Every page of Muse of Fire betrays a profound intimacy with both the 'sheer horror' of the war and, even more, of a time when 'poetry mattered to people in a way it no longer does to us.' Michael Korda's unique angle allows him to break through the cliches and restores to us these poets with a fierce immediacy. His book is itself a moving memorial.--Daniel Mendelsohn, author of An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic

Michael Korda's soldier poets are fox hunters and artists, aristocratic Brits and middle-class Americans, dashing adventurers and cloddish neurasthenics. Together this select chorus provides some of the best descriptions we have of World War I, the only modern conflict, Korda points out, to come down to us in verse. A masterful book, nimble, lyrical, and searing, and a volume Michael Korda alone could have written.--Stacy Schiff, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Cleopatra and The Revolutionary

It's hard to say anything new about World War I, but Michael Korda shows how warfare can be both terrifying and exhilarating, thereby helping us to better understand not only the Great War but also modern-day conflicts that recall the artillery duels and trenches of the Western Front. This is essential reading to understand warfare both past and present.--Max Boot, author of Reagan: His Life and Legend

Michael Korda has performed a great public service, reminding us of both the enduring political legacy of the Great War and, by way of the cool intelligence of its poets, its enduring human importance too. All who long for peace should read this memorable and sensitive work.--Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and the Madman

Michael Korda's elegant book is not just an account of a bloody European catastrophe, but also of the great poets who witnessed it. The poems of Rupert Brooke, Wilfred Owen, and Siegfried Sassoon express the horrors of war better than anything written in prose. To be reminded of that is not only a pleasure to read, but an essential service to our culture.--Ian Buruma, author of The Collaborators

Erudite and often funny . . . Korda's group portrait of soldier poets skillfully depicts how different classes of men experienced the Western Front and offers an entry point into a rich seam of under-read war poetry.--Alice Winn "New York Times Book Review"

Michael Korda's group biography of Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen and others is richly detailed and elegantly written . . . Korda, keenly attuned to the nuances of Britain's class system and its overlapping literary circles, excels at tracing the bonds of acquaintance, collegiality, amity and sometimes physical attraction that knit these men to one another . . . engrossing.--Julia M. Klein "Washington Post"

Korda . . . expertly traces his poets' shifts in outlook and subject matter, and along the way showcases candid, visceral verse that has lost none of its power to shock and move . . . 'Muse of Fire' enlarges our understanding of these men and gives us a renewed appreciation of their work. At the same time, it prompts us to contemplate the potential that was robbed and the talent that was wasted by the so-called war to end all wars.--Malcolm Forbes "Wall Street Journal"

Brief biographies of a handful of WWI soldier-poets provide unique insight into the Great War . . . Tracing each man's personal trajectory and their interactions with each other, Korda emphasizes the seductiveness of conflict and the fact that poets enjoyed an end-run around the military censors (and a massive readership). For Korda, now 90, this is both the latest in a long line of excellent war histories, including Alone: Britain, Dunkirk, and Defeat in Victory (2017) and Clouds of Glory (2014).--Booklist, starred review

Korda's narrative pulsates with fascinating background detail and harrowing wartime exploits, and the story flows sinuously along channels of literary influence as the poets mentor or otherwise inspire one other. Most compellingly, Korda teases out the overlapping relationship between youthful artistic passion and the mass production of populist propaganda, painting trench warfare poetry as a kind of Edwardian TikTok. It's a sophisticated mix of literary and political history.-- "Publishers Weekly"

Captivating . . . Alternating between the early lives of his subjects and their experiences in the trenches while delving into their poetry might be disorienting, but Korda is an expert, so his intertwining narratives intersect in illuminating ways . . . Poets and war are a winning combination in the hands of a seasoned historian.--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Publisher: Liveright Publishing Corporation

Pub date: 2024-04-16

Length: 400 pages