Crucible: The Long End of the Great War and the Birth of a New World, 19171924

(Paperback)

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A brilliant work of narrative history with an international cast of characters that captures this definitive period after the close of the Great War. 'Gripping . . . An amazingly audacious and completely innovative way of writing history' WILLIAM BOYD An enthralling narrative history with an international cast of characters that captures this definitive period after the close of the Great War. Lenin and Hitler, Einstein and Hemingway, Josephine Baker and Rosa Luxemburg, Marcus Garvey and Mustafa Kemal- key players and participants in a world on the cusp of modernity, at a moment when anything seemed possible. As the First World War reaches its awful climax, a shockwave of creative destruction is released. Europe is torn apart by revolution. America is in flames. A deadly pandemic stalks the globe. The curtain rises on a dangerous and exciting new era not unlike our own- of populists and prophets, freedom fighters and fascists, radical new ideas and clashing ideologies contesting an uncertain future. Crucible is the collective diary of this era, filled with vaulting dreams, dark fears, grubby ambitions and the absurdities of chance. Encompassing both tragedy and humour, it brings immediacy and intimacy to a moment of deep historical transformation - with consequences that echo down to today. 'Dazzling . . . A compelling patchwork depiction of an era' TLS 'This buoyant study of life after the Great War illuminates the part that chance plays in history' Observer

Reviews

Ricochets the reader around the globe, providing a visceral sense of the power and pace of the whirlwind that in the wake the Great War birthed the world as we know it. The result is a kaleidoscopic portrait, brilliantly curated and elegantly executed, of a world on the cusp of modernity * Wade Davis, author of Into the Silence *
A remarkable book An amazingly audacious and completely innovative way of writing history immediate and gripping -- William Boyd
An ambitious, original, seductive and important work -- Robert Gildea
Brings this extraordinary time to life with great vividness by evoking key moments from the daily lives of a dazzling variety of people -- Adam Hochschild
Emmerson skilfully tells the story of this lingering end to the Great War and Europes subsequent and dramatic transformation * History of War *

Author Bio

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.