The Trigger by Tim Butcher
On a summer morning in Sarajevo almost a hundred years ago, a teenager took a pistol out of his pocket and fired not just the opening rounds of the First World War but the starting gun for modern history. By killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Gavrilo Princip started a cycle of events that would leave 15 million dead from fighting between 1914 and 1918 and that proved fatal for empires and a way of ruling that had held for centuries. The Trigger tells the story of a young man who changed the world forever. It focuses on the drama of the incident itself by following Princip's journey. By retracing his steps from the feudal frontier village of his birth, through the mountains of the northern Balkans to the great plain city of Belgrade, and ultimately to Sarajevo, Tim Butcher illuminates our understanding of Princip and makes discoveries about him that have eluded historians for a hundred years. Traveling through the Balkans on Princip's trail, and drawing on his own experiences there as a war reporter during the 1990s, Butcher unravels this complex part of the world and its conflicts, and shows how the events that were sparked that day in June 1914 still have influence today. Published for the centenary of the assassination, The Trigger is a rich and timely work, part travelogue, part reportage, and part history.
The most original of First World War centenary books; it is a travel narrative of rare resonance and insight * Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times *
Superb.. Highly readable but profoundly researched -- Ben Macintyre * The Times, Books of the Year *
A triumph… A marvellously absorbing book on the nature of one man’s political grievance and its terrible aftermath -- Ian Thomson * Observer Books of the Year *
The most imaginative and singular book on the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War to date... This is expeditionary journalism at its best – a historical inquest radiated through the mind and experience of an outstanding reporter -- Robert Fox * Evening Standard *
A masterpiece of historical empathy and evocation... This book is a tour de force -- Christopher Clark * Guardian *
Superb.. Highly readable but profoundly researched -- Ben Macintyre * The Times, Books of the Year *
A triumph… A marvellously absorbing book on the nature of one man’s political grievance and its terrible aftermath -- Ian Thomson * Observer Books of the Year *
The most imaginative and singular book on the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War to date... This is expeditionary journalism at its best – a historical inquest radiated through the mind and experience of an outstanding reporter -- Robert Fox * Evening Standard *
A masterpiece of historical empathy and evocation... This book is a tour de force -- Christopher Clark * Guardian *
Tim Butcher is a best-selling author who blends travel with history. His first book, Blood River, was a number one bestseller, a Richard & Judy Book Club selection and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize, while his next, Chasing the Devil, was longlisted for the George Orwell Prize. A journalist with the Daily Telegraph from 1990 to 2009, in 2010 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Northampton for services to writing. Born in Great Britain, he is based in Cape Town with his family.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780099581338 |
| ISBN 10 | 0099581337 |
| Title | The Trigger |
| Author | Tim Butcher |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Vintage Publishing |
| Year published | 2015-07-02 |
| Number of pages | 352 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |