So, I scanned my LibraryThing collection to see what I have read about World War I. It’s an eclectic mix. I did a fair amount of reading about World War I for the War Through the Generations challenge a few years back, and I’ve continued to read as books capture my interest.
Below are five of the nonfiction titles that I really enjoyed and recommend.
World War One: History in an Hour (my short review here)
The title says it all. World War I, in about an hour, so you’re not getting a lot of detail.
But it’s a good starter book if you’re dipping your toes back into the events of this time.
To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918 (my review here) by Adam Hochschild
This was one of my favorites from the World War I reading challenge. The author uses one of my favorite techniques for presenting history: providing an overview and then showing us the individual lives of the pairs he follows in the narrative. This makes for both effective and riveting reading.
Women Heroes of World War I: 16 Remarkable Resisters, Soldiers, Spies, and Medics
Yes, I just reviewed this one, which you can read here. I won’t say a whole lot about it, except that I highly recommend it.
Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Scott Anderson.
What Hochschild does for the Western front, Anderson does in the Middle East. Want to understand what happened during WWI in the Middle East? Want to understand what the heck is going on there today? This is your book. Anderson employs a similar style as Hochschild by following four principal figures (T.E. Lawrence among them, naturally) through the war years in the Middle East. Again, highly recommended.
The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia by Candace Fleming.
A few years back, my son was fascinated by the end of the Romanov dynasty, the Russian Revolution, and in particular, if any of the Romanov children survived. I wish this book existed back then. This is young adult nonfiction, but it’s so engaging and informative, I recommend it to anyone who’d like to know more about the above.
For those in the crowd who have read extensively about the revolution and the Romanovs, you probably won’t pick up anything new. However, if you’re like me, and can read about these events over and over (and over) again, then I think you may enjoy this book as well. I know I did. Actually, it reminded me of all the topics I wanted to read more about that had simply slipped off my mental to-be-researched list.
There you go. Five books for the WWI centennial.
Writing Wrongs 