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General books
The First World War, vol.1: To Arms by Hew Strachan (Oxford University Press, 2001)
Magisterial study that examines the cause of the war, its opening clashes on land and sea, the ideas that underpinned the conflict, and the motives of the people who fought it. Also provides invaluable accounts of the war's finances and of the Central Powers' bid to take the conflict beyond Europe to the Middle East and Africa.
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The German, the Turk and the Devil made a triple alliance: Harpoot diaries, 1908-1917 by Tacy Atkinson (Taderon Press, 2000)
Tacy Atkinson was an American who lived with her family in the Ottoman Empire from 1902 to 1917. She witnessed the destruction of the Armenians in 1915, and her diaries now constitute an invaluable resource of the period.
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The Great War and the French People by Jean-Jacques Becker, translated by A Pomerans (Berg, 1986)
Analyses the impact of the First World War on French society, and tries to explain why the French people were prepared to make such terrible sacrifices during 1914-18.
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An Ice Cream War by William Boyd (Penguin, 1983)
As millions are slaughtered on the Western Front, a ridiculous and little-reported campaign is being waged in East Africa – a war they continued after the Armistice because no-one told them to stop.
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Jamaican Volunteers in the First World War: Race, masculinity and the development of national consciousness by Richard Smith (Manchester University Press, 2004)
Groundbreaking study of the war's impact on anti-colonial struggles in the West Indies. A reluctance among British army recruiters to accept West Indian volunteers was rooted in the belief that black men lacked the qualities necessary for modern warfare, coupled with fears of white racial degeneration. Although barred from front-line duties, their heroism and military sacrifice was a key element of post-war social and economic struggles in Jamaica that culminated in the nationalist upsurge of the late 1930s.
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The Jews in the Twentieth Century: An illustrated history by Martin Gilbert (Schocken Books, 2001)
The Jews of Europe, Asia and the Middle East have experienced great tragedies in the 20th century. Gilbert's work offers the reader a valuable visual account, with 400 photographs, of a turbulent 100 years.
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The Lusitania by Colin Simpson (Avid Publications, 1996)
The author describes the sinking of this ship in May 1915, off the coast of Ireland, as the foulest act of wilful murder ever committed on the seas. He believes that the ship was deliberately sunk in order to give Woodrow Wilson, the American President, justification for America joining the war.
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Our Flag Stays Red by Phil Piratin (Lawrence and Wishart, 1978)
Written by the late radical politician Phil Piratin. This is his account of life as a Jewish teenage son of immigrants immediately after the First World War.
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A Peace to End All Peace: The fall of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of the modern Middle East by David Fromkin (Owl Books, 2001)
An ambitious and vividly written account of how the decisions made by Allied statesmen and generals during and after the First World War shaped the development of the modern Middle East.
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A People's Tragedy: The Russian revolution 1891-1924 by Orlando Figes, (Pimlico, 1997)
One of the most important and readable studies of Russia in the early decades of the 20th century. Using personal papers and histories, Figes assesses the impact of the revolution on individuals and covers the broad sweep of war and social turmoil.
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The War from Within: German women in the First World War by Ute Daniel (Berg Publishers, 1997)
Looks at the First World War from the perspective of German working-class women. The author asks how women viewed the war and whom they held responsible for it, and also looks at how military leaders and politicians perceived women at work, in the home, and on the streets.
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Ireland
Dividing Ireland: World War One and partition by Thomas Hennessey (Routledge, 1998)
Explores how the First World War transformed the nature of the Irish and Ulster, and questions how Ireland arrived from devolved self-government within the UK to a free Irish republic outside the British Empire, considering such influential figures as Michael Collins, and issues such as conscription.
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Far from the Short Grass: The story of Kildare men in two world wars by James Durney (James Durney, 1999)
Some 23,000 Kildare men served in the First World War and 567 were killed in action, the first being Patrick Heydon of Athy, a strong recruiting area for the British forces for that war. This book also lists all the men from the county killed in action and has numerous photographs.
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Ireland and the Great War by Keith Jeffery (Cambridge University Press, 2000)
Explores the impact – both immediate and in its longer historical perspective – of the First World War upon Ireland. It covers the broadest range of experience – nationalist, unionist, Catholic, Protestant – in civilian social, economic and cultural terms, as well as purely military.
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Ireland's Unknown Soldiers: 16th Division in the Great War by Terence Denman (Irish Academic Press, 1992)
An estimated 35,000 Irish-born soldiers were killed before the armistice came in November 1918. Over 4,000 of those who died were with the 16th (Irish) Division. Yet, in spite of these facts, serious historical study of Ireland's major involvement in the War has been neglected. Indeed, Easter 1916 dominates Irish historiography to such an extent that the period 1914-18 is rarely considered as a distinct era in Irish history.
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Irishmen or English Soldiers: Times and world of a southern Irish man enlisting in the British Army during the First World War by Thomas Dooley (Liverpool University Press, 1996)
Unskilled urban workers made up the bulk of Irish volunteers who fought in the British Army during the First World War. This book attempts to understand the motivation of Catholics enlisting in the British Army by studying an illiterate general labourer, born in 1876 and from the city of Waterford, who enlisted in the 16th (Irish) Division.
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Irish Voices from the Great War by Myles Dungan (Irish Academic Press, 1995)
Up to half a million Irishmen and women participated in the Great War. Drawing on diaries, letters, literary works and oral accounts of soldiers, this account tells some of the personal stories of what Irishmen – Unionist and Nationalist – went through during the Great War and how, ironically, many of them drew closer together during that horror than at any other time.
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A Lonely Grave: Life and death of William Redmond by Terence Denman (Irish Academic Press, 1995)
Willie Redmond had been one of the most determined advocates of home rule for Ireland, yet when his brother John Redmond, leader of the Irish parliamentary party, called on his supporters to join the British army in August 1914, he was one of the first to enlist. He died in Ypres on 7 June 1917.
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A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry (Faber & Faber, April 2005)
Novel that tells the story of Ireland's entry into the First World War through the heart and mind of one young soldier.
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Orange, Green and Khaki: Story of the Irish Regiments in the Great War, 1914-18 by Tom Johnstone (Gill & Macmillan, 1992)
Nearly a third of a million Irishmen fought in the First World War, and 50,000 of these died. All were volunteers, as there was no conscription in Ireland. While the achievements of the 36th – especially on the Somme – are well known, this book looks at other less well-known regiments, in addition to the 36th, active during the war.
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They Shall Grow Not Old: Irish soldiers and the Great War by Myles Dungan (Four Courts Press, 1997)
With letters, diaries, memoirs and personal interviews, the author focuses on the thoughts and emotions of Irish volunteers and the mundane horror of life in the trenches, the role of chaplains, the experiences of Irish war writers, the plight of prisoners of war and the stories of those who were 'shot at dawn'.
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