The Great War

[Sam99]

Hello all,

Can anyone recommend a book / books on the First World War , please ??



Thanks

[Halmyre]

J. Harris, "Covenant With Death". Fiction, but based on real events, the raising of a regiment and their fate at the Battle of the Somme. A very moving bit at the end where a huge celebratory meal has been prepared for the return of the victorious soldiers; but as the few survivors trickle back the author describes the organisers taking the uneaten food away.

[hairykrishna]

How about "All Quiet on the Western Front"?

[MYOB]

Peter Hart - The Great War

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-War-1914-1918-Peter-...

[Sam99]

Thanks all for your replies.


Sam

[Sam99]

MYOB said:

Peter Hart - The Great War

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-War-1914-1918-Peter-...

Thank You , thats what I'm looking for.

[Goughie]

Check out the books written by Lyn Macdonald - all great.

[hidetheelephants]

Try 'Western Front' by the late Richard Holmes.

[Matt172]

The last fighting Tommy is a good read

[Vocal Minority]

Anything by Gary Sheffield.

Writes with an accessibility and lucidity not common to some one considered to be an absolute leader in the field.

Also, anything revisionist about Haig (not belittling the traditionalist arguement (lions led by Donkeys basically) - but you will know it! The ball started rolling with John Terraine's book - Haig: The Educated Soldier in the 1960s, but that is a door stop of a thing and slightly heavy going.

So to complete the circle - a semi-revisionist view of the man byt Gary Sheffield!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Chief-Douglas-Haig-Bri...

[mikial]

The Irish Guards in the Great War by Rudyard Kipling .

[Neonblau]

If you want a concise overview of the entire war I'd recommend A J P Taylor's one volume history. You'll get a lot of information very quickly and then choose where you want to after that. The edition I have is very well illustrated, good maps and is fairly uncontroversial.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-First-World-War-Illust...

[plasticpig]

Neonblau said:

If you want a concise overview of the entire war I'd recommend A J P Taylor's one volume history. You'll get a lot of information very quickly and then choose where you want to after that. The edition I have is very well illustrated, good maps and is fairly uncontroversial.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-First-World-War-Illust...

A very good history. His book "War by Timetable" is also a very good read and concentrates on the causes of the First World War rather than the war itself.