A World on Edge: The End of the Great War and the Dawn of a New Age

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Journey into the heart of Europe, 1918 a world left ravaged by World War 1, and on the cusp of radical change. Daniel Schnpflug's A World on Edge paints a vivid picture of a time when unorthodox ideas ignited the collective imagination new politics, new societies, new art and culture, new thinking hinting at new paths to tread.

Schnpflug tracks the lives of diverse personalities, encapsulating the struggle for the future, the clash of the old and the new, and the intimate human stories within these greater narratives. For rulers and revolutionaries, a world of power and privilege was dying while for others, a dream of overthrowing democracy was being born.

The sculptor Kthe Kollwitz, translating sorrow and loss into art. Ho Chi Minh, working as a dishwasher in Paris and dreaming of liberating Vietnam. Captain Harry S. Truman, running a mens haberdashery in Kansas City, hardly expecting that he was about to go bankrupt and later become president of the United States. Virginia Woolf had just published her first book, while the artist George Grosz was so revolted by the violence on the streets of Berlin that he decides everything is meaningless.

Historian Daniel Schnpflug describes this watershed year as it was experienced on the ground open ended, unfathomable, its outcome unclear. A World on Edge is the story of a decisive year one that continues to echo in our times.

Reviews

Schnpflugs study of the immediate aftermath of the first world war brings a fresh and varied perspective to a familiar narrative, and reminds one of the brief period of optimism and hope that came out of the carnage and chaos. * Financial Times, Books of the Year *
For a brief moment a century ago the end of the Great War offered peace and the prospect of a bright new social order to a dark, ravaged Europe. In his moving and inspired book, historian Daniel Schnpflug recreates how these days were experienced by the people who lived themtheir struggles, dreams, and desiresand traces the elusive fate of their noble visions. An evocative and deeply affecting requiem for what might have been. -- Douglas Smith, author of Rasputin and Former People
Outstanding ... a wonderfully stimulating guide to a world that knew it had changed utterly but was fearful about where it was heading * Evening Standard *
Historian Daniel Schnpflug gives us a kaleidoscope of sparkling stories . . . elegantly composed and beautifully written. -- Alexander Gallus * Die Zeit *

This turbulent era left its mark on the biographies of people from
all walks of life. Schnpflug introduces readers to all these
individual stories so vividly you could almost think they only
happened a few moments ago.

-- Sibylle Lewischaroff, author of Blumenberg
Daniel Schnpflug transports you directly into the astonishing year 1918. With great care, a marvellous eye for detail and a highly accomplished style, he reveals this time anew and allows readers to rediscover the twentieth century and themselves. A masterpiece. -- Philipp Blom, author of Fracture: Life and Culture in the West, 19181938

Author Bio

Dr Daniel Schnpflug was born in 1969, and is a guest lecturer at the Free University, Berlin, and the academic coordinator at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (WIKO). He specializes in European history from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries, focusing on social and cultural history. Alongside his research, teaching and academic management work, he has also been successful in bringing history to a wider public and has co-authored scripts for docu-dramas broadcast on German national television, as well as writing A World on Edge.