The First World War: A New History - Softcover

This serious, compact survey of the war's history stands out as the most well- informed, accessible work available. ("Los Angeles Times") What Strachan offers is history as only the professionals can do it, and rarely enough even then. (Adam Gopnik, "The New Yorker") Likely to be the most indispensable one-volume work on the subject since John Keegan's First World War. ("Publishers Weekly") A brilliant feat. (John Keegan) Quite simply the best short history of the war in print. (Dennis Showalter) This serious, compact survey of the wars history stands out as the most well- informed, accessible work available. ("Los Angeles Times") What Strachan offers is history as only the professionals can do it, and rarely enough even then. (Adam Gopnik, "The New Yorker") Likely to be the most indispensable one-volume work on the subject since John Keegans First World War. ("Publishers Weekly") A brilliant feat. (John Keegan) Quite simply the best short history of the war in print. (Dennis Showalter) This serious, compact survey of the waras history stands out as the most well- informed, accessible work available. ("Los Angeles Times") What Strachan offers is history as only the professionals can do it, and rarely enough even then. (Adam Gopnik, "The New Yorker") Likely to be the most indispensable one-volume work on the subject since John Keeganas First World War. ("Publishers Weekly") A brilliant feat. (John Keegan) Quite simply the best short history of the war in print. (Dennis Showalter) This serious, compact survey of the war s history stands out as the most well- informed, accessible work available. ("Los Angeles Times") What Strachan offers is history as only the professionals can do it, and rarely enough even then. (Adam Gopnik, "The New Yorker") Likely to be the most indispensable one-volume work on the subject since John Keegan s First World War. ("Publishers Weekly") A brilliant feat. (John Keegan) Quite simply the best short history of the war in print. (Dennis Showalter)

Hew Strachan is one of the world's foremost experts on the Great War of 1914-18. His ongoing three-volume history of the conflict, the first of which was published in 2001, is likely to become the standard academic reference work: Max Hastings called it 'one of the most impressive books of modern history in a generation', while Richard Holmes hailed it as a 'towering achievement'. Now, Hew Strachan brings his immense knowledge to a one-volume work aimed squarely at the general reader. The inspiration behind the major Channel 4 series of the same name, to which Hew was chief consultant, THE FIRST WORLD WAR is a significant addition to the literature on this subject, taking as it does a uniquely global view of what is often misconceived as a prolonged skirmish on the Western Front. Exploring such theatres as the Balkans, Africa and the Ottoman Empire, Strachan assesses Britain's participation in the light of what became a struggle for the defence of liberalism, and show how the war shaped the 'short' twentieth century that followed it. Accessible, compelling and utterly convincing, this is a modern history writing at its finest.