The Beauty and the Sorrow

By Peter Englund,

Book cover of The Beauty and the Sorrow: An Intimate History of the First World War

Book description

An intimate narrative history of World War I told through the stories of twenty men and women from around the globe--a powerful, illuminating, heart-rending picture of what the war was really like.
 
In this masterful book, renowned historian Peter Englund describes this epoch-defining event by weaving together accounts of the…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked The Beauty and the Sorrow as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

The Swedish historian stitches together diaries and letters from twenty unknown people - from a Hungarian cavalryman to a German schoolgirl, the American wife of a Polish aristocrat to an English nurse – to tell the history of the First World War as an epic tapestry, with dizzying novelistic shifts from banal human moments to a wide scope of political and military affairs. Riveting and emotional.

From Tim's list on memories of war.

If you love The Beauty and the Sorrow...

Ad

Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up…

Want books like The Beauty and the Sorrow?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Beauty and the Sorrow.

Browse books like The Beauty and the Sorrow

Book cover of The Fighting at Jutland
Book cover of Forgotten Voices of the Holocaust
Book cover of Grand Quarrel: Women's Memoirs of the English Civil War

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,883

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like The Beauty and the Sorrow, you might also like...

Book cover of Harry and Arthur: Truman, Vandenberg, and the Partnership That Created the Free World

Harry and Arthur by Lawrence J. Haas,

With Franklin Roosevelt’s death in April 1945, Vice President Harry Truman and Senator Arthur Vandenberg, the Republican leader on foreign policy, inherited a world in turmoil. With Europe flattened and the Soviets emerging as America’s new adversary, Truman and Vandenberg built a tight, bipartisan partnership at a bitterly partisan time…

Book cover of American Flygirl

American Flygirl by Susan Tate Ankeny,

The first and only full-length biography of Hazel Ying Lee, an unrecognized pioneer and unsung World War II hero who fought for a country that actively discriminated against her gender, race, and ambition.

This unique hidden figure defied countless stereotypes to become the first Asian American woman in United States…

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in World War 1, Hungary, and Russia?

World War 1 940 books
Hungary 40 books
Russia 390 books