The World on Fire: 1919 and the Battle with Bolshevism

The World on Fire: 1919 and the Battle with BolshevismThe World on Fire: 1919 and the Battle with Bolshevism by Anthony Read
ISBN: 9780393061246
on March 17th 2008
Genres: History, Europe, Russia & the Former Soviet Union, Modern, 20th Century, Political Science, Political Ideologies
Pages: 379

Len's Summary: International alarm over terrorism is nothing new. Read examines the “Reds under the bed” scare of 1918-1920 that threatened free speech in North America and Western Europe in the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the abortive Marxist uprisings in Germany, labor unrest in the UK and terror bombings in America. As with the current al-Qeada menace, liberal democratic governments of this era often overreacted to a shadowy and inchoate Red Menace.

Jews in the Russian Army, 1827-1917: Drafted into Modernity

Jews in the Russian Army, 1827-1917: Drafted into ModernityJews in the Russian Army, 1827-1917: Drafted into Modernity by Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern
ISBN: 0521515734
Published by Cambridge University Press on October 1st 2008
Genres: History, General, Europe, Eastern, Military, Social Science, Jewish Studies, Technology & Engineering, Military Science
Pages: 326

Len's Summary: The military experience of one and a half million Jews, communal responses to conscription, efforts at conversion, alleged draft evasion and Jewish military performance.

Military Intelligence and the Arab Revolt: The First Modern Intelligence War

Military Intelligence and the Arab Revolt: The First Modern Intelligence WarMilitary Intelligence and the Arab Revolt: The First Modern Intelligence War by Polly A. Mohs
ISBN: 9780415493314
Published by Routledge on November 1st 2008
Genres: History, Europe, General, Middle East, Military, World War I
Pages: 256

Len's Summary: His book goes far beyond Lawrence of Arabia. It examines the imaginative exploitation of intelligence in formulating an effective British strategy for supporting the Arab Revolt again the Ottomans during the First World War. For more on this subject see: War by Revolution: Germany & Great Britain in the Middle East in the Era of World War I, Donald McKale, Kent State, 2008. // The creation and ascendancy of the Foreign Office’s Arab Bureau created specifically to coordinate imperial operations in Arab lands. The hard, often dirty work behind the glamour behind Lawrence of Arabia.

British Popular Culture and the First World War

British Popular Culture and the First World WarBritish Popular Culture and the First World War by Jessica Meyer
ISBN: 9789004166585
Published by Brill Academic Publishers on June 19th 2008
Genres: History, Europe, General, Military, World War I, Essays
Pages: 383

Len's Summary: Essays by British social/cultural historians focusing on the cultural forms produced by a wide range social groups including veterans, women, museum visitors and film goers.

History’s Greatest Heist: The Looting of Russia by the Bolsheviks

History’s Greatest Heist: The Looting of Russia by the BolsheviksHistory's Greatest Heist: The Looting of Russia by the Bolsheviks by Sean McMeekin
ISBN: 9780300135589
Published by Yale University Press on December 16th 2008
Genres: History, Revolutionary, Europe, Russia & the Former Soviet Union, Modern, 20th Century
Pages: 302

Len's Summary: Exploring the final years of the Tzarist regime and the early years of Bolshevism with WWI as the backdrop.

Balfour and Weizmann: The Zionist, the Zealot and the Emergence of Israel

Balfour and Weizmann: The Zionist, the Zealot and the Emergence of IsraelBalfour and Weizmann: The Zionist, the Zealot and the Emergence of Israel by Geoffrey Lewis
ISBN: 9781847250407
Published by A&C Black on May 31st 2009
Genres: History, Ancient, General, Europe, Great Britain, Middle East, Israel & Palestine, Political Science, International Relations, Diplomacy
Pages: 203

Len's Summary: Explores the relationship between the British Foreign Secretary and Chaim Weizmann the British chemist, Zionist and first President of Israel.

Forgotten Voices of the Somme: The Most Devastating Battle of the Great War in the Words of Those Who Survived

Forgotten Voices of the Somme: The Most Devastating Battle of the Great War in the Words of Those Who SurvivedForgotten Voices of the Somme: The Most Devastating Battle of the Great War in the Words of Those Who Survived by Joshua Levine
ISBN: 9780091926281
Published by Ebury Press on October 1st 2009
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, Military, World War I, Veterans
Pages: 285

Len's Summary: A look at the 1916 battle drawn from the writings of British participants.

Contesting the German Empire, 1871 – 1918

Contesting the German Empire, 1871 – 1918Contesting the German Empire, 1871 - 1918 by Matthew Jefferies
ISBN: 1405129972
Published by Wiley-Blackwell on January 3rd 2008
Genres: Germany, History, General, Europe, Historiography, Modern, 19th Century
Pages: 242

Len's Summary: A bottom-up examination of the dynamics of politicization under Bismarck and Wilhelm II; “democracy in an undemocratic state.” Germany had universal male suffrage from 1871, but lacked parliamentary control over anything but the budget as government as ministers remained responsible only to the Kaiser who often became a spanner in the works.

Our War: Ireland in the Great War

Our War: Ireland in the Great WarOur War: Ireland in the Great War by John Horne
ISBN: 9781904890508
Published by Royal Irish Academy on October 24th 2008
Pages: 319

Len's Summary: A series of essays edited by Tomlinson Prize-winner John Horne on the experiences of Irishmen at home and in the trenches. Emblematic of renewed Irish interest in WWI, in the past a fraught subject in the Irish Republic. For a contemporary view of Ulster see: Unionists and Great War Commemoration in the North of Ireland, 1914-1919: People, Places and Politics, Catherine Switzer, 211 pages, Irish Academy Press, 2007, ISBN 0 7165 2872 X, £19 from Amazon.co.uk.

1918: A Very British Victory

1918: A Very British Victory1918: A Very British Victory by Peter Hart
ISBN: 9780297846529
Published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson on October 7th 2008
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, Military, World War I
Pages: 552

Len's Summary: A new look at the final German and British offensives of 1918, now available in the America from Orion for $29.95. Also available as an audio book.

A Part of History: Aspects of the British Experience of the First World War

A Part of History: Aspects of the British Experience of the First World WarA Part of History: Aspects of the British Experience of the First World War by Michael Howard
ISBN: 9780826498137
Published by Continuum on August 20th 2008
Genres: History, General, Europe, Great Britain, Historiography, Military, World War I
Pages: 229

Len's Summary: A scholarly examination of revisionism and traditionalism in studies of The Great War by British historians. // A series of brief essays written by British historians (Gary Sheffield, Julian Putkowski, Terry Castle, Malcom Brown among others) who engage in much critical comment on present and past historians and histories of The Great War. Labeled by Hew Strachan in a review for the Times Literary Supplement as a rehash of old, insular arguments.

A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire

A Brief History of the Late Ottoman EmpireA Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire by M. Şükrü Hanioğlu
ISBN: 9780691146171
Published by Princeton University Press on February 25th 2008
Genres: History, Europe, Eastern, Middle East, General, Modern, 18th Century, World, Social History
Pages: 264

Len's Summary: Traces the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire beginning in the 19th century into 27 successor states after 1918. The author is Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton. A History Book Club selection for summer, 2008.

A Strange and Formidable Weapon: British Responses to World War I Poison Gas

A Strange and Formidable Weapon: British Responses to World War I Poison GasA Strange and Formidable Weapon: British Responses to World War I Poison Gas by Marion Girard
ISBN: 9780803222236
Published by University of Nebraska Press on June 1st 2008
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, Military, Weapons, World War I, Social History
Pages: 279

Len's Summary: This is a social history. Although most Britons considered poison gas an abominable weapon, many eventually condoned its use as necessary for victory. The author teaches at the University of New Hampshire.

Tirpitz: Architect of the German High Seas Fleet

Tirpitz: Architect of the German High Seas FleetTirpitz: Architect of the German High Seas Fleet by Michael Epkenhans
ISBN: 9781574887327
Published by Potomac Books on March 30th 2008
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Military, History, Europe, Germany, World War I, Naval
Pages: 107

Len's Summary: A biography of Alfred von Tirpitz (1849-1930) whose long career took him from naval command to the postwar Reichstag.

The Brusilov Offensive

The Brusilov OffensiveThe Brusilov Offensive by Timothy C. Dowling
ISBN: 9780253351302
Published by Indiana University Press on June 18th 2008
Genres: History, Europe, Eastern, Military, World War I, Modern, 20th Century
Pages: 208

Len's Summary: The Brusilov Offensive of June 1916 rolled back massive German gains of 1915, brought Romania into the war extinguishing once and for all the offensive capabilities of the Austro-Hungarian Army forcing Vienna into political and military subservience to Berlin. A skillful analysis and welcome addition to the short Eastern Front bookshelf.

Unlikely Allies: Britain, America and the Victorian Origins of the Special Relationship

Unlikely Allies: Britain, America and the Victorian Origins of the Special RelationshipUnlikely Allies: Britain, America and the Victorian Origins of the Special Relationship by Duncan Andrew Campbell
ISBN: 1847251919
Published by Bloomsbury Academic on February 1st 2008
Genres: History, United States, General, Political Science, International Relations, Europe, Great Britain
Pages: 320

Len's Summary: Putting aside residual antagonisms stemming from the War of 1812, America and Great Britain lay the basis for an alliance that survived two world wars and is still operative today.

Band of Brigands: The First Men in Tanks

Band of Brigands: The First Men in TanksBand of Brigands: The First Men in Tanks by Christy Campbell
ISBN: 9780007214600
Published by Harper Perennial on September 1st 2008
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, Military, World War I
Pages: 479

Len's Summary: A new history of the creation of the Royal Tank Corps.

Churchill, Hitler, and “The Unnecessary War”: How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World

Churchill, Hitler, and “The Unnecessary War”: How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the WorldChurchill, Hitler, and "The Unnecessary War": How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World by Patrick J. Buchanan
ISBN: 0307405168
Published by Three Rivers Press on July 28th 2009
Genres: History, Europe, Western, History, Great Britain, Military, World War II, World, Modern, 20th Century
Pages: 544

Len's Summary: A replowing of familiar and well-tilled fields by a former Nixon speech writer, presidential candidate and perennial right wing TV talk show bloviator. Buchanan is best at setting up straw men and then knocking them down.

Petain: Verdun to Vichy

Petain: Verdun to VichyPetain: Verdun to Vichy by Robert Bowman Bruce
ISBN: 1574885987
Published by Potomac Books on September 1st 2008
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Military, History, Europe, France, World War I, World War II
Pages: 150

Len's Summary: A short biography by the winner of the WFA 2004 Norman B. Tomlinson, Jr. Book Prize.

The Unquiet Western Front: Britain’s Role in Literature and History

The Unquiet Western Front: Britain’s Role in Literature and HistoryThe Unquiet Western Front: Britain's Role in Literature and History by Brian Bond
ISBN: 9780521036412
Published by Cambridge University Press on April 30th 2007
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, General, Social Science, Media Studies, Literary Criticism, Social History, Military, World War I
Pages: 140

Len's Summary: First published in 2002, this is a critique of the anti-war culture that pervades writing and teaching The Great War. Favorably reviewed by History Today as a bid to rescue WWI history from popular myth.

Operation Albion: The German Conquest of the Baltic Islands

Operation Albion: The German Conquest of the Baltic IslandsOperation Albion: The German Conquest of the Baltic Islands by Michael B. Barrett
ISBN: 9780253349699
Published by Indiana University Press on February 19th 2008
Genres: History, Europe, Baltic States, Germany, Military, World War I
Pages: 298

Len's Summary: This Eastern Front battle featured action between German dreadnoughts and a Russian battleship, the use of aircraft and zeppelins, and the most successful amphibious landing of WWI on the islands of Dago, Osel and Moon at the head of the Gulf of Riga. A History Book Club selection. The author teaches at The Citadel and spoke at our 2006 WFA seminar in Tampa.

Setting the Desert on Fire: T. E. Lawrence and Britain’s Secret War in Arabia, 1916-1918

Setting the Desert on Fire: T. E. Lawrence and Britain’s Secret War in Arabia, 1916-1918Setting the Desert on Fire: T. E. Lawrence and Britain's Secret War in Arabia, 1916-1918 by James Barr
ISBN: 9780393335279
on July 6th 2009
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, Middle East, General, Military, World War I, Modern, 20th Century
Pages: 382

Len's Summary: Barr makes the point that the British were no more duplicitous that the Arabs, many of whose leaders (Hussein for example) maintained open lines of communications to the Turks up to the end of the war. Absent a unified Arab national movement, the British and French — the author argues — had no choice but to assume responsibility for the former Ottoman provinces.

Daily Lives of Civilians in Wartime Twentieth-Century Europe

Daily Lives of Civilians in Wartime Twentieth-Century EuropeDaily Lives of Civilians in Wartime Twentieth-Century Europe by Nicholas Atkin
ISBN: 0313336571
Published by Greenwood Press on August 1st 2008
Genres: History, Europe, General, Military, Modern, 20th Century, Social History, Social Science, Sociology
Pages: 230

Len's Summary: Essays covering both issues and countries, including France in WWI, as well as the Spanish Civil War and World War Two.

The Ottoman Road to War in 1914: The Ottoman Empire and the First World War

The Ottoman Road to War in 1914: The Ottoman Empire and the First World WarThe Ottoman Road to War in 1914: The Ottoman Empire and the First World War by Mustafa Aksakal
ISBN: 9780521175258
Published by Cambridge University Press on December 9th 2010
Genres: History, Europe, General, Middle East, Military, World War I, World
Pages: 234

Len's Summary: A revisionist history of Ottoman “Young Turk” politics and policies leading to belligerency on the side of Germany.

Balfour: The Last Grandee

Balfour: The Last GrandeeBalfour: The Last Grandee by R.J.Q. Adams
ISBN: 0719554241
Published by John Murray on November 15th 2007
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Political, Presidents & Heads of State, History, Europe, Great Britain
Pages: 496

Len's Summary: A biography Sir Arthur Balfour, Prime Minister from 1902 to 1905, Lloyd George’s wartime Foreign Secretary, author of the declaration promising a Jewish homeland in Palestine, and British negotiator at the Washington Naval Disarmament Conference of 1921-22.

Dublin 1916: The Siege of the GPO

Dublin 1916: The Siege of the GPODublin 1916: The Siege of the GPO by Clair Wills
ISBN: 9780674036338
Published by Harvard University Press on October 15th 2009
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, Ireland, Revolutionary
Pages: 259

Len's Summary: A new history of the Easter Uprising, which sparked the ultimately successful Irish revolt.

Tank Action in The Great War

Tank Action in The Great WarTank Action in The Great War by Ian Verrinder
ISBN: 9781848840805
on September 2009
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, Military, World War I
Pages: 218

Len's Summary: An account of the attacks of B Battalion, Machine Gun Corps (later the Tank Corps) on the Somme, at Messines, Ypres, Cambrai and Fontaine-Notre-Dame

The Dardanelles Disaster: Winston Churchill’s Greatest Failure

The Dardanelles Disaster: Winston Churchill’s Greatest FailureThe Dardanelles Disaster: Winston Churchill's Greatest Failure by Dan Van der Vat
ISBN: 1590202236
Published by The Overlook Press on July 9th 2009
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, Military, World War I, Naval
Pages: 256

Len's Summary: A new look at a much-studies campaign.

Captivity, Forced Labour and Forced Migration in Europe during the First World War

Captivity, Forced Labour and Forced Migration in Europe during the First World WarCaptivity, Forced Labour and Forced Migration in Europe during the First World War by Matthew Stibbe
ISBN: 0415846358
Published by Routledge on August 7th 2009
Genres: History, Europe, General, Military, World War I, Modern, 20th Century, Essays
Pages: 232

Len's Summary: Six essays on POWs, refugees, deportees, internees, forced migrations, and use of colonial troops and civilian laborers in Europe.

Banned in Berlin: Literary Censorship in Imperial Germany, 1871-1918

Banned in Berlin: Literary Censorship in Imperial Germany, 1871-1918Banned in Berlin: Literary Censorship in Imperial Germany, 1871-1918 by Gary D. Stark
ISBN: 9781845455705
Published by Berghahn Books on March 2009
Genres: History, Europe, Germany, Political Science, Censorship, Social Science, General
Pages: 316

Len's Summary: Imperial Germany took a broad view of measures permissible and necessary to maintain moral and religious norms and political order, but this did not stifle literary life.

The German Army at Cambrai

The German Army at CambraiThe German Army at Cambrai by Jack Sheldon
ISBN: 9781844159444
on September 2009
Genres: History, Europe, Germany, Military, World War I
Pages: 338

Len's Summary: The see-saw November-December 1917 battle from the German point of view based on German archival material.

The Ordeal of Peace: Demobilization and the Urban Experience in Britain and Germany, 1917-1921

The Ordeal of Peace: Demobilization and the Urban Experience in Britain and Germany, 1917-1921The Ordeal of Peace: Demobilization and the Urban Experience in Britain and Germany, 1917-1921 by Adam R. Seipp
ISBN: 9780754667490
Published by Ashgate Publishing on April 1st 2009
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, Germany
Pages: 291

Len's Summary: Victorious and vanquished soldiers home from the war. How two societies dealt with returning war veterans and how these veterans, in turn, changed these societies.

The Secret Battle: Emotional Survival in the Great War

The Secret Battle: Emotional Survival in the Great WarThe Secret Battle: Emotional Survival in the Great War by Michael Roper
ISBN: 9780719083860
Published by Manchester University Press on October 12th 2010
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Europe, Great Britain, General, Psychology
Pages: 368

Len's Summary: Personal experience and psychological impact of WWI on soldiers and their families.

Scorched Earth: The Germans on the Somme 1914-18

Scorched Earth: The Germans on the Somme 1914-18Scorched Earth: The Germans on the Somme 1914-18 by Gerhard Hirschfeld, Gerd Krumeich
ISBN: 1844159736
Published by Pen & Sword Books on July 1st 2009
Genres: History, Europe, Germany, Military, World War I, Technology & Engineering, Military Science
Pages: 217

Len's Summary: A detailed examination of German warfare.

14-18. Les Refus de la Guerre: Une histoire des mutins

14-18. Les Refus de la Guerre: Une histoire des mutins14-18. Les Refus de la Guerre: Une histoire des mutins by André Loez
ISBN: 9782070355235
Published by Gallimard on January 28th 1010
Genres: History, Europe, France
Pages: 690

Len's Summary: An entry into the continuing French political dispute over the nature of the 1917 French Army mutinies that helps make WWI a perennial flash point between the French anti-war left and right-wing conservatives.

Shell Shock Cinema: Weimar Culture and the Wounds of War

Shell Shock Cinema: Weimar Culture and the Wounds of WarShell Shock Cinema: Weimar Culture and the Wounds of War by Anton Kaes
ISBN: 9780691008509
Published by Princeton University Press on October 2nd 2011
Genres: Art, Film & Video, History, Europe, General, Germany, Performing Arts, Social Science
Pages: 328

Len's Summary: Weimar Republic culture and the wounds of war. // Interpretative history of Weimar-era German cinema and how it reflected the memory of The Great War.

Untold War: New Perspectives in First World War Studies

Untold War: New Perspectives in First World War StudiesUntold War: New Perspectives in First World War Studies by Heather Jones, Jennifer O'brien, Christoph Schmidt-supprian
ISBN: 9004166599
Published by Brill Academic Publishers on June 4th 2008
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Europe, General, Essays
Pages: 452

Len's Summary: Scholarly essays re-examining the global civil and military impact of the conflict; how the war changed societies. Contributors include prize-winning historians Alan Kramer and Dan Todman, with an introduction by John Horne. (I will be reviewing this for Stand To!) //Essays covering diverse themes such as combat, occupation, civil identity, juvenile delinquency, chaplains, art and remembrance across several countries: Germany, France, Britain, colonial Africa, Belgium and Romania. Fourth in the series of edited proceedings from conferences sponsored by the International Society for First World War Studies. Other titles are Uncovered Fields, Warfare and Belligerence, and Untold War.

Living with Enza: The Forgotten Story of Britain and the Great Flu Pandemic of 1918

Living with Enza: The Forgotten Story of Britain and the Great Flu Pandemic of 1918Living with Enza: The Forgotten Story of Britain and the Great Flu Pandemic of 1918 by Mark Honigsbaum
ISBN: 9780230217744
Published by Palgrave Macmillan on February 3rd 2009
Genres: Health & Fitness, Diseases, Contagious, History, Europe, Great Britain, Modern, 20th Century, Medical, Infectious Diseases, Science
Pages: 237

Len's Summary: The story of the influenza pandemic of 1918-19 in which over a quarter of a million died in the UK and another three million in British India.

The Resurrection and Collapse of Empire in Habsburg Serbia, 1914-1918

The Resurrection and Collapse of Empire in Habsburg Serbia, 1914-1918The Resurrection and Collapse of Empire in Habsburg Serbia, 1914-1918 by Jonathan E. Gumz
ISBN: 9780521896276
Published by Cambridge University Press on June 15th 2009
Genres: History, Europe, General, Modern, 20th Century, Military
Pages: 288

Len's Summary: Efforts to denationalize and depoliticize occupied Serbia and bring it back into the Dual Monarchy.

The Last Great War: British Society and the First World War

The Last Great War: British Society and the First World WarThe Last Great War: British Society and the First World War by Adrian Gregory
ISBN: 9780521728836
Published by Cambridge University Press on October 16th 2008
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, Modern, 20th Century, Military, General, World War I, Social History
Pages: 362

Len's Summary: A new social history. // A ground-breaking new cultural and social history of the British home front.