John Keegan - dapper, lantern-jawed, a man who pounds facts into place as if with a sledgehammer - is the military historian's military historian... If he did not exist, the History Channel would not be able to invent him.

An ambitious and accomplished account, abreast of modern scholarship, has been overdue, and EUROPE'S TRAGEDY supplies it all admirably

A wonderfully comprehensive and detailed account

Magisterial ... a wise, wide-seeking account, tenaciously researched

A history of prodicious erudition ... a definitive account has been needed, and now Peter Wilson has provided it

'A complex story of heroism and great courage'

'Clear and effective...benefits from exhaustive research'

'Very good...Preston has done an extraordinary amount of work, particularly in tracing the memories of survivors'

Carter's intelligent, entertainging and informative book folds dynastic and political narratives into a panoramic account of Europe's road to war

That these three absurd men could ever have held the fate of Europe in their hands is a fact as hilarious as it is terrifying. I haven't enjoyed a historical biography this much since Lytton Strachey's Victoria

Miranda Carter writes with lusty humour, has a fresh clarifying intelligence, and a sharp eye for telling details. This is traditional narrative history with a 21st-century zing. A real corker of a book

A highly original way of looking at the years that led up to 1914

Carter deftly interpolates history with psychobiography to provide a damning indictment of monarchy in all its forms

A depiction of bloated power and outsize personalities in which Carter picks apart the strutting absurdity of the last emperors on the eve of catastrophe

Takes what should have been a daunting subject and through sheer wit and narrative élan turns it into engaging drama. Carter has a notable gift for characterisation

Facts and figures say a great deal, but the most compelling accounts come from those who featured in the battle. Like any good author, Holland allows the participants to tell the story in their own words