Book description
There are many books on the First World War, but award-winning and
bestselling historian Peter Englund takes a daring and stunning new
approach. Describing the experiences of twenty ordinary people from
around the world, all now unknown, he explores the everyday aspects of
war: not only the tragedy and horror, but also the absurdity, monotony
and even beauty. Two of these twenty will perish, two will become
prisoners of war, two will become celebrated heroes and two others end
up as physical wrecks. One of them goes mad, another will never hear a
shot fired. Following soldiers and sailors, nurses and government
workers, from Britain, Russia, Germany, Australia and South America -
and in theatres of war often neglected by major histories on the period
- Englund reconstructs their feelings, impressions, experiences and
moods. This is a piece of anti-history: it brings this epoch-making
event back to its smallest component, the individual. "'Peter
Englund is one of the finest writers of our time on the tactics, the
killing and the psychology of war. In The Beauty and the Sorrow he
superbly and humanely brings to life all the tragedy, chaos, death and
gunsmoke of battle' (Simon Sebag Montefiore) 'A wonderfully wide and
rich mosaic of personal experience from the First World War' (Antony
Beevor) 'A haunting mosaic of the experiences of war. The layers of
voices build to create a richly complex and rarely heard account of the
First World War that lingers in the memory long after the final page.
Immensely powerful.' (Juliet Gardiner, author of 'The Blitz')"
There are many books on the First World War, but award-winning and
bestselling historian Peter Englund takes a daring and stunning new
approach. Describing the experiences of twenty ordinary people from
around the world, all now unknown, he explores the everyday aspects of
war: not only the tragedy and horror, but also the absurdity, monotony
and even beauty. Two of these twenty will perish, two will become
prisoners of war, two will become celebrated heroes and two others end
up as physical wrecks. One of them goes mad, another will never hear a
shot fired. Following soldiers and sailors, nurses and government
workers, from Britain, Russia, Germany, Australia and South America -
and in theatres of war often neglected by major histories on the period
- Englund reconstructs their feelings, impressions, experiences and
moods. This is a piece of anti-history: it brings this epoch-making
event back to its smallest component, the individual.
