You will probably recognise many of the titles listed below. I know that some of them are long out of print, and will be hard to get hold of. Here in Manchester we still have an excellent public reference library, where I've consulted some of the older books in my list. 

It's a personal choice, and I've enjoyed reading all of them, but the ones highlighted shouldn't be missed, if you get the chance to see them. Although the internet is an incredible means of communication I still think that the printed word will always have the edge on it. 

The books listed by author, and the date of publication usually refers to the book's first publication in England.

To help anyone wishing to buy any book currently in print I've linked such titles with their entries on Amazon ( provides a link to the US edition where available).

As an Amazon associate I will receive a  percentage of the purchase price of any book bought as a result of clicking on a link on this website.

Vera Brittain: Testament of Youth (1933)
Charles Carrington: Soldier from the Wars Returning(1965)
Geoff Dyer: The Missing of the Somme (1994)
Niall Ferguson: The Pity of War  (1998)
Paul Fussell The Great War & Modern Memory  (1964)
Edwin Gibson & G.Kingsley Ward: Courage Remembered (1989)
Michael Gavaghan: The Story of the Unknown Warrior (1995) 
Martin Gilbert: The First World War (1993)
Stephen Graham: The Challenge of the Dead (1920)
Robert Graves: Goodbye to All That (1929)
Adrian Gregory: The Silence of Memory (1994)
Gerard J.De Groot: Blighty (1996)
Philip Hoare: Wilde's Last Stand - Decadence, Conspiracy & the First World War (1997)
Tonie & Valmai Holt: My Boy Jack  (1998)
Alistair Horne: The Price of Glory (1962)
David W.Lloyd: Battlefield Tourism  (1998)
Philip Longworth: The Unending Vigil (1985)
Lyn Macdonald: Voices & Images from the Great War (1988)
Colin McIntyre: Monuments of War (1990)
Martin Middlebrook: The First Day on the Somme (1971)
Geoffrey Moorhouse: Hells Foundations  (1992)
Peter Parker: The Old Lie (1987)
Catherine Reilly (ed): Scars Upon My Heart (1981)
Richard Van Emden & Steve Humphries: Veterans  (1998)
Stanley Weintraub: A Stillness Heard Round the World (1985)
Denis Winter: Death's Men  (1971)
Jay Winter: Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning (1995)