Front Lines to Headlines: The World War I Overseas Dispatches of Otto P. Higgins by James J. Heiman is a narrative review of the complete collection of 218 overseas World War I dispatches, which includes a sampling of dispatches and 42 field photographs.
Both the dispatches and the photographs were created by embedded divisional correspondent Otto P. Higgins and published in The Kansas City Star between May 1918 and July 1919. Descriptions of the dispatches are presented in narrative form in the book and organized sequentially in monthly installments by date of composition, followed by a representative sampling of photographs and intact articles.
The dispatches begin in the cemetery where the Lusitania victims are buried in Ireland; continue on to the headquarters of the American Navy in London; and end with the fight in France and the occupation in Germany. Behind the lines, Higgins reported from the salvage, supply, transport, and repair operations in support of American doughboys on their way to the front lines. Along with other journalists headquartered in Paris, Higgins ventured forth to provide his readers at home with a sure sense of the support their boys were receiving “Over There.”
Front Lines to Headlines: The World War I Overseas Dispatches of Otto P. Higgins was published by Woodneath Press April 2019 and can be purchased on Amazon.com.