The Fateful Year: England 1914 - Hardcover

Bostridge, Mark

4.05

104 ratings by Goodreads

9780670919215: The Fateful Year: England 1914

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670919217 ISBN 13: 9780670919215

Publisher: Viking, 2014

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The Fateful Year is the story of England in 1914. War with Germany, so often imagined and predicted, finally broke out when people were least prepared for it. Here, among a crowded cast of unforgettable characters, are suffragettes, armed with axes, and celebrity aviators thrilling spectators by looping the loop. With the coming of war, England is beset by spy hysteria and fears of invasion. Patriotic women hand out white feathers to men who have failed to rush to their country's defence. And as 1914 fades out, England prepares itself for the prospect of a war of long duration.

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About the Author:

Mark Bostridge won the Gladstone Memorial Prize at Oxford University. His first book Vera Brittain: A Life was shortlisted for the Whitbread Biography Prize, the NCR Non-Fiction Award, and the Fawcett Prize. His books also include the bestselling Letters from a Lost Generation; Lives for Sale, a collection of biographers' tales; Because You Died; and The Fateful Year. England 1914 published in 2014. Florence Nightingale was awarded the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography.

Review:

An absorbing kaleidoscope of events and episodes . . . Hints, forewarnings, inadvertent prophecies of what was to come spike the air like pollen. There's no doubting this book's eye for a good story, or the skill in telling it * Guardian * Brisk and enjoyable, full of unexpected fascinations * Sunday Times * A truly gripping chronicle of the mood of a nation moving unwittingly towards catastrophe. Bostridge moves deftly between public event and vivid personal experience with sympathy and imagination * Financial Times * Spy hysteria, petty disputes, shocking art . . . an ingeniously constructed picture of England in 1914 * The Times 'Book of the Week' * A masterly snapshot of the moment before the world went mad * Evening Standard * A wonderfully atmospheric narrative for those who are interested in the period but want more than just trenches and treaties * Observer, Book of the Week * A moving and myth-confronting account of 1914, Bostridge invigorates the familiar story of a year of two halves, when seven months of peace gave way to the worst period of conflict in world history. The humanity of this book intensifies the poignancy of hindsight and heightens one's awareness of the anguish felt by those survivors who remained behind -- Juliet Nicolson * Telegraph, Book of the Week * An excellent introduction to this year's centenary of the War To End All Wars and a highly readable account for history buffs * Daily Express * As Bostridge shows in this beautifully written and detailed book, 1914 was a 'fateful year', England was truly never the same again * Independent, Book of the Week * Vivid, finely drawn * Mail on Sunday * As mesmerising as a great historical novel * BBC History Magazine *

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