{"product_id":"2940159552532","title":"Kings, Queens, and Pawns: An American Woman at the Front","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMary Roberts Rinehart, known for her bestselling mystery novels such as \u003cem\u003eThe Circular Staircase\u003c\/em\u003e published in 1907, earned a reputation as “the American Agatha Christie” through the success of her novels. Yet Rinehart was also a WWI correspondent.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter convincing her editor at \u003cem\u003eThe Saturday Evening Post\u003c\/em\u003e to send her to the Belgian front, and armed with letters of introduction, her status as a well-known writer and member of the American Red Cross, as well as plenty of fearless initiative, she became the first American to report from the front. \u003cem\u003eIn Kings, Queens and Pawns\u003c\/em\u003e (1915) Rinehart records scenes of life at, and far from, the front: a baby whose legs were blown off, a young soldier rendered blind in battle sitting quietly as he listens to a recording of \u003cem\u003eMadama Butterfly\u003c\/em\u003e, the entire noncombatant population of a Belgian town homeless after relentless German-lead bombings, a queen overseeing her Needlework Guild.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnticipating the ultimately widely held view of the bloody and often futile conflict, Rinehart argues that the greatest treasures of the warring countries, the young soldiers fighting so valiantly in the prime of their lives, are mere pawns wasted and lost on the desolate battlefields.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Blackstone Audio, Inc.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46364451373297,"sku":"2940159552532","price":22.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0674\/5433\/7265\/files\/2940159552532_p0.jpg?v=1764910676","url":"https:\/\/shop.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940159552532","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble","version":"1.0","type":"link"}