Suggested Reading and Media Resources
- Audoin-Rouzeau, Stéphane. Men at War, 1914–1918: National Sentiment and Trench Journalism in France During the First World War. 1992. Reconstructs the everyday life of the ordinary French soldier on the western front.
- Davis, Belinda J. Home Fires Burning: Food, Politics, and Everyday Life in Berlin in World War I. 2000. A moving account of women struggling to feed their families and their protests against the imperial German state.
- Englund, Peter. The Beauty and the Sorrow: An Intimate History of the First World War. 2011. An everyday-life history of the war told through the personal stories of twenty men and women, from more than a dozen different nations and from all walks of life.
- Fitzpatrick, Sheila. The Russian Revolution 1917–1932. 1982. An important interpretation that considers the long-term effects of the revolution.
- Fromkin, David. A Peace to End All Peace. 2001. A brilliant reconsideration of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and its division by the Allies.
- Grayzel, Susan R. Women and the First World War. 2002. A useful overview of women’s experience of war across Europe.
- Joll, James. The Origins of the First World War. 1992. A thorough review of the causes of the war that brings together military, diplomatic, economic, political, and cultural history.
- Liulevicius, Vejas Gabriel. War Land on the Eastern Front: Culture, National Identity, and German Occupation in World War I. 2000. An important and pathbreaking work on the eastern front.
- Macmillan, Margaret. Paris, 1919: Six Months That Changed the World. 2001. A comprehensive, exciting account of all aspects of the peace conference.
- Mosse, George L. Fallen Soldiers: Reshaping the Memory of the World Wars. 1990. An innovative yet accessible account of how Europeans remembered the world wars.
- Neiberg, Michael S. Fighting the Great War: A Global History. 2006. A lively and up-to-date account.
- Whalen, Robert Weldon. Bitter Wounds: German Victims of the Great War. 1984. An excellent treatment of the human costs of the war in Germany.
- The Battle of the Somme (Geoffrey Malins, 1916). One of the very first wartime propaganda films, this famous documentary was originally released in August 1916. Though some of the scenes are clearly staged, the realistic battle sequences shocked contemporary audiences.
- Paris 1919: Inside the Peace Talks That Changed the World (BFS Entertainment and Multimedia, 2009). Through historical re-enactments, archival footage, and contemporary photos, this documentary takes viewers “behind the scenes” at the Versailles Conference to explore the controversial decisions made in Paris in 1919.
- Russian Revolution in Color (Shanachie Studio, 2005). Covers the Russian Revolution and civil war using colorized archival footage, historical re-enactments, and expert testimonies.
- All Quiet on the Western Front (Lewis Milestone, 1930). This graphic antiwar film about the frontline experiences and growing disillusionment of a young German volunteer is based on the famous novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque, first published in 1928.
- Farewell to Arms (Frank Borzage, 1932). The tragic story of a romance between an American ambulance driver and a Red Cross nurse, set on the Italian front. Based on a novel by Ernest Hemingway.
- J’Accuse (Abel Gance, 1938). This French remake, based on a film first produced in 1919, tells the story of an angry veteran who travels to the former frontlines and calls forth the ghosts of the war dead to help him prevent a second world war.
- The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century. The companion to a PBS documentary, this site offers an array of material on various aspects of the First World War. www.pbs.org/greatwar
- London Imperial War Museum. This famous museum and research center was founded in 1917 to preserve artifacts and record events from the then-still-ongoing world war. Its world-class collections include materials from all conflicts involving Great Britain, the British Commonwealth, and former colonies, from the First World War to the present day. www.iwm.org.uk