Paxman’s books are a joy to read. He has the knack of taking a British institution, or a subject from the past (or a combination of both), and writing about it in a lively way, full of wisdom and insight, always arousing our curiosity. There will inevitably be many books on the 1914-18 hostilities coming our way, but few if any are likely to improve on this one.
For another account of those four long years, [[The Great War by Peter Hart]]and [[Voices from the Front: An Oral History of the Great War by Peter Hart]].
For a searching look at the country it left behind, [[The Great Silence: 1918-1920 Living in the Shadow of the Great War by Juliet Nicolson]]