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World War I

We have a number of interviews focused on World War I and many more in which particular books on the war are recommended.

Covering the state of Europe in the lead up to the World War I, Ruth Harris recommends her best books on Dreyfus and the Belle Époque. Jonathan Boff recommends his best books on World War I. Turning to specific books, the military historian Hew Strachan recommends L’Or et le Sang: Les buts de guerre économiques de la Premiere Guerre mondiale by Georges-Henri Soutou as one of his top books on military history, looking at the economic objectives of World War One’s protagonists.

Nexus: Strategic Communications and American Security in World War I by Jonathan Reed Winkler looks at the strategic importance of cables and communications technology during World War One. Our editor-in-chief, Sophie Roell, recommends Haig’s Enemy: Crown Prince Rupprecht and Germany’s war on the Western Front by Jonathan Boff as a good take on the German view of the war. David Marquand recommends Price of Glory: Verdun 1916 by Alistair Horne as great account of the most destructive battle ever fought in Western Europe.

On the consequences of the World War I, John Lewis Gaddis recommends The Wilsonian Moment: Self-determination and the International Origins of anti-Colonial Nationalism by Erez Manela, which looks at how President Wilson’s 14 points and his doctrine of national self-determination played out in Egypt, India, China and Korea. Our Foreign Affairs by Paul Scott Mowrer deals specifically with the role of the US in the aftermath of World War I. In Realm of the Black Mountain: A History of Montenegro Elizabeth Roberts looks at the only country on the winning side that disappeared (swallowed up by Serbia) in the wake of the First World War.

Larry Summers in the best books on globalisation recommends The Economic Consequences of the Peace by John Maynard Keynes as a highly influential book that influenced how the Versailles Treaty was adjusted to manage the economic problems of the post-war era. David J Lynch recommends Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed, which looks at the role of the world’s principal central bankers from before World War I through to the great depression and the outbreak of the World War II.

Eric Foner, in his best books on the evolution of liberalism recommends The Tragedy of American Diplomacy, which looks at the assumption that the expansion of freedom necessarily follows the expansion of US power. Roland Chambers chooses his best books on the Russian Revolution. In The Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fussell looks at how the experience of World War I changed modern literature.

Lastly, in her interview on the best children’s fiction of 2018, Zoe Greaves recommends Skylarks’ War by Hilary McKay as a very accessible account of World War I for children.

    The best books on World War I, recommended by Jonathan Boff

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    The best books on World War I - The First World War by Michael Howard

    1

    The First World War
    by Michael Howard

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    The best books on World War I - The First World War, Volume 1: To Arms by Hew Strachan

    2

    The First World War, Volume 1: To Arms
    by Hew Strachan

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    The best books on World War I - The Last Great War by Adrian Gregory

    3

    The Last Great War
    by Adrian Gregory

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    The best books on World War I - Learning to Fight by Aimee Fox

    4

    Learning to Fight
    by Aimee Fox

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    The best books on World War I - Rites of Spring: the Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age by Modris Eksteins

    5

    Rites of Spring: the Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age
    by Modris Eksteins

The best books on World War I, recommended by Jonathan Boff

It’s been 100 years since World War I ended, but there is still very little consensus about what caused it, or what its consequences were. Historian Jonathan Boff talks us through the latest books and best modern interpretations of World War I.

    The Best Military History Books, recommended by Hew Strachan

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    The Best Military History Books - On War by Carl von Clausewitz

    1

    On War
    by Carl von Clausewitz

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    The Best Military History Books - Yorck and the Era of Prussian Reform 1807 by Peter Paret

    2

    Yorck and the Era of Prussian Reform 1807
    by Peter Paret

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    The Best Military History Books - L'or et le sang: Les buts de guerre économiques de la Première Guerre mondiale by Georges-Henri Soutou

    3

    L'or et le sang: Les buts de guerre économiques de la Première Guerre mondiale
    by Georges-Henri Soutou

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    The Best Military History Books - Vessel of Sadness by William Woodruff

    4

    Vessel of Sadness
    by William Woodruff

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    The Best Military History Books - The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One by David Kilcullen

    5

    The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One
    by David Kilcullen

The Best Military History Books, recommended by Hew Strachan

It’s no longer enough for military history to be just about battles told from the the winning side. One of the great military historians of our time, Sir Hew Strachan, talks us through what makes a great military history.

    The best books on Legacies of World War One, recommended by Wade Davis

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    The best books on Legacies of World War One - Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain

    1

    Testament of Youth
    by Vera Brittain

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    The best books on Legacies of World War One - Seven Pillars of Wisdom by TE Lawrence

    2

    Seven Pillars of Wisdom
    by TE Lawrence

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    The best books on Legacies of World War One - Goodbye To All That by Robert Graves

    3

    Goodbye To All That
    by Robert Graves

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    The best books on Legacies of World War One - Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden

    4

    Three Day Road
    by Joseph Boyden

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    The best books on Legacies of World War One - The Great War and Modern Memory by Paul Fussell

    5

    The Great War and Modern Memory
    by Paul Fussell

The best books on Legacies of World War One, recommended by Wade Davis

The explorer and author of Into the Silence, Wade Davis, tells us that the consequences of the Great War were much more than merely political. He says the war had a noticeable impact on exploration, arts and literature, and modernity itself.

    The best books on The Dreyfus Affair and the Belle Epoque, recommended by Ruth Harris

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    The best books on The Dreyfus Affair and the Belle Epoque - The Dreyfus Affair: J’accuse and other writings by Emile Zola

    1

    The Dreyfus Affair: J’accuse and other writings
    by Emile Zola

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    The best books on The Dreyfus Affair and the Belle Epoque - Cyrano de Bergerac by Anthony Burgess (translator) & Edmund Rostand

    2

    Cyrano de Bergerac
    by Anthony Burgess (translator) & Edmund Rostand

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    The best books on The Dreyfus Affair and the Belle Epoque - Stone’s Fall by Iain Pears

    3

    Stone’s Fall
    by Iain Pears

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    The best books on The Dreyfus Affair and the Belle Epoque - The Unknown Matisse by Hilary Spurling

    4

    The Unknown Matisse
    by Hilary Spurling

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    The best books on The Dreyfus Affair and the Belle Epoque - The Guns of August by Barbara W Tuchman

    5

    The Guns of August
    by Barbara W Tuchman

The best books on The Dreyfus Affair and the Belle Epoque, recommended by Ruth Harris

The Belle Epoque combined a preoccupation with the noblesse of the old regime with the seeds for modernism, says Oxford history professor Ruth Harris, author of an award-winning book on the Dreyfus affair. She picks the best books on a golden period in France before the outbreak of World War I.

About

We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.

This site has an archive of more than one thousand interviews, or five thousand book recommendations. We publish at least two new interviews per week.

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