The Last Summer: May to September 1914

by Kirsty McLeod

A portrait of English culture and society during the last summer before World War I based on the correspondence, journals, and personal reminiscences of people from all walks of society

191 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1984

Reviews

[Bryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably not really 4 stars of goodness, but it is certainly 4 stars worth of enjoyment. McLeod is mostly anthologising here -- she is not doing her own history, coming up with new theories about why or how things happened. She is concerned with trying to show a cross-section of English life during the summer of 1914, to paint a picture of how people felt as the summer progressed, how unprepared many of them were for the war to follow, and to illustrate a little what the 'golden time' that people remembered so fondly afterward was actually like in the moment. As an Anglophile who is fascinated with WWI, this book was very much what I wanted, even though I am sure it has many limitations for a serious scholar.

[Linda Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I borrowed it from mu husband's history books to understand the England of Downton Abbey and Warhorse better. The book dud that, but it read like a dissertation.
I bet there are better books to supply the background to WWI.