The Great War

Reviews / Votes

'[These] articles are accessible to the general reader, and almost entirely jargon free. Often difficult topics, such as the composition and working of the military tribunals, or the radicalisation of ex-servicemen, are tackled with commendable clarity. [...] The topics raised in the book are not usually visited and illustrate interesting and important facets of the war. They invite comparative studies of other localities and will provide useful pointers - perhaps even for amateur historians, as we wrestle with the Great War's complexities.'-Chris Holland, editor of 'Coventry and Warwickshire 1914-1919'; Family & Community History, 19: 1 (2016)"The Great War is a potent ingredient in British national and local identities. The centenary of 1914-18 has intensified interest in researching and understanding this shared history even further. Yet, as the experience of the war and its aftermath has moved beyond the reach of direct, individual memory, so the dangers of partial, cliched and homogenized versions of that experience grow, whether for historians or the wider public for whom this war has such resonance. This timely volume shows how returning to the local experience and using the rich, contemporary evidence enables the realities of wartime throughout British society to be re-discovered. These studies, from contrasting parts of England and Wales, illuminate differing aspects of the social, economic, political and cultural consequences of the war. Their varied perspectives offer ways to understand afresh the impact of the war, collectively and individually." -Dr Kate Tiller, Kellogg College, Oxford University"This provocative and stimulating volume brings together some of the latest research on the way the war was experienced in communities right across Britain."-Professor Chris Williams, Cardiff University