Niall Ferguson is Professor of International History at Harvard University, Senior Research Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford University and a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
Timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the Armistice, this new interpretation of World War I by one of our most exciting young historians is likely to become the most read book on the subject for some years. Engagingly written and incisive in its judgements, it deals with its political background and military course, no less than its economic consequences and enduring cultural significance. From predictions of war to the enthusiasm to join up, and from the horror of battlefields, Ferguson brings a narrative power and lightness of touch. His provocative argument is that conflict in 1914 was far from inevitable, and that Britain's involvement brought about a global nightmare. (Kirkus UK)