In this new interpretation of the First World War, the author weaves together the economic and social history of the English-speaking world, the Pacific basin, and Germany, with the development of food production and consumption. It requires no technical knowledge and is aimed at a wide readership.

Part 1 How was Germany defeated?: society under seige - Germany 1914-1918; food reform and food science; did Germany really starve?; food and the German state; collapse. Part 2 The agrarian bond - the United States, Canada and Australia: late-Victorian Britain - an import economy; causes of the agricultural depression, 1870-1914; the sod house against the manor house; "like rats in a trap" - British urban society and overseas opportunities; coast, interior and metropolis; wheat and empire in Canada; Asian labour on the Pacific rim - the struggle for exclusion, 1860-1907; Mackenzie King's odyssey; Asian labour and white nationalism 1907-1914. Part 3 The Atlantic orientation: fear of famine in British war plans, 1890-1908; power and plenty - naval mercantilism, 1905-1908; the Atlantic orientation - Hankey, Fisher and Esher; the Dominion dimension; morality and admiralty - "Jacky" Fisher, economic warfare and international law; blockade and its enemies, 1909-1912; preparation and action, 1912-1914. Part 4 The other side of the North Sea: economic development and national security in Wilhelmian Germany; Germany - economic preparation and the decision for war; "a second decision for war" - the U-boat campaign; shaping the peace - the role of the Hinterlands; neither Dominion nor peace - Germany after the Armistice.