World War I, published by Facts on File, is very special to me. The original edition was written by my late son Peter in 1991. He never saw the book. He died two weeks before it was published. I was invited to write an expanded edition of this book by the publishers after they decided to update all their America at War books. I was very close to Peter when he was writing this book. He was a history buff, who had made a deep and serious study of war. He amassed a wealth of knowledge on World War I, especially after he completed a two-year tour of duty with NATO as a U.S. infantryman in Germany, seeing many of the first World War's historic sites and battlegrounds. Peter would tell me, with great sadness, of the atrocities and disregard for life that had so characterized that war. He was, in truth, a teacher for me, the one who opened my eyes to these events of the past.
Both Peter and I had a great editor to work with, John Bowman. He thought Peter's wealth of knowledge about World War I and his writing capability were a perfect fit for the Facts on File series. "In getting Peter to write this book, we had struck the mother lode," he said. "He brought not only his years of reading and research to the assignment, but a deep sense of what the war had meant to its era." And then he added, "Like Peter, Toni (that's me) brought more than a freelance writer's skill to the book. She, too, brought a sensitivity and compassion to the subject matter that she added."
When I saw the new edition, I cried with pride and joy that Peter and I were 'co-authors' and our names would be forever together on a book.
