Does life in the trenches during World War I fascinate you? If so, this book is a priceless resource, written by two men who fought in the war -- as soldiers, mind you, not officers safely behind the lines -- and who had an intimate familiarity with the songs, words and phrases collected here.

"This book is a jewel," Malcolm Brown wrote in his introduction to the book when it was reprinted in 2008 -- 90 years after the end of the war, and 78 years after it was first published in 1930 as Songs & Slang of the British Soldier, 1914-1918. "It's a tribute to the indestructibility of the human spirit under the most demanding and challenging conditions."

Even more interesting is the introduction written by co-author John Brophy for a revised edition issued a mere half-century after the war's end. His insight -- both as a collector of the book's contents and as one of the soldiers who experienced the war firsthand -- is fascinating.

"If soldiers sang at all in the front line it was one at a time and under the breath, unless they had reached a tacit and reciprocal arrangement with the Germans opposite," Brophy explains. They sang more when they were on the move, he says, after orders were given to "march at ease" and "march easy."

"These permissive orders, like the provision of a band at the head of the column, were the Army's way of encouraging troops to sing in the belief that it was good for morale," he says. "Singing, with intervals of silence or whistling or humming, provided a distraction from the long, slow count of the heavy laden miles."

What follows is a collection of song lyrics, divided between those usually sung on the march and those sung in billets and estaminets (French cafes and bars). When possible, the authors explain where the songs originated and, if they know it, the tune to which it was set. And, after that, a lengthy glossary of common soldiers' slang.

"An experience so wide-spread and so deep-sunk as the War of 1914-18 was bound to modify the language considerably," Brophy wrote in a note to the glossary.

So, run through your alphabet from A (Ace: A fighting air-pilot of outstanding ability.), B (Barpo: Silly; insane) and C (Cannon-fodder: All combatant soldiers below the rank of, say, major; especially the infantry) through M (Mail Up: A shout of joy and expectation when letters and parcels arrived from Blighty), N (Nut: A man, especially a young man, paying great attention to his appearance and dressing in the fashion of the moment) and O (Officer Bloke: A batman's term for his officer) to X (Xaroshie: Very good! O.K. From the Russian), Y (Yellow Peril: A cheap cigarette) and Z (Zeppelin in a cloud: Sausage and mash). It's interesting stuff!

I'm glad Brophy and Partridge put this book together, and I'm glad they revised and updated it over the years to create this truly useful compendium of a soldier's life in the Great War.