Great Britain's Great War

Description

The most vivid and complete history of Britain's WW1 on its 100th anniversary accompanied by a major BBC TV series Life for the British during the First World War was not at all what you think... Using a wealth of first-hand source material and his characteristic flair for story-telling, Jeremy Paxman brings to life the day-to-day experience of the British over the entire course of the war, from politicians, newspapermen, campaigners and Generals, to Tommies, factory-workers, nurses, wives and children, explaining why we fought it so enthusiastically, how we endured it so doggedly and how it transformed everything, such as women's suffrage, new surgery techniques, lower-class 'officer gentlemen', a powerful press, sexually transmitted diseases and British Summer Time.

Jeremy Paxman was born in Yorkshire and educated at Cambridge. He is an award-winning journalist who spent ten years reporting from overseas, notably for Panorama. He is the author of five books including The English. He is the presenter of Newsnight and University Challenge and has presented BBC documentaries on various subjects including Victorian art and Wilfred Owen.

He writes so well and sympathetically, and chooses his detail so deftly, that if there is one new history of the war that you might actually enjoy from the very large centennial selection this is very likely it * The Times * The writing is lively and the detail often surprising and memorable * Guardian * Incisive, colourful. Paxman delves into every aspect of British life to capture the mood and morale of the nation * Daily Express **** * Clever, laconic and racy. A judicious mix between individual stories and the 'bigger picture' . . . engages the mind and emotions * Telegraph * A procession of fascinating details . . . he narrates with brio . . . conveys the texture of the times . . . write[s] with clarity and sympathy * Spectator * Paxman is particularly good . . . in showing how much a modern perspective distorts our understanding . . . summarises well how class barriers were shattered . . . refreshingly combative in arguing that the war was not futile * Prospect * Mixing pragmatism with sardonic observation . . . one is left with a better understanding of how the Great Britain that began the war became more like ordinary Britain, shorn of global power and prestige, by its end * Sunday Times * Compelling . . . a moving, incisive and wide-ranging study of why a generation felt going to war was not only unavoidable but necessary * Daily Mail *