From the Boer War to the Cold War

The author could never be dull, least of all in the essay. The medium was perfect for his qualities. This volume concentrates on the 20th-century and, among other virtuoso displays, includes his controversial reappraisal of the beginnings of the First World War, 'War by Timetable' in which his relish of the paradox is seen at its most stimulating.

A. J. P. Taylor