Planned Memory The History Boom Surrounding the First World War

The 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War has brought a flood of new releases. General overviews such as Christopher Clark's Sleepwalkers or Herfried Munkler's Der Grosse Krieg [The great war] have achieved enormous print runs. Oliver Janz's 14 wins over readers with its concise analysis, while Jorn Leonhard's Buchse der Pandora [Pandora's box] surprises with its innovation und synthetic power. The Cambridge History of the First World War is trailblazing, both qualitatively and quantitatively. This boom in history and remembrance is more than media hype. It also reflects the sense of crisis surrounding Europe's present.