QUESTION: What is the best single volumne WW1 book?

[Sean Evans]

I agree with Nigel Cave (post 8) : Crutwell is hard to beat. He gives you insight on almost every page and is fair to all belligerents. Excellent style, too.

Personally, I found Keegan's single volume rather dull, presenting little that was not generally known. Poor maps. All the best, Fred

Hi, would you fellows kindly post a link to the the Crutwell book, I cannot seem to find it. thank you.

Sean

[nigelcave]

Hi, would you fellows kindly post a link to the the Crutwell book, I cannot seem to find it. thank you.

Sean

Sean:

It is History of the Great War, CRMF Crutwell, Oxford, 1934. He was Principal of Hertford College, Oxford and became a Fellow of All Souls - therefore a fairly distinguished academic; he served in the war in the Berkshires, if memory serves and was wounded; and then did time in the War Office on the Intelligence side - so plenty of war time experience at the 'sharp end'. Keegan says in his bibliography at the end of his one volume First World War, that Strachan's two volume history 'is expected to supplant CRMF Crutwell...dated, but splendidly written'. Given how limited were the sources that were available to him, it really is an outstanding and balanced work.

My copy is a paperback, I suppose published about 25 years ago; it comes in at just under 650 pages. It went through a number of reprints, so even if not in print today I would think it could be found on the second hand market without great difficulty..

Evelyn Waugh, also at Hertford, as an undergraduate, did not like, indeed seems to have detested, Crutwell. Whether this says more about Crutwell or Waugh is a matter of discussion!