World War I Books recommended by historians and novelists

A wide range of World War 1 books have been recommended on our site, exploring the outbreak of the war, the conflict itself and its economic, political and cultural consequences.

The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman is the classic work of popular history on the outbreak of the war in July 1914. The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916 by Alistair Horne is another highly readable book on the most destructive battle ever fought in Western Europe.

Personal accounts of World War 1 include Goodbye to All That, Robert Graves’s memoir, and Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain, who served as a nurse and whose book is described by explorer Wade Davis as “one of the finest, most heart-rending and most moving memoirs – not just of the Great War, but of any conflict.” All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is also unmissable. As novelist Alice Winn told us, “My copy, rather histrionically, advertises itself as ‘the greatest war novel of all time.’ I remember thinking, ‘That’s a big promise!’ But I think it might be right. It’s very distressing and actually quite life-changing.”

On the consequences of World War 1, The Economic Consequences of the Peace by John Maynard Keynes looms large, and is described by economist Larry Summers as “among the dozen—perhaps half-dozen—most influential economics books that have ever been written.” The Wilsonian Moment: Self-Determination and the International Origins of Anti-Colonial Nationalism by Erez Manela looks at how President Wilson’s 14 points and his doctrine of national self-determination played out in Egypt, India, China and Korea. In Realm of the Black Mountain: A History of Montenegro, Elizabeth Roberts looks at the only country on the winning side that disappeared (swallowed up by Serbia) in the wake of the First World War.

Another classic is The Great War and Modern Memory, in which Paul Fussell looks at how the experience of World War I changed modern literature.

For anyone visiting Northern France and Flanders, our editor made this list of guidebooks for visiting World War 1 battlefields.

Skylarks’ War by Hilary McKay, meanwhile, is a very accessible account of World War I for children.

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