Chris Howell has made a remarkable work in No Thankful Village. He has depicted with deep knowledge and great warmth the community from which he has sprung - the area around Midsomer Norton and Radstock in Somerset - as it was affected by the Great War, 1914 - 1918. It is part of an ancient coal-field set in the folds of the Mendip Hills. The blend of independent minded farming stock allied to the strong communal links of a body of miners, whose very lives relied on mutual support, created a community of rich variety. Chris Howell knows, respects and loves these people, and has spent much time chronicling their doings in the area.

In No Thankful Village, he has let the calendar provide the structure for his collage of the Great War. By doing so, he has been able to let the many voices speak for themselves without the need for narration. Thus, for example, the recollections of those who went to war, accounts of the women who defended the Home Front, contemporary extracts from the local paper and minutes of the Local Appeals Tribunal have been juxtaposed, often with devastating effect. The cool tone of an official military diary sits uncomfortably next to a shattering personal account of the same occasion.

Almost all the items in Chris Howell's book are individually muted, but the overall effect is exponentially cumulative. It is rather like a Persian carpet where each unremarkable thread is knotted into the pattern to create a fabric with remarkable appearance and great durability. This book is not a work with a powerful creative or interpretive personal voice - such as Graves, Owen or Faulks - driving it. It is rather a powerful chorus of small voices conveying the 'Pity of War'.

Chris Howell lives in Chilcompton, Somerset with his wife, Birgitta. They have two children, John and Lis. He has previously compiled eight books of oral history and photographs of Somerset. He taught for 38 years at Somervale School, in Midsomer Norton, where he was Head of the Sixth Form for the last 17. He retired from teaching in 2000 to concentrate on working for the school in other ways and to finish writing No Thankful Village, which he has dedicated to his two grandsons, brothers Alex and Sam Bates.

Chris Howell had special edition of No Thankful Village made which included the following inscription:

This limited edition of No Thankful Village was made for the children and grandchildren of soldiers whose stories are told in this book, who gathered for its private launch on July 27th, 2002. Their fathers and grandfathers were themselves grandsons and sons and uncles and brothers. And by what they did and what they gave they became ours, too.

Photo A	Photo B	Photo C
Photo D	Photo A: Chris Howell speaking at the private launch of No Thankful Village on July 27th 2002. Photo B: Presenting a copy of the limited edition of No Thankful Village to the family of Sid Hawkins, who was a tank driver at the Battle of Cambrai.	Photo C: Nigel Carter, Commercial Director of Butler and Tanner, Ltd, presenting Chris with a leather-bound, special edition of the special edition! (For five of the last six years Butler and Tanner have been named as the top book printers in the UK) Photo D: Jo Urch presenting a bouquet to Major Sir Fergus Matheson of Matheson, who wrote the foreword to the book. Seated beside Sir Fergus is his niece Nel, whose late father, Major Sir Torquhil Matheson, had originally agreed to write the foreword.