Covers major topics related to the period, including the roots of the war; causes of U.S. involvement; the Espionage Act and Sedition Act; weapons of mass destruction; and more. Profiles the major players of the period, including Woodrow Wilson, Kaiser Wilhelm II, John Pershing, and Henri-Philippe Petain. Presents full or excerpted primary source materials, including diaries, speeches, letters, journals and memoirs.

Vol. 1. Almanac: Buildup to war -- Setting the world on fire: the start of World War I -- Settling in: the first years on the Western Front -- Changing tides of war on the Western Front -- The war in the East -- The far-flung war: fighting on distant fronts -- The war at sea -- Technology -- The home front: fighting a total war -- Reluctant warriors: the United States in World War I -- The failed peace -- Conclusion: the costs of war. Vol. 2. Biographies: Sarah Aaronsohn -- Mustafa Kemal Ataturk -- William "Billy" Avery Bishop -- Edith Cavell -- George Creel -- Alexandra Fyodorovna -- Franz Ferdinand -- Ferdinand Foch -- Douglas Haig -- Jean Jaures -- Kathe Kollwitz -- Fritz Kreisler -- T. E. Lawrence -- Vladimir Lenin -- Erich Ludendorff -- Mata Hari -- Wilfred Owen -- John Joseph Pershing -- Henri-Philippe Petain -- Manfred von Richthofen -- Eddie Rickenbacker -- Alan Seeger -- Richard Stumpf -- Helen Thomas -- Wilhelm II -- Woodrow Wilson -- Alvin C. York. Vol. 3. Primary sources: Ch. 1. A soldier's life: The rush to war -- Confronting the horrors of war -- Reactions to war's end from the front -- Ch. 2. Documents of diplomacy: Secret treaties -- The willy-nicky telegrams -- Germany's passage through Belgium -- Ch. 3. America's emergence as a world power: Woodrow Wilson's declaration of neutrality -- Woodrow Wilson's war message -- Woodrow Wilson's fourteen points -- Ch. 4. Literature of the Great War: Poetry of World War I -- Erich Maria Remarque -- Ernest Hemingway -- Ch. 5. The home front: World War I propaganda posters -- Rosa Luxemburg -- The Russian revolution.