In Disputing Disaster Perry Anderson picks out from the highly charged historiography on the
First World War one leading historian from each of the major powers that survived the
conflagration: Fritz Fischer famous historian of German war guilt Pierre Renouvin a disabled
serviceman and preeminent authority on the conflict in France Luigi Albertini the Italian
newspaper tycoon who unique among scholars of the Great War played a part in pitching his
country into it Paul W. Schroeder the American expert on the system of Europe - an interstate
relations and its breakdown in 1914 Keith Wilson the one radical deviant from a patriotic
consensus about Britain’s role in the outbreak of the fighting and from Australia (summoned
into the war as a dominion) Christopher Clark acclaimed author of The Sleepwalkers .
Disputing Disaster offers a compelling analysis of the major competing versions of the genesis
of the Great War fresh light on the political background of its leading historians and a
novel synthesis of the determining pressures that brought the conflict to pass. Perry Anderson
is emeritus in History at UCLA and an editor at New Left Review . Recent work: Different
Speeds Same Furies a comparative study of Anthony Powell and Marcel Proust.
