Back in Blighty: The British at Home in World War One

Publisher’s Description:’In this highly readable and moving survey of life back at home during the First World War, Gerard DeGroot challenges this assumption, finding pre-war social structures were surprisingly resilient. Despite economic and technological changes, the British peoplemanaged to cling onto their usual ways of life as much as possible in this new world.’

Publication Date: 03 Apr 2014
Author: Gerard DeGroot
Continue reading

Challenge of Battle: The British Army’s Baptism of Fire in the First World War

Publisher’s Description:’In this timely new book, Adrian Gilbert clears away the layers of sentiment that have obscured a true historical understanding of the 1914 campaign to provide a full, unvarnished picture of the British Expeditionary Force at war. Previous assessments of the BEF have held to an unshakeable belief in its exceptional performance during the battles of 1914.’

Publication Date: 20 May 2015
Author: Adrian Gilbert
Continue reading

The War Behind the Wire: The Life, Death and Glory of British Prisoners of War

Publisher’s Description:’Using contemporary records – from prisoners’ diaries to letters home to poetry – John Lewis-Stempel reveals the death, life and, above all, the glory of Britain’s warriors behind the wire. For it was in the PoW camps, far from the blasted trenches, that the true spirit of the Tommy was exemplified.’

Publication Date: 06 Nov 2014
Author: John Lewis-Stempel
Continue reading

The Innocence of Kaiser Wilhelm II: and the First World War

Publisher’s Description:’Almost a century after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Kaiser Wilhelm II is still viewed as either a warmonger or a madman, as the hundred-year-old propaganda posters remain fixed in the general consciousness. Was he, though, truly responsible for the catastrophe of the First World War, or was he in fact a convenient scapegoat, blamed for a conflict which he desperately tried to avoid?’

Publication Date: 07 Jul 2015
Author: Christina Croft
Continue reading

The World’s War

Publisher’s Description:’In a sweeping narrative, David Olusoga describes how Europe’s Great War became the World’s War – a multi-racial, multi-national struggle, fought in Africa and Asia as well as in Europe, which pulled in men and resources from across the globe.’

Publication Date: 29 Jul 2014
Author: David Olusoga
Continue reading

The French Army and the First World War

Publisher’s Description:’This is a comprehensive new history of the French army’s critical contribution to the Great War. Ranging across all fronts, Elizabeth Greenhalgh examines the French army’s achievements and failures and sets these in the context of the difficulties of coalition warfare and the relative strengths and weaknesses of the enemy forces it faced.’

Publication Date: 13 Nov 2014
Author: Elizabeth Greenhalgh
Continue reading