The book is divided into twelve chapters, one for each month, and starts with an overview summary of the main events of the month. Then the information is discussed in more detail alongside other notable information. This obviously includes major world happenings: countries that gained independence, like Egypt, major new discoveries, assassinations, elections and appointments. But it also looks at film, literature, radio and the newly formed BBC.

The significance of the year is, to a large extent, viewed with our hindsight. Who would have thought that the hyperinflation in Germany would have led where it did, that a relatively unknown pollical party leader wrote a book while in jail that would spark a new ideology, and Italy’s new dictator would leave his mark in the future. There was a new urgency – people no longer lived by the morality that went before. Life had suddenly grown up, freedom and extravagance was the new language. The Great War had changed everyone’s perspective in just about every way.

This is a fun book to read, presented in easy calendar chunks, with all of the fascinating events laid out in a tabloidesque way. To see one year portrayed like this really brings it home. What a time to be alive.