Crucible The Long End of the Great War and the Birth of a New World 1917 1924

<p><b>''Gripping . . . An amazingly audacious and completely innovative way of writing history'' WILLIAM BOYD</b><br><br><b>An enthralling narrative history with an international cast of characters that captures this definitive period after the close of the Great War.</b><br><br>Lenin and Hitler, Einstein and Hemingway, Josephine Baker and Rosa Luxemburg, Marcus Garvey and Mustafa Kemal: key players and participants in a world on the cusp of modernity, at a moment when anything seemed possible.<br><br>As the First World War reaches its awful climax, a shockwave of creative destruction is released. Europe is torn apart by revolution. America is in flames. A deadly pandemic stalks the globe. The curtain rises on a dangerous and exciting new era not unlike our own: of populists and prophets, freedom fighters and fascists, radical new ideas and clashing ideologies contesting an uncertain future.<br><br><i>Crucible </i>is the collective diary of this era, filled with vaulting dreams, dark fears, grubby ambitions and the absurdities of chance. Encompassing both tragedy and humour, it brings immediacy and intimacy to a moment of deep historical transformation - with consequences that echo down to today.<br><br><b>''Dazzling . . . A compelling patchwork depiction of an era'' <i>TLS</i></b><br><br><b>''This buoyant study of life after the Great War illuminates the part that chance plays in history'' <i>Observer</i></b></p>