Evidence, History and the Great War: Historians and the Impact of 1914-18

The Great War maintains a tenacious grip on the public imagination and also continues to draw historians to this period that is variously used as a symbol of modernity, as the midwife of the 20th century and as an agent of social change. A great many works have been written in response to previous work, as the original sources were fading away into the background.

Consequently, errors remained uncorrected, once certain interpretations were considered common knowledge, and myths about the war and its aftermath emerged and remained unchallenged. Taking a fresh look at the Great War, this volume returns to the original oral, textual, pictorial, and artistic evidence and looks at how historians have used -- or abused -- this evidence over the years.