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20 Best Books on World War I

For literature lovers, world wars are fertile ground to draw stories from. The politics, drama, trauma, and action of World Wars 1 & 2 provide the perfect backdrop for big themes and philosophical questions. The First World War, it attracted a lot of interest as people were eager to share and even know what was happening at the battlefront. This has led to a lot of books being published on World War I capturing almost every moment of this historic event. The books are both informative and entertaining and thus are for all to read and enjoy.

Here we bring you the 20 Best Books on World War I.

1. At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop

David Diop presents to you his book “At Night All Blood is Black”. Author librairie mollat.

Many readers agree that it is one of the best books on World War I. In fact, it is a winner of the International Booker Prize 2021 and has been written by Senegalese-French author David Diop. This novel reminisces the story of a Senegalese man in the French trenches of the Great War. Having spent all his life in the village, he finds himself fighting as a so-called 鈥淐hocolat鈥� soldier with the French army during World War I. When his friend Mademba Diop, in the same regiment, is seriously injured in battle, Diop begs Alfa to kill him and spare him the pain of a long and agonizing death in No Man鈥檚 Land.

Like most of the best books on World War 1, it鈥檚 a visceral story that takes its toll on the reader. It explores the toxic side of male camaraderie and how racism continues to live and thrive even while staring death in the face.

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2. Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo

This book is written by British children鈥檚 author Michael Morpurgo, who is renowned for writing books about war and books about animals. It was first published in 2003 and is about a fictional young soldier called Thomas 鈥淭ommo鈥� who apparently is looking back on his lie from the trenches of World War I in France as he waits for his brother Charlie鈥檚 execution by firing squad.

It is a story true story that the author got the inspiration to write the novel after learning 300 British and Commonwealth soldiers were shot for crimes like desertion and cowardice during the war. The novel helped further the campaign to grant posthumous pardons to the men, which were agreed upon and implemented by the UK Government in 2006.

It focuses on the harsh realities of English rural life and warfare and highlights the British Army’s practice of executing its own soldiers during World War I. As a bestseller, it won the 2004 Red House Children’s Book Award and the Blue Peter Book Award. It has been adapted by Simon Reade into a stage play, a radio play, and a film.

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3. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemmingway

This is a novel by American writer Ernest Hemingway, set during the Italian campaign of World War I. It was first published in 1929, and gives a first-person account of an American, Frederic Henry, serving as a lieutenant in the ambulance corps of the Italian Army. The novel describes a love affair between an expatriate from America and an English nurse, Catherine Barkley. It turned out to be Hemmingway鈥檚 first best-seller and propelled his place as a modern American writer of considerable stature. The title was taken from a 16th鈥慶entury poem of the same name by the English dramatist George Peele. It is regarded as an essential war novel for anyone interested in the events and people of this period.

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4. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

Lobby card for the American war film All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). Author Universal Pictures.

This classic piece of German literature is a World War 1 novel that decries the horrors of war. Following the narrative of a nameless German soldier, it鈥檚 novel of emotional arcs. It presents a scathing critique of nationalism, showing it to be a hollow, hypocritical ideology, a tool used by those in power to control a nation’s populace. Beginning with excitement and optimism, bolstered by camaraderie and patriotism, All Quiet on the Western Front gradually peels back the curtain to reveal the cruelty and animalism of war.

One thing that comes out very strongly in this novel is that it has successfully been able to show the reader the ways in which war consumes the human soul. For that reason, it remains one of the best books on World War 1 ever written.

5. Regeneration by Pat Barker

A scene from “The Regeneration”. Unknown Author.

This is a historical and anti-war novel by Pat Barker, first published in 1991. Its greatest achievement was a Booker Prize nominee and was described by the New York Times Book Review as one of the four best novels of the year in its year of publication.

It is about the British army officers being treated for shell shock during World War I at Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh. The author was inspired by her grandfather’s experience of World War I. It is not just about her own story but it draws extensively on first-person narratives from the period who were present at the hospital including poets and patients, Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, and psychiatrist W. H. R. Rivers, who pioneered treatments of posttraumatic stress disorder during and after World War I. To say the least, the title of the novel refers to Rivers’ research into “nerve regeneration”.

6. A Long Long Way Sebastian Barry

Prize-winning Irish author Sebastian Barry has penned many a novel set against the backdrop of war, including the celebrated Days without End and A Thousand Moons. A Long Long Way is his 2005 novel set in the trenches of the Great War. It tells the story of Ireland’s entry into the First World War through the heart and mind of one young soldier. It is ranked as one of the best books on World War I to ever have been written.

7. The War Poems of Wilfred Owen

The Wilfred Owen Story. Author Rept0n1x.

One of the most cherished war poets of history, Wilfred Owen penned many of the most famous war poems; poems that are taught in schools to this day. It was published posthumously by Chatto and Windus in 1920. Owen had been killed on 4 November 1918. It has been described as “perhaps the finest volume of anti-war poetry to emerge from the War”. He was one of the few soldiers who wrote war poetry focusing on the traumas, damage, isolation, and pain caused by the war.

8. The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon

Siegfried Loraine Sassoon was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. He survived World War 1 and continued to write both novels and poetry, most notably his fictionalized biography, Memoirs of an Infantry Soldier. Of all his writings, he is best remembered for his poetry. It is Sassoon鈥檚 poetry, however, that he is best remembered for. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches and satirized the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon’s view, were responsible for a jingoism-fuelled war.

9. “The First World War” by Hew Strachan

The best one-volume history of the war from one of its leading historians. Sir Hew Strachan is the most influential British historian of the First World War of his generation. This book is a condensed version of a larger, multi-volume project. Honorable mention: The First World War by John Keegan.

10. “Good-Bye to All That: An Autobiography” by Robert Graves

English poet Graves’ bitter account of his life has been called by scholar and critic Paul Fussell “the best memoir of the First World War.” In Goodbye to All That, the author powerfully explores the horrors of the First World War, while also providing a compelling look at the inner workings of British society. On the front lines at Cuinchy and Laventie, divisions between the men who fought became clear.

11. “The Great War and Modern Memory” by Paul Fussell

Winner of the National Book Award and hailed as one of the 20th century’s 100 best nonfiction books, Fussell challenges the way we think about the war in this landmark study. This is a book of literary criticism written by Paul Fussell and published in 1975 by Oxford University Press. It describes the literary responses of English participants in World War I to their experiences of combat, particularly in trench warfare. The perceived futility and insanity of this conduct became, for many gifted Englishmen of their generation, a metaphor for life.

12. “The Guns of August” by Barbara Tuchman

This is a 1962 publication by Barbara Tuchman. The book talks about the negotiations among the Great Powers that led to the outbreak of World War I in August 1914. According to the author, bungled diplomacy caused the war. A well-written book, it won the Pulitzer Prize and is said to have influenced President John F.

13. “The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916” by Alistair Horne

This is the second book of Alistair Horne’s trilogy, and tells the story of the great crises of the rivalry between France and Germany, focusing on the battle of Verdun lasted ten months. Seen as one of the bloodiest battles of World War I, at least 700,000 lost their lives, along a front of fifteen miles. The book shows that Verdun is a key to understanding the First World War in the minds of those who waged it, the traditions that bound them, and the world that gave them the opportunity.

14. “The World Crisis, 1911-1918” by Winston Churchill

Coming from a prolific writer, it is definitely a great piece of writing that everyone would enjoy reading. It gives Churchill’s brilliant account of the First World War and was published in six volumes (technically five, as Volume III was published in two parts). This was between 1923 and 1931.

15. Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain

It is a true story based on the life of Vera Brittain, an independent, upper-class woman, who changes entirely when World War I starts and her brother and fianc茅 are sent to fight in the war. It was written and published by Vera Brittain herself in 1933. The book has been acclaimed as a classic for its description of the impact of World War I on the lives of women and the middle-class civilian population of the United Kingdom. The book shows how the impact extended into the postwar years. It is also considered a classic in feminist literature for its depiction of a woman’s pioneering struggle to forge an independent career in a society only grudgingly tolerant of educated women.

16. War Game by Michael Foreman

War game- drill on SEATTLE. Author George Grantham Bain Collection.

War Game is a children’s novel about World War I. It was authored by Michael Foreman and published by Pavilion in 1993. It features four young English soldiers and includes football with German soldiers during the Christmas truce, “temporary relief from the brutal and seemingly endless struggle in the trenches”.

The book won the 1993 Nestl茅 Children’s Book Prize in the ages category 6鈥�8 years and overall. Foreman was a commended runner-up for the annual Greenaway Medal from the Library Association, recognizing the best children’s book illustration by a British subject.

17. Rites of Spring by Modris Eksteins

In a remarkable display of originality and discerning historical analysis, Rites of Spring describes the origins, impact, and aftermath of the Great War of 1914-1918, arguably the most traumatic event of this century.

18. Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer

Juliet Mills and Sam Elliott in a publicity still for Once an Eagle miniseries (1976). Author NBC Television.

It was a No. 1 New York Times Bestseller and a favorite of American military men and women since its writing.  American author Anton Myrer has written this war novel. The novel takes place between the 1910s and 1960s and covers many of the United States military involvements during that period. Once an Eagle tells the story of Sam Damon, a career Army officer, from his initial enlistment as a private to his rise to general officer rank. It depicts Damon as an honorable soldier who rises in rank by success in field command and cares for the welfare of his troops. His career is contrasted with that of another soldier, Courtney Massengale, who has no honor, no concern for his troops, and rises in rank through staff positions by cunning and political connections. As the two rise in the ranks together, they frequently clash in their views.

19. Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger

This image is from one of the inside pages of J眉nger’s “In Stahlgewittern” (“Storm of Steel” in English). AuthorErnst J眉nger.

Storm of Steel is the memoir of German officer Ernst J眉nger’s experiences on the Western Front during the First World War from December 1914 to August 1918. It was originally printed privately in 1920, making it one of the first personal accounts to be published. It is a graphic account of trench warfare and a book that established J眉nger’s fame as a writer in the 1920s.

20. Archies War by Marcia Williams

This is a children鈥檚 story written by Marcia Williams. It is a funny and moving story of life during the First World War, told through the eyes of schoolboy Archie Albright.

In the story 10-year-old Archie Albright is given a scrapbook for his birthday in April 1914, he thinks he’ll fill it with comics, souvenirs, and funny stories about his family. Unfortunately, before he does that, war breaks out on 3 August 1914, and his life changes forever. He tells the story of the First World War from his point of view, filling his scrapbook with anecdotes about life in London’s East End, newspaper clippings, letters from his dad and uncle who are fighting in France, and his own war-inspired comic strips.