The Great War

The Australian Book Industry Awards’ Book of the Year 2007

Winner of the inaugural Prime Minister’s Prize for History, 2007

"Destined to become an Australian classic… The Great War is a deeply moving monument to a generation and what they endured. Read this book and weep." WEST AUSTRALIAN

"A remarkably lucid and powerful narrative… This is a seasoned writer at the height of his powers." COURIER MAIL

"Monumental… an emotional journey back to the Western Front that is at times almost unbearably poignant… In The Great War Carlyon has succeeded triumphantly in bringing back to life the essential character of the men of the First AIF in France. The Australians who fought long ago at Mouquet Farm, Messines, Polygon Wood and Passchendaele have gone, but, thanks to Carlyon, they are still with us. To paraphrase Bean, The Great War will stand as a lasting monument to that body of great-hearted men." AUSTRALIAN

"The Great War is an inspiring achievement. There is no account quite like it. The perspectives, global, political, strategic and, above all, the individual, are perfectly balanced. It is, in the best sense, judicial. The writing is lucid, spare, wholly engrossing, thrilling." BULLETIN

"This is a monumental work, a towering, triumphant testimony to the forgotten and the fallen in Australia’s greatest tragedy, World War 1… This is not only a history, but a memorial. It is suffused with an aching melancholy for the utter waste of a generation. The Great War is an epic, sometimes lyrical, and often desperately sad." HERALD SUN

"Les Carlyon’s new book, The Great War, commands our praise and gratitude… We are shown the immense labours and appalling cost we bore as a nation; we see also, with a combination of almost unbearable pride and pity, the courage and resource, the suffering and sacrifice of the soldiers of our first AIF." QUADRANT