World War One: A Short History (Hardcover)

New York Times Book Review
“In World War One: A Short History, [Stone] examines the broad canvas of the war, taking us from 1914 to 1918. He describes, often quite vividly, the armies of the Central Powers and the Allies as they slog across the fields of Flanders and northern France, through the morass of the Balkans, across rivers and over mountains in Central Europe, chewing up farms and villages, not to mention millions of lives, in the process…. There are lovely images, adroit turns of phrase, flashes of wry British wit, amusing details.”

The American Spectator
“Stone is able to pack an enormity of information into the smallest space, and with a remarkable eye for detail…. The wonder is that Stone is able to create a narrative of this sweep and brevity while also providing such evocative descriptions.”

History Wire
“Lest the reader wonder how a historian could hope to encapsulate the ‘Great War,’ including those events that, over decades, led up to it, in a mere 226 pages, be assured that it takes a deft pen, a nimble brain, and the ability to cull the essence of events. Historian Norman Stone, who has taught for many years at Oxford and Bilkent, appears to have these qualities in spades.”

Wall Street Journal
“Norman Stone’s World War One is a smooth, efficient and highly readable addition to a crowded field…. It is hard to say anything new about such a well-plowed subject, but Mr. Stone manages to hold the reader’s attention until the last page. His book is full of fascinating asides for those who thought that European history could hold no more surprises for them.”

An overwhelming disaster from which the world is still recovering, World War One can seem baffling in its complexity. But now Norman Stone, one of world’s greatest military historians, has composed a dazzlingly lucid and succinct history of the conflict. Stone has distilled a lifetime of teaching, arguing, and thinking into this brisk and opinionated account of the fundamental tragedy of the twentieth century.