Silent Night

The Remarkable 1914 Christmas Truce

By: Stanley Weintraub

Narrated by: Edward Holland

In the beginning months of World War I, a very strange thing happened. After the fierce trench warfare of November and December, on Christmas Eve, 1914, the fighting spontaneously stopped. Men on both sides laid down their arms and came to celebrate Christmas with each other. They shared food parcels across the lines, sang carols together, and erected Christmas trees with candles. They buried the dead, exchanged presents, and even played soccer together.

Stanley Weintraub uses the letters and diaries of the men present to underscore the reality of this strange, delicate, twilight-like state of truce, when peace and good will really were for all men. It was with reluctance that the truce came to an end, and men had to get back to the business of killing.

©2001 Stanley Weintraub (P)2001 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Weintraub has brought an obscure and bizarre incident to life with a flair that gives the reader a detailed glimpse of a unique Christmas story." (The Seattle Times)

"Deeply moving." (The Boston Globe)

"Edward Holland excels with his German, French, three classes of British English, and some well-aged Scots. Nor is he taxed by the requirement to recite poetry, soldier's prayers, and even to sing a bit." (AudioFile)

Incredible Story on a Lesser Known Topic

This is a well researched book on an aspect of WWI that historians have largely forgotten, namely, that love for ones neighbor can spontaneously arise in the most unexpected places. The narrator does a great job, with the various accents. The story is very compelling and should never be forgotten. My only complaint with the story is that it is hard to follow chronologically. The book transitions back and forth between days during the last two weeks of 1914. Other than that, I highly recommend reading this book!

Good book

The Christmas Truce is one of my favorite events in history. This book brought to life new information about it that I never knew. While I've heard better narration, I would recommend this book

Inspiring

Disobey so called authority and you shall now peace. Follow your own conscience and reason and you will know peace.

Just okay.

An amazing & fascinating historical event. Well-researched, but the telling of the story is just okay.

Silent Night: a hope and prayer

A. true story of the meaning of Christmas, demonstrating the goodness that dwells in the heart and soul of man. In the last chapter the author posits of what might have happened if the world took the small embers of the Christmas Truce 1914 and carried it's spirit and light to brighten the world with the first and true message of the first Christmas...Peace on Earth and Goodwill to Man!

Everyone needs to read this book

I just finished this on Christmas. In a world where my county has been at war most of my life this book opened my mind to the insanity of war.

Remarkable story remarkably told

This retelling of a remarkable event in the history of our world is impeccably written and brilliantly narrated.

That might be a good enough recommendation, but it does little justice. It is difficult to describe the detail that must have gone into the research. You must listen to appreciate the blending of poetic colour with historical fact that went into the writing. The author clearly loves the romantic elements of the story and, at the same time, considers himself a guardian of historic truth and verifiable fact.

Perhaps sometimes without meaning to, although several times with a clear intent, the author provides sublime insights that apply to our world today. The story itself is full of joy and sadness and raw human emotion that the author displays for the listener with perfect timing, yet without unnecessary embellishment.

The narrator’s careful and respectful use of German, English, Scottish, French and other accents give a voice to personal letters of the men involved.

Whether you come for a heart-warming Christmas story, interesting historical details, or something more profound, you’ll find it. For me, listening to this is now an annual experience that will be part of my Christmas traditions for years to come.

Excellent!

Ever since I first heard of the 1914 Christmas truce, it has captivated my imagination of “what if”it had gone on indefinitely. Well worth listening to.

Soso Christmas Story

Heartwarming story, just hard to follow because it follows the same event from anothers point of view.

Everyone should know this history

I’ve read this book a couple times and have frequently been moved to tears by this event. Weintraub sets us smack into the trenches of French, German and English soldiers who, disobeying orders, set aside their differences and their guns and got to know each other on Christmas 1914.

As he says, the event was larger in scale than we are lead to believe. All along that front peace broke out spontaneously, gifts were exchanged, and even a few games of footy took place.

Why didn’t the truce continue? What could have been avoided by the next four years of war being avoided? He goes into that too.

Sleep in heavenly peace… oh, the damage that war did that we are still paying the price for.