The German War

Doyle, Arthur Conan, 1859-1930Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.1

Word count: 164K words
Chapters: 17

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The German War by Arthur Conan DoyleAuthor: Doyle, Arthur Conan, 1859-1930,Language: English, Class: D501: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: World War I (1914-1918), Release Date: Feb 18, 2013

Editor's review

This is Arthur Conan Doyle's non-fiction work on the First World War, a public-domain eBook from Project Gutenberg. Unlike his widely known detective fiction, it reveals another side of the author as a writer on current affairs, addressing the early wartime situation and the British position. Its value lies in offering a sample of observation and argument from a contemporary British intellectual, helping readers understand how war propaganda, public opinion, and literary writing interacted. Readers should note the work's timeliness and standpoint: it is not a cool retrospective of later historiography but a text shaped by strong contemporary judgments. Suited to readers interested in WWI history, English literature, or the many facets of Conan Doyle's writing. Reading it alongside a modern general history of WWI is recommended to distinguish factual narrative from wartime rhetoric.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in WWI history and wartime public opinion
Literary readers curious about Conan Doyle's non-fiction writing
History students studying war propaganda and contemporary texts
Non-fiction enthusiasts with English reading ability who enjoy primary sources

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting Holmes-style detective stories
Beginners seeking a neutral, modern historiographical introduction to the war
General readers who struggle with English and rely on Chinese translations

Reading tips

Learn about the European situation around 1914 before reading, to better identify the author's contemporary stance.
Read alongside a modern general history of WWI, marking which judgments belong to the wartime context and which have been revised by later research.
Pay attention to the author's argumentation and rhetorical strategies, analyzing the text as war propaganda.
Read selectively by chapter rather than cover to cover, focusing on sections relevant to your own research questions.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a novel or a history?

According to the source, the book is classified as WWI history (D501) and is Conan Doyle's non-fiction writing on the war, not a Holmes novel. It should be treated as a historical text.

Are the views in the book objective and neutral?

Written in a wartime context, the book carries the standpoint and argumentative tone of a contemporary British author and should not be regarded as neutral historiography. Compare it with modern research and distinguish factual statements from wartime rhetoric.

Can I read it without knowing WWI background?

You can, but understanding will be limited. The book deals with many contemporary events and figures, and without background knowledge readers may mistake the author's wartime judgments for settled conclusions. It is advisable to first build a basic knowledge of WWI history.

Does this edition have modern annotations?

The Project Gutenberg edition is a public-domain eBook and generally includes no modern scholarly annotations or introduction. Readers must look up the events, figures, and references mentioned in the text themselves.

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About the author

Doyle, Arthur Conan, 1859-1930 Author

Arthur Conan Doyle (Doyle, Arthur Conan, 1859-1930) was a British writer best known for creating the detective Sherlock Holmes. The library records list his birth and death years and nationality as unknown, and public information is limited, so his biography is not speculated upon here. The collection contains 95 of his works, including The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and The Sign of the Four, along with different editions and multilingual translations. His writing is distinguished by rigorous logical deduction, vivid detective characters, and tight narrative pacing; he shaped and deeply influenced the modern detective fiction tradition, and Sherlock Holmes has become a classic figure in popular culture, still widely adapted and read today.