A friend of mine have a bit of a pact this new year. We both work at a book store and while preparing a leading list for the coming months we said we’d pick a book for each other. She reads mostly fiction so that’ll be my lot but she knows very little about WWI and that happens to be one of my favorite areas of study and I need a recommendation on a WWI book to sort of “introduce” the war to my friend. My only limitations are that it can’t be “too academic” “not real real thick.” I don’t wanna get just a dry “here’s a bunch of facts” kind of thing so maybe a more popular history, written for general audiences? If anyone has any suggestions I’m all ears!
In the light of the recent centenary, there is a vast array of new books on the First World War. Some are great, some are downright awful. If anything, it is thankful to know that there are now many alternatives to outdated (and quite frankly, obsolete) classics like Tuchman's The Guns of August. For your friend, I would recommend Dr. Gary Sheffield's A Short History of the First World War. It will work as a great introduction into most aspects of the war without dragging too much into details. It's an accessible book while at the same time reflecting current scholarship on the topic.