1913

CHARLES EMMERSON is an Australian-born writer and historian. He studied modern history at Oxford University and international relations in Paris. He is the author of The Future History of the Arctic and 1913: The World Before the Great War. He lives in London.

"Every so often a book comes along that simply must be read. 1913 is such a work. Luminous and majestic, rich in detail and stunning in its depth of research, 1913 is a sweeping and haunting portrait of the world on the edge of the precipice. Read this book, but be prepared to stifle at the end of every page an urge to scream out a warning to those long since dead that they must take another road" -- Wade Davis "Charles Emmerson explores an endlessly interesting question: How did the great glossy world of the European Empires come to grief in 1914? This is a most elegantly written book and should stand comparison with the much older classic, Barbara Tuchman's The Proud Tower" -- PROFESSOR NORMAN STONE, author of World War One: A Short History "A masterful, comprehensive portrait of the world at that last moment in its history." -- David Crane Spectator "If Downton Abbey still colours your impression of what Britain was like on the cusp of the First World War, 1913 could be a useful corrective" -- David Robinson Scotsman "One of the great merits of Charles Emmerson's global panorama is to show events in the months leading up to the summer of 1914 as something other than a precursor to mass slaughter" -- Mark Damazer New Statesman

Every so often a book comes along that simply must be read. 1913 is such a work. Luminous and majestic, rich in detail and stunning in its depth of research, 1913 is a sweeping and haunting portrait of the world on the edge of the precipice... Read this book, but be prepared to stifle at the end of every page an urge to scream out a warning to those long since dead that they must take another road Wade Davis