ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The genesis of this book goes back over a decade, to a conference paper I gave at King’s College, Cambridge, in 2002 about how the discourse of the “first world war” and the “second world war” developed in various countries. The arguments outlined there formed the embryo of this book and I am grateful to the conference organizers, Richard J. Evans and Emma Rothschild, for the opportunity they provided. More recently I have been able to try out some of my ideas at various seminars and conferences, including Sciences Po in Paris (Maurice Vaisse), the European Academy in Berlin (Andreas Etges), the Boltzmann Institute in Graz, Austria (Stefan Hauner and Barbara Steltz-Marx), and Deakin University, Melbourne (David Lowe).

I am especially grateful to friends and colleagues who commented on the whole manuscript, notably John Thompson and Zara Steiner, or who discussed some of the chapters and the ideas behind them, particularly Chris Clark, Martin Daunton, Niamh Gallagher, and Meike Wulf. The title I owe to Janice Hadlow. I have also learned a great deal from my colleagues on the Imperial War Museum’s Academic Advisory Committee for the new First World War galleries: Hew Strachan, David Stevenson, Dan Todman, and Deborah Thom. Their scholarly work and that of Jay Winter—not least his Humanitas Lectures in Cambridge in 2012—have been essential foundations for my endeavors. Both James Taylor and James Wallis at the IWM have helped with various inquiries. The research could not have been conducted without the wonderful Cambridge network of libraries: the University Library, a copyright depository where, uniquely, one can borrow and browse; the Seeley Library in the History Faculty; and the library of Christ’s College. As usual, my family has been supportive, tolerant, and impatient in appropriate measures: thank you Margaret, Jim, and also Emma. Some of Margaret’s photos of the Western Front appear in the illustrations.

Particular thanks to my editor, John Glusman, and my agent, Peter Robinson, both for reading the draft and for much helpful advice, and to Cecilia Mackay for the photo research. Also to Irene Skolnick in New York and the production staff at W. W. Norton, especially Jonathan Baker and copyeditor Rachelle Mandik.

It seems customary for British historians of my generation to dedicate books about the Great War to the memory of soldierly grandparents. Both of my grandfathers did not fight, being in reserved occupations—Henry Reynolds in the postal telegraphy service in London and Jim Kay as a patternmaker for Mather & Platt, the great engineering firm in Manchester. But for a book intended to shift our view of the Great War out of the trenches, these two men seem rather apt dedicatees.