A masterpiece of biographical and historical analysis

Jerry White's name on a title page is a guarantee of a lively, compassionate book full of striking incidents and memorable images… This is a fast-paced social history that never stumbles… A well-orchestrated polyphony of voices that brings history alive

White delivers in brilliant time-eclipsing detail an evolving and often deeply moving portrait of a city that became gradually squeezed to its limits

Jerry White is masterful at mixing hard facts and statistics with telling anecdotes

A superbly detailed account… Professor White has written a fine social history that portrays London as a teeming nerve centre of the Allied war effort

If you only read one [book about the First World War], choose Zeppelin Nights, which is packed with new information and avoids the clichés that are wearying us all

A fascinating study

An extraordinary tale… [White] tells it with gusto, nuance and panache

Intriguing and often surprising

[A] timely book… Fascinating

White is London’s foremost historian

In a hectic history, teeming with life at all levels, from West End to East End, from music hall to munitions factories, from society balls to sweatshops, the voices of wounded soldiers, dazed refugees, liberated women and sharp-witted Londoners sing and weep throughout this constantly surprising story

A convincing and exhaustive account of what Londoners experienced from 1914 to 1918

A rich social history… White is as adept with individual characters as he is with the statistics of munitions production

Few people have a better grasp of the history of London than Professor Jerry White

Fresh, interesting… Vivid and often moving

White writes with the fluency of a novelist, and this book can be hugely recommended

A first-rate social history

As ever with Jerry White, the broader themes are peppered with wonderful, throwaway trivia, while the main thrust is both meticulously researched and highly readable

White’s book is a true piece of art

A sparkling and fascinating account

Well-paced narrative...of great relevance today, when such conflicts seem (but only seem) to have disappeared.

Immensely compelling

Meticulously researched

The true strength of this meticulously researched book is the placing of the revelations into the context of a compelling human drama

Engrossing

[An] outstanding treasure of literature

Impeccably researched, and moving, this book breaks new ground