The First World War killed around eight million men and bled Europe dry. In this provocative book Niall Ferguson asks: was the sacrifice worth it? Was it all really an inevitable cataclysm and were the Germans a genuine threat? Was the war, as is often asserted, greeted with popular enthusiasm? Why did men keep on fighting when conditions were so wretched? Was there in fact a death wish abroad, driving soldiers to their own destruction? The war, he argues, was a disaster - but not for the reasons we think. Far worse than a tragedy, it was the greatest error of modern history.

'The most challenging and provocative analysis of the First World War to date' Ian Kershaw

'Must take a permanent place at the top of the War's historiography. It is one of the very few books whose own scale matches that of the events it describes' Alan Clark, Daily Telegraph

'Possibly the most important book to appear in years both on the origins of the First World War ... Ferguson can confidently claim to have inherited A. J. P. Taylor's mantle' Paul Kennedy, New York Review of Books

'At one massive stroke, Niall Ferguson has transformed the intellectual landscape' Economist

About the Author
Niall Ferguson is one of Britain's most renowned historians. He is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, a senior faculty fellow of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard, and a visiting professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing. He is the author of fifteen books, including The Pity of War, The House of Rothschild, Empire, Civilization and Kissinger, 1923-1968: The Idealist, which won the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Prize. He is an award-making filmmaker, too, having won an international Emmy for his PBS series The Ascent of Money. His many other prizes include the Benjamin Franklin Prize for Public Service (2010), the Hayek Prize for Lifetime Achievement (2012) and the Ludwig Erhard Prize for Economic Journalism (2013). He was named Columnist of the Year at the 2018 British Press Awards.

Reviews
The most challenging and provocative analysis of the First World War to date -- Ian Kershaw
Must take a permanent place at the top of the War's historiography. It is one of the very few books whose own scale matches that of the events it describes -- Alan Clark * Daily Telegraph *
Brilliant and stimulating ... radical, readable and convincing * The Times *
Possibly the most important book to appear in years both on the origins of the First World War ... Ferguson can confidently claim to have inherited A. J. P. Taylor's mantle -- Paul Kennedy * New York Review of Books *
At one massive stroke, Niall Ferguson has transformed the intellectual landscape * Economist *



Book Information
ISBN 9780140275230
Author Niall Ferguson
Format Paperback
Page Count 672
Imprint Penguin Books Ltd
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 505g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 30mm