Marlor's study makes good use of archival sources including the private papers and diaries of those connected to the Liberal back bench committee, as well as a large collection of secondary sources.
An informative study.

Journal of Liberal History 94

'Fatal Fortnight'...has enjoyed a whirlwind success and has now been nominated in the World War One Book of the Year category in the Political Book of the Year awards. [It] re-examines the arguments heard by the House of Commons against British entry into World War One and took the author ten years to write. Duncan went to great lengths to research the book over the past decade, including visiting libraries, archive offices and newspapers.

Matlock Mercury

As featured on BBC Radio Derby.

BBC Radio Derby

A compelling book that re-examines the arguments heard by the House of Commons against British entry into the war and reflects on how the world might have been had the decision gone a different way.

Reflections

A graphic, groundbreaking and poignant account of the attempt by Arthur Ponsonby and other MPs to keep Britain out of the war.

The Observer

Amid this year's tsunami of 1914 books, rather overlooked was Duncan Marlor's Fatal Fortnight (Frontline Books)...a graphic groundbreaking and poignant account of the attempt by Arthur Ponsonby and other MPs to keep Britain out of the war.

David Kynaston, books of the year, Sunday Observer

...a highly compelling account on the 100th anniversary of the start of the war, when most media concentrate on the Western Front, and ignore the whole lead-up to the war. At the very heart of debate was Arthur Ponsonby, a champion of social reform and democratic foreign policy, who loathed war and constantly sought alternatives to conflict.
This makes for a fascinating view of British politics in the days leading up to the declaration of war.
Worthy of any Great War bookshelf. 10/10.

The Great War Magazine

As seen in the Midhurst & Petworth Observer.

Midhurst & Petworth Observer

A fascinating book...

Burnley Express

Compelling...

Derby Telegraph

Recommended in the Foreign Office Ministerial Reading List - Summer 2014

Foreign Office Ministerial Reading List - Summer 2014

In the flood of books and programmes about the outbreak of the First World War, a hundred years ago this July, here's one that stands out as a must-read for anyone who's interested in politics and Parliament. A fascinating story well told.

The House Magazine

A marvellous book . . . it is very well done in every way . . . It is very well documented (and for many readers, the great bulk of the primary material, from Shulbrede especially, will be fresh and thought-provoking). Duncan Marlor tells the tale as an unfolding dramatic narrative, with the parliamentary dissenters at the very centre. He writes in a combative spirit and in an enviably accessible style, challenging many of the old fatalistic 'no alternative' myths. Fatal Fortnight captivates the reader and is a delight to read - exactly the right combination of fascinating personalities and nerve-jangling events, located in time and place. It makes sense of complicated and tragic history, and is a study of the defiant minority - which was so much larger than the fatalistic histories are willing to concede.'

DOUGLAS NEWTON, author of The Darkest Days: The Truth Behind Britain's Rush To War, 1914

With extensive use of primary sources, Fatal Fortnight tackles a much-neglected subject. The author covers relatively untrodden ground in a creative way.

HEW STRACHAN, author of The First World War: A New History