IStorytelling Through the Ages
From carved temple walls to soldiers' letters and the poets of the trenches: how people have told the story of war, and why each telling matters.
Remembered · Recorded · Retold
Every war ends. The telling never does.
Tale of War is a calm, carefully sourced guide to military storytelling: how war has been told from ancient epics to soldiers' letters, how veterans' accounts are preserved, and how a firsthand memory differs from the history written later.
“I write you a few lines to let you know that I am well and hope these few lines will find you the same.”
A typical opening of a Civil War soldier's letter. Much of what we know about ordinary soldiers begins with lines like these.Three ways in
What you'll find here
I
IIPreserving Veterans' Voices
Practical, carefully sourced guidance for families, students and volunteers who want a veteran's story to outlast the people who heard it first.
IIIFirsthand vs. History
An eyewitness and a historian are both telling the truth as they can see it. Here is how the two kinds of account differ, and how they work together.
Carefully researched
Featured reading
How to Record a Veteran's Story: A Practical Guide
Everything a family member, student, or volunteer needs to turn one conversation into a lasting record.
9 min read →Memory and the War Memoir: Why Recollections Change
Memories of war are not recordings that slowly wear out. They are living things, rebuilt each time they are told, and understanding that makes us better listeners, not doubters.
8 min read →Letters Home: The American Civil War in Soldiers' Own Words
Union and Confederate soldiers wrote home by the thousands, often frankly and without an officer reading over their shoulder, and their letters remain one of the best windows into how the war felt.
8 min read →Finding a Veteran's Military Service Records
Where service records live, who is allowed to see them, and how to ask for them the right way the first time.
9 min read →The Soldier-Poets of the First World War
A handful of men who served on the Western Front wrote poems that still shape how much of the world remembers the First World War, though their view was never the only one.
8 min read →How Historians Weigh Eyewitness Accounts
Eyewitnesses are the heart of war history, and also its hardest puzzle. Here is how historians test what witnesses tell them, and what one famous debate reveals about the process.
9 min read →The stories that aren't written down are the ones we lose
Most veterans' stories are never recorded. A phone, a quiet room and an hour of good questions can change that. Our free guide walks you through it.
Open the interview guide Read the how-toThe Library
Books that bear witness
More from Tale of War
Resources
The Library
Books, oral histories and simple recording gear, chosen on merit.
Interview guide & resources
Free printable questions, checklists and how-to guides for families.
Domain for sale
TaleOfWar.com is available to the right steward. A unique opportunity.
Our approach
History, not headlines
We don't cover current events or take political sides. Every article cites the archives, libraries and scholars it relies on, and is written to respect the people whose stories it describes. Read more about our editorial standards.