Keegan’s one-volume history of the First World War is primarily a military history, and one that gives an exceptionally clear explanation of how the entire military action of the war unfolded. Strengths include the author’s depth of knowledge and the care taken with the detail of the armies and their commanders, what they were thinking, and what made them succeed or fail.

This isn’t a war account designed to make you feel; it’s one that insists that you think, and helps you to think. I had to read it slowly, and at times I felt frustrated. The author refrains from taking sides or creating heroes. Instead, he’s interested in universal human characteristics, including why armies sometimes stop fighting, and why people are crazy enough to fight in the first place.