Over the Top

Name: Over the Top
Brand: Blackstone Audiobooks
Availability: InStock
Author: Arthur Guy Empey
ISBN: 9781481574051

Author: Arthur Guy Empey

Narrator: Joe Barrett

Unabridged: 6 hr 40 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

Published: 05/21/2013

Categories: Nonfiction, Biography & Autobiography, Military Nonfiction, Historical Biography, Military History, History, Wars, World War I

Synopsis

In 1915, the British ocean liner Lusitania was making its way from New York to Liverpool when it was sunk by a German U-boat, shocking the world with the massive death toll. Infuriated by the tragedy, Arthur Guy Empey, an American citizen, traveled to England to enlist in the Royal Fusiliers, as the United States had not yet entered the war. Over the Top tells the story of Empey's experiences in a voice straight from the western front, causing listeners to feel as if they are right there in the trenches.This book was the biggest bestseller of the war, with sales totaling a million copies. Perhaps one of its most entertaining features is the appendix entitled "Tommy's Dictionary of the Trenches," which defines slang and other terms used by British soldiers. The book remains a classic, the fascinating story of an American soldier fighting in the British Army.

About Arthur Guy Empey

Arthur Guy Empey (1883–1963) was an American soldier who fought in the British Army during World War I. He was medically discharged after being wounded in action. He wrote Over the Top upon his return to the United States, and after selling more than a quarter of a million copies it was made into a feature film in 1918. Empey went on to become a screenwriter, actor, and movie producer.

About Joe Barrett

Joe Barrett, an actor and Audie Award and Earphones Award–winning narrator, has appeared both on and off Broadway as well as in hundreds of radio and television commercials.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jean on March 16, 2014

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......more

Goodreads review by Leia on April 01, 2015

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 i......more

Goodreads review by Don on January 03, 2020

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......more

Goodreads review by Benjamin on March 23, 2012

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......more

Goodreads review by Fishface on May 17, 2019

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 b......more