What happened on the last day of the Great War? Each year since we have marked the end of the war with tributes and remembrance, solemnity and respect. But as  Peace at Last  reveals, the first Armistice Day in 1918 was entirely unprecedented and extraordinary. Upon hearing the news of the peace, crowds of people took to the streets, scaled statues, burnt effigies on bonfires and ran riot as joy and relief swept through the British population and the wider world. Drawing on news reports, literature, memoirs and letters, Cuthbertson brings to the fore the full strangeness of the day - its celebratory, wild atmosphere - and the experiences of ordinary people as well as soldiers and prominent figures like D. H. Lawrence, Robert Graves and David Lloyd George. Cuthbertson takes us from midnight to midnight - from when the Armistice was signed to the removing of black paint from streetlamps, flooding cities with light. Peace at Last  is the compelling portrait of one of the most important days in history - an exciting and inspiring moment which has, until now, remained relatively unknown.  '[a] brilliant portrayal of Britain on the day that peace broke out [...] a wonderful tapestry of the mood and events across the country, drawing on a wide range of local and regional newspapers. It is accessible history at its best. [...] outstanding [...] wonderfully stimulating' - Robert Fox, The Evening Standard ' Guy Cuthbertson's superbly researched and exhaustive survey of the day the Great War ended [...] One of the strengths of this fine book is that the reader has the sensation that he or she actually took part in what, at the time, was regarded as the greatest day in the history of the world [...] Cuthbertson sets the scene expertly [...] this is as definitive a work as one could wish for about the day that saw the end of what was supposedly the war to end all wars.' - The Literary Review 'In his absorbing and well-researched study , Mr. Cuthbertson, a professor of literature at Liverpool Hope University, shows how a day of spontaneity was tamed over time, as celebration morphed into commemoration. [...] "Peace at Last," despite its sometimes grim subject, is a pleasure to read and is full of fascinating tidbits.' - Brendan Simms, The Wall Street Journal 'A novel and wide-ranging examination of the conclusion of the war once solemnly declared to be the one to end all wars.' - Kirkus 'Peace at Last offers a fresh, vivid, and deeply researched analysis of the British experience on Armistice Day 1918. The book is a delight to read : full of perceptive commentary and arresting detail.' - David Stevenson, author of With Our Backs to the Wall: Victory and Defeat in 1918 'Cuthbertson is a superb biographer, and his panoramic new book gives us the biography--so to speak--of Armistice Day. It is the most complete account so far of a day that, even a century later, shows no sign of loosening its hold on our cultural memory.' Tim Kendall, author of Modern English War Poetry 'Cuthbertson combines the curiosity of the biographer and the delicacy of the literary historian to recover the life-story of a single day. Imaginative, moving and brilliantly researched, this book brings together ordinary men, women and children as well as artists and writers to help us better understand an extraordinary day in world history.' Santanu Das, author of Touch and Intimacy in First World War Literature 'A poignant account of 11 November 1918, the day of great rejoicing that marked the Armistice on the Western Front. Often neglected, "passed over in a leap from the war to Versailles", Cuthbertson explores the events of Armistice Day in great, moving detail.' Nick Lloyd, author of Hundred Days: The End of the Great War Guy Cuthbertson is Associate Professor of English Literature at Liverpool Hope University, and the British Academy's Chatterton Lecturer on Poetry in 2018. He has edited two volumes of Edward Thomas's prose, and he is the author of Wilfred Owen (Yale University Press, 2014).