My Four Weeks in France

In 1917, Ring Lardner was sent on assignment as a war correspondent on the French front for a series of reports for Collier’s magazine. Appearing in serialized format in the magazine before its eventual publication as a book, My Four Weeks in France recalls Lardner’s experiences in his new wartime role.

Being a humorist and a satirist, it would have been inconsistent with his typical format to write harrowing stories about the horrors of combat. For this reason, this book instead consists primarily of harrowing stories of wartime government bureaucracy. Despite his efforts to get up to the front lines to write some legitimate war reportage, Lardner found himself constantly railroaded by one bureaucratic headache after another, and rarely made it to the trenches. What combat stories he did manage to write were mostly rejected by censors. However, his efforts in getting permits, licenses, press passes, and the like made for enough stories to fill a book anyway.

My Four Weeks in France offers a unique perspective that sets it apart among the many travelogues and memoirs written about war. By finding moments of levity in what was then known as “the war to end all wars,” Lardner demonstrates that he can write nonfiction stories on grim topics while remaining consistent with his typical humorous, slightly satirical writing style.

This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.