Best overview book covering the entire war?

[Muerrisch]

Playing Devil's Advocate, and having attempted many of the recommended titles, I think that if I had started with any of them, I might have stayed with Napoleonics!

I was hooked by 'bottom up' accounts, and I suspect my interest is therefore 'people', not strategy, tactics, battles, battlefield archaeology, weapons, badges, uniforms etc etc.

I therefore synthesised a knowledge of the Great War without an overview [at that stage of my development] and the TV series The Great War [flawed as it is] gave me the beginnings of that overview.

[Dave Budgen]

I thought Keegan's book disappointing and, dare I say it, a bit dull.

I would tend to agree with Dave about THE MYRIAD FACES OF WAR by Trevor Wilson, but the original question was which book te recommend for a beginner and this masterpiece is perhaps not for the beginner.

I would recommend three books for this special category:

A J P Taylor's FIRT WORLD WAR ILLUSTRATED. It is opiniated and one-sided, but it is extremely readable and witty;

Jay Winter: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR. It is useful because it distinguishes four types of war: that for the generals, the politicians, the soldiers and the civilians. Excellent demographic information, useful tables of all kinds and excellent photographs.

Robin Pryor and Trevor Wilson: THE FIRST WORLD WAR. Thought-provoking and readable. Very good maps and maps are often a weak point in most books.

All the best,

Fred

Fred,

I take your point about Wilson's book. I certainly think that Pryor and Wilson's book is a good starting point. It's fairly detailed, but not prohibitively so.

Dave

[Fred van Woerkom]

Dave,

It is amazing how seldom THE MYRIAD FACES is mentioned here.

It is a masterpiece of organization, the interweaving of the large scale events with the human threads is fantastic.

Shall we start a fan club for the book?

Regards,

Fred

[Dave Budgen]

Dave,

It is amazing how seldom THE MYRIAD FACES is mentioned here.

It is a masterpiece of organization, the interweaving of the large scale events with the human threads is fantastic.

Shall we start a fan club for the book?

Regards,

Fred

Fred,

I've just checked on Amazon and it doesn't seem to be in print (though there are several copies on Amazon marketplace). Similarly, you need to pay an enormous amount for a second-hand copy of Samuel Hynes' 'A War Imagined', while bookshelves brim with copies of Fussell. I picked my copy of Wilson up at a car boot sale for £1. If you check the shelves of the bookshops it's always the usual suspects, Liddell-Hart etc.

Dave

[Fred van Woerkom]

Dave,

What a shame that MYRIAD FACES is out of print! It is an absolute must have for all.

By the way, there's nothing wrong with Liddell-Hart. Well-written, clear exposition of battles, etc.

Regards,

Fred

[FAAAEd]

I want to erode my ignorance of WWI, and I want to start by reading a good, thick, overview book on the whole subject, covering politics, generals, soldiers, civilians, economics and so on. Something similar to what James McPherson achieved with his book on the US Civil War, "The Battle Cry of Freedom". So if you have any recommendations, I would greatly appreciate seeing them here.

P.S. I like maps, tables and statistics and so a surfeit of these would count as a plus for me.

Suggestions of others noted and I agree with the sentiment that no one title is likely to provide a full and accurate overview of this conflict, there are just so many aspects.

One problem with any history is that it is always being revised as new documents come to the surface and new techniques are applied to achieve an analysis. This is why A J P Taylor should be read with caution. The truth of this has been amply demonstrated recently with biographies of Horatio Nelson and a deluge of books on the Battle of Trafalgar.

The Battle of Jutland has had an excellent revision in recent years especially in Andrew Gordon's 'The Rules of the Game' which is highly recommended, providing, as it does, an insight into the mindset of the leading protagonists, on the British side, and other key players. Jutland is important because the oft quoted axiom that, 'Jellicoe was the only man who could have lost the war [for Britain] in an afternoon..' holds more truth than many realise.

Other Jutland titles worth looking at are 'The Fighting at Jutland: the Personal Experiences of Sixty Officers and Men of the British Fleet' by H W Fawcett & G W W Hooper, originally published in 1921 and re-published, with an introduction by John Roberts, in 2001 by Chatham.

For an overview of the damage inflicted to the capital ships of both sides then 'Jutland: an Analysis of the Fighting' by John Campbell is highly recommended .

'Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany and the Winning of the Great War at Sea' by Robert K. Massie is also worthwhile.

The inportance of the Royal Naval Blockade of Germany and her allies should not be overlooked.

On the land war then John Trerraine is worth a look and a number of books by Lyn MacDonald; 'Somme', 'The Roses of No Man's Land', 'They Called it Passchendaele' and 'To the Last Man: Spring 1918' are worth looking up.

Air-Britain Publications have produced an excellent book in, 'Royal Navy Shipboard Aircraft Developments 1912-1931' by Dick Cronin, which, incidentally,has a picture of the drifter Adele, formerly HMT Kingfisher on which Henry Allingham (a 109 year old RNAS WW1 survivor) served during the Jutland episode. He mentioned being shelled by the retiring German High Seas Fleet whilst of the Horns Reef.

For an excellent overview of the politics that lead to the outbreak of this war then 'The Long Fuse' by Laurence Lafore is recommended. I first, and last, read this book whilst a teenager in the early 1960s and I am pleased to note that a second edition is in print from: http://www.waveland.com/Titles/Lafore-LF.htm

I know that this is the book in mind as I recall the chapter, 'The Bones of a Pomeranian Grenadier', it is well worth a look.

Remember to examine the notes on sources and quality (depth as well as breadth) of sources quoted in any Bibliography. Much work is a simple re-hash of secondary sources, carrying over old inacuracies in fact and interpretation and often introducing new errors.