''Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War'' (2001) is a historical narrative about the events of the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. It was written by the Canadian historian

Margaret MacMillan Margaret Olwen MacMillan (born 23 December 1943) is a Canadian historian and professor at the University of Oxford. She is former provost of Trinity College, Toronto, and professor of history at the University of Toronto and previously at Ryers ...

with a foreword by the American diplomat

Richard Holbrooke Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke (April 24, 1941 – December 13, 2010) was an American diplomat and author. He was the only person to have held the position of Assistant Secretary of State for two different regions of the world (Asia from 1977 ...

. The book has also been published under the titles ''Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World'' and ''Peacemakers: Six Months That Changed the World''. ''Peacemakers'' describes the six months of negotiations that took place in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France, following

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The book focuses on the "Big Three", who are photographed together on its cover (left to right): Prime Minister

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. A Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, he was known for leadi ...

of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister

Georges Clemenceau Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who was Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A physician turned journalist, he played a central role in the poli ...

of France, and President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

of the United States. The author argues that the conditions imposed on Germany in the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

did not lead to the rise of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

and asks whether the Great War was "an unmitigated catastrophe in a sea of mud", or instead was "about something". She concludes, "It is condescending and wrong to think they were hoodwinked". During the later part of the war, the British prime minister was David Lloyd George, the author's great-grandfather.

Reception

The book was first published in Britain. It won the £5,000

Duff Cooper Prize The Duff Cooper Prize (currently known as the Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize) is a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of history, biography, political science or occasionally poetry, published in English or French. The prize was estab ...

for an outstanding literary work in the field of history, biography or politics, the £3,000

Hessell-Tiltman Prize The PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize is awarded to the best work of non-fiction of historical content covering a period up to and including World War II, and published in the year of the award. The books are to be of high literary merit, but not primari ...

for History, the BBC

Samuel Johnson Prize The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its m ...

for the best work of non-fiction published in the United Kingdom, and the 2003 Governor General's Literary Award in Canada. The book was adapted as a 2009

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television show, television and feature film, film, which features Drama (film and television), dramatized Historical reenactment, re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of docu ...

film entitled "Paris 1919", by Paul Cowan, produced by the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

. MacMillan recorded a related series of fourteen lectures for the

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

''Six Months That Changed the World: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919'' (

Recorded Books Recorded Books is an audiobook imprint of RBMedia, a publishing company with operations in countries globally. Recorded Books was formerly an independent audiobook company before being purchased and re-organized under RBMedia, where it is now an ...

, The Modern Scholar series, 2003).

Editions

* UK Hardbound Edition (2001) * US Hardbound Edition (2002) as ''Paris 1919: Six months that changed the world'' * US Paperback Edition (2003) as ''Paris 1919: Six months that changed the world'' * , UK Paperback Edition (2003)

References

External links

''Booknotes'' interview with MacMillan on ''Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World'', December 29, 2002.
{{Governor General's English non-fiction, state=collapsed 2002 non-fiction books History books about World War I Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920) Canadian non-fiction books Non-fiction books about diplomacy Governor General's Award–winning non-fiction books