The Great War: An Imperial History

It is a textbook.

John Morrow's account of the Great War provides a great look at the conflict from the point of view of the empires. He not only recounts and discusses the front lines and home fronts of the major belligerents, he also provides a perspective on the colonies and the impact the Great War had outside the continent of Europe. While he does include accounts of battles, they are not the overly detailed descriptions that get bogged down in battalion movements, etc., and they are important to the narrative as a whole. The combination of the experiences of soldiers, workers, women and colonials makes for an excellent look at the Great War.This is THE book I would recommend to someone looking for an overview of the First World War.

Fabulous book. Very difficult subject

Innovative, comprehensive, notices (more than notices) that the war was waged outside Europe as well as in.

Great quality! The book looks brand new except for a little nag on the upper right hand corner of the book, but aside from that the book is awesome!

I have been waiting for a book on this subject for many years. Unfortunately, this is a sad commentary on so-called scholarship. The author states in the preface: "... seeks to broaden knowledge ... new perspectives on the war ... most formative experience of the twentieth century, as the US government embarks upon an imperial venture early in the 21st century". However, it is not knowledge he seeks to broaden but his own racial prejudice. I found the underlying theme to be how the poor black soldiers were subjected to prejudice. This isn't a history but another "poor little me, I,m black and the evil white man has abused me". There are many views of the war - his is dismissive of the efforts of all who were caught up in the conflict. The preface clearly states his prejucice - he is anti-American, anti-white, and is a pathetic effort to illuminate a major trauma of the last century. How sad.

What the author points out, is called the First World War is really a European War. But Europe was the owner of a great colonial empire and forced their colonies all over the world to participate. And most of the fighters were from the colonies, not the metropolis. It is a revisionist history. And even describes the Kaiser teasing about the multiracial army to which he faced. But were the least colonial empires they lost: Austrian and Otoman.

Not only is this book brilliantly written, but it is the first work that I've seen that integrates from a global perspective the colonial and European aspects of the war. I have not seen the issues of the home front handled in this manner before, and this book was a real education for me. It's a superior scholarly work but accessible to the layman, and I would highly recommend this to WWI buffs like myself, and to anyone who is interested in a radically innovative take on The Great War.

for those seeking to learn about the war in context of the global events that shaped the four years of conflict.

A cliched and poorly argued trip through the First World War, which trots out a lot of old assumptions and takes little account of recent scholarship. I'm an avid reader of WW1 books and I'm afraid to say that this is the first book on the subject that I have found sufficiently annoying to be unable to finish.