that Arthur Empey has in Over the Top, the terribleness of the trenches bleeds through. The men had to develop a sadistic sense of humor to retain their sanity. From using a dead man's foot sticking out of the mud as a lantern hook to using a dead man's arms as a signpost to seeing constant carnage, the trenches were a spectacularly horrendous place. Thus, reading an account from one who actually experienced it is very enlightening.

[Charles Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

We all need to understand that this book was written in 1917, and some of it is clearly propaganda aimed at swaying Americans opinion about US entry into the war. Much of it downplays the horror or war, with a stiff upper lip kind of mock nonchalance. However, the author did fight heroically.

What earned the book my respect and interest was the fine detail about life in the trenches. The differences between Prussians and Saxons in the trenches, the morning rum, the constant battle against lice, and the utter randomness of death in those muddy fields. The book educated me about WWI. I didn't really care for the author, but he wrote for a different time and a different audience.

The author's reactions and opinion are not what you take away from this work. You come away amazed that men will live like this so that they can kill other men, who live just as badly, for King and Country.

[Noah Goats · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a few novels and memoirs of the first world war, and this book is nothing like them. The whole tone is different. It is a book with a surprising amount of humor and hope. Not that Empey shies away from the ugly aspects of that awful war. He describes what it was like to be gassed and shot in the face, to see friends die, to be wounded and dying in no mans land, to accidentally put your hand into a hole in a dead soldier's head and to pull it out all covered with blood and brains. But still, there is a strange humor and positive outlook there. Different.

I think Empey probably mostly tells the truth about what the trenches were like, but sometimes he may embellish his way into falsehood. There's no way that his story about the deserter from Company "D" is true, for example, at least not in Empey's level of detail.

Still, this is a remarkable book, and very readable.

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very rare trench memoir from A.G.E., an American who ended up in the King's Army as a volunteer and saw a lot of action therein. A good memory from my childhood; this book was on the family bookshelf, and I read it first when I was about 10- which started an obsession for the Great War that continues to this day...if you can find it, I can say I read it a few years ago and it has held up very well. Grim anecdotes and surprising humour make you root for Empey's survival, while still being shocked by the waste of the War- all of those young lives, including (memorably) a young recruit who doesn't even make it to the Front before his steel helmet ends up filled w/ his own "brains and blood", killed before even firing a shot in anger...

[Allison Kohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over The Top by Arthur Guy Empey
This book had me captivated from the first sentence, and they got better as I read on. This is a good history book - not a text book, but an example of what it was like to really live it. War is not fun. No war has ever been anything but horror, even now when we expect technology to keep us from the horrors every other war has caused. War is awful - and yet the powers that be keep right on subjecting the people in their "protection" to it while they sit behind desks in plush offices - and yet, in an imperfect world, war is a fact of life because there are always people who try to force their will on others.

[Joshua Horn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A engaging memoir from an American who fought in World War I. Quick read. It gives a different twist on the usual mantra of the horror of WWI. Empey doesn't deny that, but he also seemed to enjoy the war in a way, and regretted he couldn't go back to fighting when he was wounded. Keep in mind that this book was also used as propaganda when American joined the war, so there was an agenda behind it.

[Edward Parr · Rating 3 out of 5]

WWI/Battle of the Somme, written by an American who enlisted in the British Infantry. Fairly graphic and empathetic account of the trenches from a soldier who was determined to fight the enemy. Unlike many such novels, the author expresses no desire to simply shock the reader with the horrors of war. I think a fairly good Trench Memoir.

[Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Little known today, but this book was a bestseller during and after WW1. This is a no holds barred account of life in the trenches in the Great War. After reading the book you will not think the war was so great. Read it when I was in high school (1966), read it again recently on Google Books (free), also available for free in Kindle at Amazon.

[Isaac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book in conjunction with A German Deserters War Experience by Anonymous. It makes this book better as aresult.

Good book. Very frank and honest account. Well written in conversational tone. Like a person telling a story. Lighter hearted than All Quiet and can be both funny and very serious at times.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Brutality shared with us by Arthur Guy Empey is exactly as it should be. We do not need an extremely watered down account of his experience. Arthur is often condemned for trying to sound like a "tommy", but who's to say that was not his personality? Some people are more prone to absorb the personality, sayings and culture of others.

[Matthew Dambro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was actually a reread for me. It wasn't until I reached the glossary at the end of the book that I had read it over fifty years ago. It was written by an American soldier who enlisted in the British Army in 1915. He was severely wounded on the first day of the Somme battle. It is pro British propaganda but it is an enjoyable read.

[Sarasitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read an older edition of this book that I found at a used book store. I have read a few WWII books, so it was different and interesting to read a WWI book. I would recommend this to people who want to learn about trench warfare in 'The Great War.'

[Wade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent counterpart to Storm of Steel. This little American goes 'over there' and joins the British to fight in the Great War and does so with a sens of elan and humor. A great quick read for anyone really wanting to know what it was like on the front.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very strange book feels almost like war propaganda but not quite. The writing is fairly disjointed and you have no real sense of time or place because all town names are censored. The author also tries to speak like a "Tommy".

[Douglas Kohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the Daly life of a trench soldier.

This book was a fun look at trench soldier life in WW1. The author really made a fun and lighthearted war story about Daly life in the trenches.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sort of the "positive" version of Robert Graves' " Goodbye to All That"

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very interesting book. I really enjoyed reading it. No fanfare, jjust a record of the soldiers life during the war.

[Brian Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent account of WW1 in the trenches from the British point of view.