Brunswick historian’s command of World War I informs PBS series
Richard Rubin has written two books about America's role in the Great War and is featured in a three-part documentary starting Monday
BY RAY ROUTHIER STAFF WRITER
BRUNSWICK — Richard Rubin sat at a table in the Curtis Memorial Library, his favorite writing spot, and opened a plastic bin full of odds and ends that looked at first glance like they were plucked from a garage sale.
But a closer looked revealed a World War I German mortar, shrapnel, five American bullets, a piece of German-made barbed wire and a rusted and bent bayonet.
“Every time I go to France I find things like this, in the fields where various divisions were,” said Rubin, 50, author of two books on America’s involvement in World War I. “I’m told, and I have no reason to doubt, that this stuff will keep turning up for the next 200 to 300 years. Here in America, it’s largely a forgotten war, but in France (America’s involvement) continues to mean so much to them.”
Rubin’s latest book on World War I, “Back Over There: One American Time-Traveler, 100 Years Since the Great War, 500 Miles of Battle-Scarred French Countryside, and Too Many Trenches, Shells, Legends and Ghosts to Count” hit stores last week. Beginning Monday, Rubin will be featured prominently in a three-part documentary called “The Great War” on “American Experience” on PBS.