The First World War: A Concise Global History, by William Kelleher Storey

Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2010. Pp. xii, 192. Maps, notes, biblio., index. $19.95. ISBN: 0742541460.

In The First World War: A Concise Global History Prof. Storey (Millsaps, Ms.), author, among others, of Guns, Race, and Power in Colonial South Africa (2008), gives us a general overview of the Great War, looking into some hitherto neglected aspects of the global conflict.

Although Storey does not cover some important recent scholarship on the war, such as the "transformational" changes in equipment and tactics, he provides a good general look at the origins, course, and consequences of the war.  The book is particularly valuable for Storey?s analysis of the generally overlooked environmental factors that affected operations, his discussion of the role of non-Europeans in the struggle, and his look at long-term global impact of the war, in terms of its social, cultural, and political effects, not only on the belligerents but also on colonial peoples world wide.

This is an useful work for anyone interested in the First World War, and a particularly valuable one for those lacking much prior knowledge of the conflict, and as a recommended reading in a modern history course.

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