A World Undone: The Story of The Great War, 1914-1918

[VPolk]

Can anyone recommend a good all around general history of the Great War? I've noticed that "A World Undone" by G.J. Meyer received a lot of good reviews on Amazon (U.S.). Has anyone read it?

I've been interested in reading about the Great War beyond what I've learned in school (which really wasn't much) and have ordered a few hopefully good books to get me started- The Price of Glory by Alistair Horne, The First Day On The Somme by Martin Middlebrook, and Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger.

Regards

[phil andrade]

Try Winston Churchill's history The Great War, aka The World Crisis.

Written in the inter war years, by someone who was not only "there" but played a very prominent role, it still packs a tremendous punch.

Powerful prose, some hyperbole, and a good deal of bias....it's available in any number of second hand bookshops, and I'm sure easily acquired online.

There's something especially poignant about this work, it's as if Churchill saw the conflict as a gruesome prelude to something even worse yet to come.

There is much that one might disagree with in his analysis, but I rate it very highly. Above all, enjoy it for the power and persuasion of his style....it doesn't come much better than this.

Phil

[truthergw]

" The First World War. Volume 1", Hew Strachan. There never was a volume 2. This is a classic. Michael Howard, " First World War". Another classic. For a different point of view, "The First World War" by Holder Herwig and possibly " Pyrrhic Victory" by Robert Doughty for a view on the French contribution. I must warn you about Churchill's book. Not only was he there, he was heavily involved in Gallipoli and the political manoeuvring which caused such great difficulty to the soldiers. There is an anecdote told of his book. Lord Riddell tells of a friend approaching him and saying, " Have you heard about Winston?" He has written a book about himself and called it ' World in Crisis'". Read the book by all means but do not let the splendid rolling cadences lull you into thinking they are the plain unvarnished truth. They are anything but. If you do a search in the book review section, this topic has been covered many times.

[phil andrade]

Yes, Tom is right...if you seek a truly objective history of the war, you must look elsewhere. I still recommend it, though. Churchill wrote more about the Eastern Front fighting in 1914 than we usually find in so many general histories.

The pre-eminent chapter is, I think, The Blood Test : here Churchill made a momentous survey of the terrible casualty statistics of the war on the Western Front, and made a very hard hitting statement about the barreness of the attrition policy as practiced by the Entente 1915-17. If you just read one section of the book, make it this one.

Phil

[VPolk]

Thanks PJA and truthergw!