"Adrian Gregory has provided the best brief account we have of the history of the Great War. Using an astonishing array of sources uncovering wartime life at the front and at home, Gregory tells the story of the war in a manner which is engaging, combative, and authoritative. Here is an original, tough-minded and thoughtful book, written by an historian unafraid of exploding the myths which still surround the 1914-18 conflict."
Jay Winter, Yale University
"In a series of brilliant, well-argued and powerfully humane thematic chapters, Gregory transforms our understanding of how Britons went to war, how they persevered despite growing anger at unequal ‘sacrifices’, and, crucially, how victory allowed them to transcend the traumas and the hatreds of war by embracing the lie that bereavement and sacrifice had been universal. Throughout, Gregory places experience of life on the home front, in all its rich diversity, centre-stage."
Jon Lawrence, Emmanuel College, Cambridge
"The Last Great War is the most important book on the British Home Front of the First World War to appear since Arthur Marwick's The Deluge, published over 40 years ago, which it largely supersedes. In particular, Adrian Gregory's revision of the idea of 'war enthusiasm' is subtle and persuasive. This is an outstanding work by a major historian."
Gary Sheffield, University of Birmingham
"At first glance, one wonders if we need another book about Britain and the First World War. After reading Adrian Gregory's The Last Great War, it is clear that we do. It offers a stirring reminder of the importance of studying the war on its own terms, not its popular legacy. By taking on some well-entrenched orthodoxies about what the First World War meant, the book will provoke renewed discussion and debate about this pivotal event." -Susan Grayzel, University of Mississippi
"...an important contribution to this historical subfield and readers of The Journal of Military History will appreciate the author's clarity and brevity, which will make the work a good choice for classroom use."
Stephen M. Miller, The Journal of Military History
"This fascinating, deeply revisionist study sets quite a few received opinions on their heads with its imagination, verve, and extensive use of sources, most of which come, by dint of availability, from the middle class—correspondence, diaries, newspapers, and local records."
Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Peter Stansky, Stanford University
"Recommended."
Choice
"Adrian Gregory has written a marvellous, interesting, detailed book … No serious military or social historian can afford to ignore it."
Open History
'Adrian Gregory is one of the best historians of the British Home Front that we have. What he’s been able to do is to pull together the social history of the First World War - with a very good understanding of the dynamics of the war itself as well - and put it all into a package. This book is, I think, the best single volume book on the British Home Front in the First World War.' Jonathan Boff, Five Books (www.fivebooks.com)
