I really wanted to like this book. World War One is incredibly important to understand how the 20th century plays out and what is still happening in Europe today, but I couldn't get into this book at all. The structure that Daniel Schönpflug used was not conducive to me really being able to follow along, it was really disjointed. I agree with other reviewers that the ending could have really tied things up much better and made more sense of a really trying time in history.

Also, I understand that he was looking for people that (especially Americans, perhaps) could relate to, but there are a lot more people that he could have used in addition or besides Harry S. Truman. There are some incredible letters and diaries of regular people that I think would have totally worked and made the story better.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review, all opinions are my own.

Mr. Schonpflug has crafted a nice little work, mainly relying on primary sources, on the fallout of the First World War. The reader is introduced to a large cast of characters, from well known names like Harry Truman and Virginia Woolf, to minor figures like a German Sailor and a French Journalist. It is an intriguing array of hopes and nightmares that arose after the end of the war, and a wide variety of viewpoints.

The book only has a few issues, the biggest of which is its episodic nature. It jumps between narratives a bit too excessively, sometimes after just a paragraph or two, just to return to the narrative after another paragraph or two. This results in a broken narrative and disrupts the flow of the work. The book also seems to just abruptly end, with little fanfare or conclusion, just an epilogue with a short blurb about what happened to the various individuals.

All in all, this was an enjoyable work, in spite of being marred by a less than stellar structure. It offers some good points of view that are very interesting.

Schönpflug, Daniel. A World on Edge: The End of the Great War and the Dawn of a New Age. New York: Henry Holt and Co./Metropolitan Books, 2018.

Daniel Schönpflug’s book, A World on Edge: The End of the Great War and the Dawn of a New Age (English translation of Comets years. 1918: the world on the rise) begins with an ominous image: an effigy of Kaiser Wilhelm strung up between two New York City streets. With the Great War at an end, the survivors had to learn how to navigate the world it created. Some, like the man represented in effigy, faded into the background, while others used the lessons of protracted war and fractured peace to claim the spotlight.
Abandoning the traditional focus on disarmament, redeployment, and reparations, Schönpflug constructs his history of the post-WWI period using the stories and experiences of people who lived it. He tells the stories of former political figures (Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, Matthias Erzberger) alongside those of rising political stars (Harry S. Truman, Nguyen Tat Thanh), and trades stories of fading revolutionary movements (T.E. Lawrence and the Middle East) with those just beginning to catch flame (Nguyen Tat Thanh in Vietmam, Terence MacSwiney in Ireland). Each point has a counterpoint, but there is also commonality in the lives lived after Armistice. Russian White Army soldier Marina Yurlowa speaks of the same type of battle fatigue expressed by U.S. doughboy Alvin York. Artists Walter Gropius and George Grosz hoped their art would help them make sense of the new world; Gropius found purpose in construction, while Grosz saw only nothingness. The men would become leaders of the Bauhaus and Dadaist artistic movements, respectively.
Schönpflug’s inclusion of women (Virginia Woolf, journalist Louise Weiss, Moina Michael, the aforementioned Marina Yurlowa) was a welcome surprise. He gives their stories share equal space with those of the men, a huge departure from many historical treatments that relegate women’s wartime and post-war experiences to a separate “women’s” chapter. The inclusion of a female soldier is especially heartening as Russian historiography has only recently restored a place for armed women in its history.
The author’s new approaches towards the post-war period does not preclude him from exploring the ways the Treaty of Versailles laid the groundwork for the rise of National Socialism. Schönpflug prefers to stoke a slow burn, showing the reader how individuals can go from elation over the end of armed hostilities to disillusionment over the world the war made. Nations and individuals alike placed their hopes in salvation through Wilsonian diplomacy and the League of Nations. Wilson’s rejection of the League and its resulting failure would lead them to different ideas and different saviors.
Kierkegaard wrote “life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.” Schönpflug’s history reminds us that “forwards” contains multiple directions, and people understand their present in multiple ways. For some, the swinging Kaiser represented the freedom to break free from old traditions, ideas, and constraints. Others found the peace did not live up to its promise and inclined towards despair. All agreed a world begot by violence would not easily shake the lessons of its cradle. Post-war Europe was on the edge of a new world; the next few years would determine whether it remained mired in the ashes or rose like a phoenix.

Kate Murphy Schaefer
June 2018

A World on Edge is a fascinating, well written and accessible social history of the time right before and after the end of World War I. The history is told through the stories of various individuals from Germany, the United States and England, including Harry Truman, Alvin(Sgt. York), Alam Mahler, Walter Gropius, Ghandi, and Ho ChiMinh. Just fascinating how world, literally, convulsed after the war—as reflected in art, literature, and politics. The reverberations of that era echo today and , more importantly, can provide lessons and warnings concerning world politics today. Flawlessly translated from the German, this book is highly reccomended.