Promotional Information

The latest volume in Simon Heffer's critically acclaimed history of modern Britain

About the Author

Simon Heffer was born in 1960. He read English at Cambridge and took a PhD in modern history at that university. His previous books include- Moral Desperado- A Life of Thomas Carlyle, Like the Roman- The Life of Enoch Powell, Power and Place- The Political Consequences of King Edward VII, Nor Shall My Sword- The Reinvention of England, Vaughan Williams, Strictly English, A Short History of Power, Simply English and High Minds- The Victorians and the Birth of Modern Britain. In a thirty-year career in Fleet Street, he has held senior editorial positions on The Daily Telegraph and The Spectator, and is now a columnist for The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph.

Reviews

A brilliant history: The first serious and really wide-ranging history of the Home Front during the Great War for decades. Scholarly, objective and extremely well-written. A masterclass . . . that ought to be taught in schools. It is filled with surprising revelations . . . and empathy. Heffer's eye for the telling detail is evident on almost every page.
*Telegraph*

Gloriously rich and spirited . . . colourful, character-driven history . . . it zips along, leavened by so many wonderful cultural and social details.
*The Sunday Times*

Fresh insights, vast scope and caustic judgement. Possibly the finest, most comprehensive analysis of the home front in the Great War ever produced. Compelling reading.
*Literary Review*

Enlightening . . . Robust opinion, an eye for telling detail and a gift for bringing historical figures alive . . . An epic, ambitious book.
*Daily Mail*

Staring at God is a vast compendium of atrocious political conduct. Refreshing . . . [The book]’s length is due to the author’s enormous enthusiasm. A trenchant history.
*The Times*

A magisterial history.
*Daily Mail*

The book stands out for its humanity as well as its breadth and detail
*The Spectator*

The book I read with the most profit this year was the absorbing Staring at God: Britain in the Great War . . . A particular strength of the book is Heffer's understanding - as befits a former deputy editor of the Daily Telegraph - of the role of the press; this was the great age of newspaper proprietors
*The Spectator*

An epic history of Britain. It is every bit as good as its two predecessors. Illuminating. *****
*Daily Express*

[An] admirable book . . . ambitious in its scope, content and approach . . . Heffer's understanding of the personalities and the issues is comprehensive
*Standpoint*

Fascinating stuff.
*Spectator*

Simon Heffer’s latest hefty volume of 20th-century history tackles the high politics and muddy misery of the First World War.
*The Times, 50 Best Books for Autumn*

This is a very detailed and well-researched book about the First World War . . . The author graphically describes the austerity of life at home.
*Country Life*