author

Ralph Scott

A firsthand World War I memoir gives this author’s work its power, mixing sharp observation with the everyday fear, exhaustion, and endurance of life at the front. The result is plainspoken, vivid writing that pushes back against romantic ideas about war.

1 Audiobook

A Soldier's Diary

A Soldier's Diary

by Ralph Scott

About the author

Ralph Scott is known for A Soldier’s Diary, first published in 1923. Reliable catalog and public-domain sources identify the book as a World War I personal narrative, and LibriVox describes him as a World War I soldier who served as a Royal Engineer and hand-to-hand combatant.

What makes his writing stand out is its directness. In the published diary and its prefatory material, the book is presented as an attempt to show war as ordinary soldiers actually experienced it — not as glory, but as misery, strain, courage, and survival.

Very little biographical information beyond his military experience could be confirmed from the sources reviewed here, so it is safest to remember him mainly through this memoir: a clear, unsentimental record of the final phase of the First World War from the viewpoint of someone who lived it.