The Western Front - Richard Holmes

For the British World War I was the Western Front, the trench line stretching from the Swiss Frontier to the North Sea. It was there that most of the 9 million British and Dominion soldiers who enlisted during the war served, and there that most of the 947,000 killed met their deaths. Richard Holmes brings the Western Front to life in this richly detailed and authoritative book, in a way that goes deep beneath scholarly debate, ripping off the veneer of clich which now covers the war as it really was. The book, like the series, is both chronological and thematic, following the story of the Western Front whilst picking out particular episodes in its history to highlight more general themes. Individual events are thus used to illuminate wider truths to form a descriptive yet deeply analytical book. 'Of the myriad accounts available, few are better than Holmes: authoritative, concise, wide-ranging and readable; it is hard to see how it can be bettered.' Nigel Jones, 'History Magazine'