{"product_id":"the-sleepwalkers-how-europe-went-to-war-in-1914-isbn-9780061146657","title":"The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOne of \u003cem\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/em\u003e’s 10 Best Books of the Year\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWinner of the \u003cem\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/em\u003e Book Prize (History)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914\u003c\/em\u003e is historian Christopher Clark’s riveting account of the explosive beginnings of World War I.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing on new scholarship, Clark offers a fresh look at World War I, focusing not on the battles and atrocities of the war itself, but on the complex events and relationships that led a group of well-meaning leaders into brutal conflict.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eClark traces the paths to war in a minute-by-minute, action-packed narrative that cuts between the key decision centers in Vienna, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Paris, London, and Belgrade, and examines the decades of history that informed the events of 1914 and details the mutual misunderstandings and unintended signals that drove the crisis forward in a few short weeks.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMeticulously researched and masterfully written, Christopher Clark’s \u003cem\u003eThe Sleepwalkers\u003c\/em\u003e is a dramatic and authoritative chronicle of Europe’s descent into a war that tore the world apart.\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003eOn the morning of June 28, 1914, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie Chotek, arrived at Sarajevo railway station, Europe was at peace. Thirty-seven days later, it was at war. The conflict that resulted would kill more than fifteen million people, destroy three empires, and permanently alter world history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Sleepwalkers\u003c\/em\u003e reveals in gripping detail how the crisis leading to World War I unfolded. Drawing on fresh sources, it traces the paths to war in a minute-by-minute, action-packed narrative that cuts among the key decision centers in Vienna, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Paris, London, and Belgrade. Distinguished historian Christopher Clark examines the decades of history that informed the events of 1914 and details the mutual misunderstandings and unintended signals that drove the crisis forward in a few short weeks. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHow did the Balkans—a peripheral region far from Europe's centers of power and wealth—come to be the center of a drama of such magnitude? How had European nations organized themselves into opposing alliances, and how did these nations manage to carry out foreign policy as a result? Clark reveals a Europe racked by chronic problems—a fractured world of instability and militancy that was, fatefully, saddled with a conspicuously ineffectual set of political leaders. These rulers, who prided themselves on their modernity and rationalism, stumbled through crisis after crisis and finally convinced themselves that war was the only answer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMeticulously researched and masterfully written, \u003cem\u003eThe Sleepwalkers\u003c\/em\u003e is a magisterial account of one of the most compelling dramas of modern times.\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“Excellent. . . . The book is stylishly written as well as superb scholarship. No analysis of the origins of the First World War will henceforth be able to bypass this magisterial work.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eIan Kershaw, BBC History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Christopher Clark has written the most readable account of the origins of the First World War since Barbara Tuchman’s \u003ci\u003eThe Guns of August\u003c\/i\u003e. The difference is that \u003ci\u003eThe Sleepwalkers\u003c\/i\u003e is a lovingly researched work of the highest scholarship. It is hard to believe we will ever see a better narrative of what was perhaps the biggest collective blunder in the history of international relations.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNiall Ferguson\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“The most readable account of the origins of the First World War since Barbara Tuchman’s \u003ci\u003eThe Guns of August\u003c\/i\u003e. The difference is that \u003ci\u003eThe Sleepwalkers\u003c\/i\u003e is a lovingly researched work of the highest scholarship.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNiall Ferguson\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Excellent. . . . Where Clark excels is in explaining how the pre-war diplomatic maneuvers resembled a giant exercise in game theory.”- - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Economist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A superb account of the causes of the first world war. . . . Clark brilliantly puts this illogical conflict into context.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“One of 2013’s finest nonfiction books. . . . Offers more up-to-date scholarship than you’ll find in a classic like Barbara Tuchman’s \u003ci\u003eThe Guns of August\u003c\/i\u003e.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMatthew Yglesias, Slate\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“This book is as authoritative as it is gripping. . . . Clark provides a vivid panorama of the jostling among Europe’s policymakers. . . . The reader is rapt as ‘watchful but unseeing’ protagonists head for inconceivable horror.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Independent\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A breathtakingly good book. . . . Clark’s narrative sophistication, his philosophical awareness, and his almost preternatural command of his sources make \u003ci\u003eThe Sleepwalkers\u003c\/i\u003e an exemplary instance of how to navigate this tricky terrain. It is not only the best book on the origins of the First World War that I know but a brilliant and intellectually bracing model for the writing of history more generally.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThomas Laqueur, The London Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Clark’s narrative sophistication, his philosophical awareness, and his almost preternatural command of his sources make \u003ci\u003eThe Sleepwalkers\u003c\/i\u003e an exemplary instance of how to navigate this tricky terrain. The best book on the origins of the First World War that I know.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThomas Laqueur, The London Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A monumental new volume. . . . Revelatory, even revolutionary. . . . Clark has done a masterful job explaining the inexplicable.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Easily the best book ever written on the subject. . . . A work of rare beauty that combines meticulous research with sensitive analysis and elegant prose. The enormous weight of its quality inspires amazement and awe. . . . Academics should take note: Good history can still be a good story.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A meticulously researched, superbly organized, and handsomely written account.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Superb. . . . One of the great mysteries of history is how Europe’s great powers could have stumbled into World War I. . . . This is the single best book I have read on this important topic.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eFareed Zakaria\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“The distinctive achievement of \u003ci\u003eThe Sleepwalkers\u003c\/i\u003e is Clark’s single-volume survey of European history leading up to the war. That may sound dull. Quite the contrary. It is as if a light had been turned on a half-darkened stage of shadowy characters cursing themselves without reason. . . . A thoroughly comprehensive and highly readable account. . . . The brilliance of Clark’s far-reaching history is that we are able to discern how the past was genuinely prologue. . . . In conception, steely scholarship and piercing insights, his book is a masterpiece.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHarold Evans, The New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A thoroughly comprehensive and highly readable account. . . . The brilliance of Clark’s far-reaching history is that we are able to discern how the past was genuinely prologue. . . . In conception, steely scholarship and piercing insights, his book is a masterpiece.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHarold Evans, The New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“An important book. . . . One of the most impressive and stimulating studies of the period ever published.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMax Hastings, The Sunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“This compelling examination of the causes of World War I deserves to become the new standard one-volume account of that contentious subject.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eForeign Affairs\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A great book. . . An amazing narrative history of the crisis and the larger context.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSlate\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“The centenary of the Great War is nearly upon us, and the first salvoes of a barrage of new histories have arrived. Mightiest among them is \u003ci\u003eThe Sleepwalkers\u003c\/i\u003e. . . . As spacious and convincing a treatment as has yet appeared. . . . Clark’s prose is clear and laced with color.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Daily Beast\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“As spacious and convincing a treatment as has yet appeared. . . . Clark’s prose is clear and laced with color.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Daily Beast\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Clark is a masterly historian. . . . His account vividly reconstructs key decision points while deftly sketching the context driving them. . . . A magisterial work.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44888603721957,"sku":"NP9780061146657","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780061146657.jpg?v=1730229425","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-sleepwalkers-how-europe-went-to-war-in-1914-isbn-9780061146657","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}