Hello all,
I have wanted to pursue studies concerning WWI in graduate school for a while now. I have acquainted myself with some of the current scholarship out there regarding this era, like Margaret MacMillan, Christopher Clark, Max Hastings, Sean McMeekin, and of course some earlier stuff like Barbara Tuchman. I am particularly interested in British culture on the eve of, during, and after the Great War. I'm also particularly interested in the religious world of the time, for example: what was the Church of England's role in encouraging young British men to fight; did the the CoE initially support the war and if so, did it maintain that support?
I have been tearing my hair out trying to find specific authors and scholars who have spilled some ink on this issue (that are still currently living and teaching) and have had trouble finding a particular institution with a history dept. that specializes in Great War studies. Any advice that someone on here could give me would be invaluable to me and help me a lot. I understand that it's difficult for many of you to respond as you would like because many of you are graduate students yourselves, but anything and everything is welcome. Thank you in advance!
I'm surprised to see Max Hastings being mentioned as 'current scholarship', yet no mention of Hew Strachan, Garry Sheffield or Holger Herwig.
To get to the point of your question, because you could enlighten us on your current whereabouts? I know for example that the University of Wolverhampton has put a focus surrounding the Great War due to the Centenary. I would be surprised to find a historical department that specializes in the Great War though.
I'm a second year University student, and for my 20th Century Britain course one of the books for the course was "The Last Great War: British Society and the First World War" by Adrian Gregory. It was published recently (2013/2014 if I'm righty), and it is an excellent study of Wartime Britain. Notably, it provides insight into religion in Britain during the war, and would certainly be a good place to find some info. On the CEO during the war.
There are plenty of others books that have written about Britain in the Great War, notably "Myriad Faces of War" by Trevor Wilson which is another excellent (albeit very long and detailed) source. I'd certainly recommend Gregory of you're looking for a sort of primer.
Hope this helps!