The First World War
by John Keegan · first published 1998
3mentions
3recommended by
3HN commenters
2015–2017first – last mentioned
100% recommend
The First World War created the modern world. A conflict of unprecedented ferocity, it abruptly ended the relative peace and prosperity of the Victorian era, unleashing such demons of the twentieth century as mechanized warfare and mass death. It also helped to usher in the ideas that have shaped our times--modernism in the arts, new approaches to psychology and medicine, radical thoughts about economics and society--and in so doing shattered the faith in rationalism and liberalism that had prevailed in Europe since the Enlightenment. With The First World War, John Keegan, one of our most emin
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…listen to at times, but the information density is quite low. He takes a long time to say not much, all the while sounding quite profound. I'd recommend the classic references instead/as well: * The First World War by John Keegan * The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman
on “Why 1866 Set the Stage for Two World Wars” ↗Not sure about "significantly affected how I think", but here are a couple of the standouts from 2015 that come to mind: The First World War: A Complete History Predictable Revenue Superforecasting The Master Algorithm Natural Born Heroes
on “Ask HN: What book that you read in 2015 significantly affected how you think?” ↗And if you prefer very long and dense text, I'd strongly recommend John Keegan's "The First World War" - similar to your description, it really gets into the human reality of the war with first-hand sources.
on “The Legend of Verdun” ↗