Pandora’s Box: A History of the First World War - Hardcover

Leonhard, Jörn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674545117 ISBN 13: 9780674545113

Publisher: Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press, 2018

Synopsis

“A major contribution...the best large-scale synthesis in any language of what we currently know and understand about this multidimensional, cataclysmic conflict.”―Richard J. Evans, Times Literary Supplement

In this monumental history of the First World War, Germany’s leading historian of the twentieth century’s first great catastrophe explains the war’s origins, course, and consequences. With an unrivaled combination of depth and global reach, Pandora’s Box reveals how profoundly the war shaped the world to come.

Jörn Leonhard treats the clash of arms with a sure feel for grand strategy, the everyday tactics of dynamic movement and slow attrition, the race for ever more destructive technologies, and the grim experiences of frontline soldiers. But the war was much more than a military conflict, or an exclusively European one. Leonhard renders the perspectives of leaders, intellectuals, artists, and ordinary men and women on diverse home fronts as they grappled with the urgency of the moment and the rise of unprecedented political and social pressures. And he shows how the entire world came out of the war utterly changed.

Postwar treaties and economic turbulence transformed geopolitics. Old empires disappeared or confronted harsh new constraints, while emerging countries struggled to find their place in an age of instability. At the same time, sparked and fueled by the shock and suffering of war, radical ideologies in Europe and around the globe swept away orders that had seemed permanent, to establish new relationships among elites, masses, and the state. Heralded on its publication in Germany as a masterpiece of historical narrative and analysis, Pandora’s Box makes clear just what dangers were released when the guns first fired in the summer of 1914.

About this title

About the Author

Jörn Leonhard is Professor of European History at the University of Freiburg.

Review

“[A] monumental history...Pandora’s Box is a major contribution to the historiography of the war, the best large-scale synthesis in any language of what we currently know and understand about this multidimensional, cataclysmic conflict...Leonhard has a rare gift for critical, intelligent narrative...A detailed, judicious and virtually comprehensive account of the war, its origins, its history and its consequences.”―Richard J. Evans, Times Literary Supplement

“[An] epic and magnificent work―unquestionably, for me, the best single-volume history of the war I have ever read...It is the most formidable attempt to make the war to end all wars comprehensible as a whole.”―Simon Heffer, The Spectator

“Extremely readable, lucidly structured, focused, and dynamic, Pandora’s Box shows that the world that emerges from the First World War is utterly transformed by the experience. Leonhard’s analysis is enlivened by a sharp eye for concrete situations and an ear for the voices that best convey the meaning of change for the people and societies undergoing it.”―Christopher Clark, University of Cambridge, author of The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914

“A library of books were published to mark the centenary of the Great War, but none of them are as good as Jörn Leonhard’s gracefully written, deeply researched, and constantly illuminating account. This is a wonderful book, filled with new information and fresh insights.”―James Sheehan, Stanford University, author of Where Have All the Soldiers Gone? The Transformation of Modern Europe

“[A] great book on the Great War... Leonhard succeeds in being comprehensive without falling prey to the temptation of being encyclopedic. He writes fluently and judiciously. Footnotes are limited to the essentials. This is, one is tempted to say, a German history in the British style.”―Adam Tooze, Die Zeit

“This is probably the meatiest and most comprehensive WWI book yet published... It is consistently intelligent and thoughtful.”―Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution

“What makes it so compelling is the analysis of events after the peace agreement of 1918, complete with a political map of the world and a stark look at the intense violence that persisted in Europe.”―Shelby Blackley, Globe and Mail

“Pandora’s Box stands out as the most comprehensive recent book on the First World War in any language. Leonhard provides us with a narrative analysis that combines intellectual precision and thematic focus with multiple perspectives. From the microcosm of the trenches to the home fronts, from the big battles in the East and the West to violent upheavals after 1918, Leonhard’s treatment of the war is wide-ranging while also giving ample space to the different layers of war experiences.”―Robert Gerwarth, University College Dublin, author of The Vanquished: Why the First World War Failed to End

“A brilliant history of what people thought about the First World War―before, during and after.”―Beatrice Heuser, Times Higher Education

“[A] very readable history of the war; thankfully, it is far more than a list of battles, but a thoughtful consideration of the epic destructive event in all its varied ramifications...There are more books on the First World War than anyone (even enthusiasts) could read, but Leonhard’s is an honorable addition, a large and weighty volume, literally and metaphorically, that is well worth the time dipping into. Well researched and detailed, Pandora’s Box never tosses the reader into a roiling overload of facts and figures, but looks at the horrors of WWI from many different, illuminating angles.”―Thomas Filbin, Arts Fuse

About this edition

• Publisher: Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 0674545117
• ISBN 13: 9780674545113
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 1104