author
Norman Angell
1874–1967
Best known for The Great Illusion, this British writer and public thinker argued that modern war made little economic sense even for the victor. His ideas shaped debates about peace, international cooperation, and the costs of conflict long before they became mainstream.
3 Audiobooks
Peace Theories and the Balkan War
by Norman Angell
The Fruits of Victory A Sequel to The Great Illusion
by Norman Angell
About the author
Born Ralph Norman Angell Lane, he became a journalist, author, and later a public advocate for international peace. He is most closely associated with The Great Illusion (1910), the book that made him famous by arguing that economic interdependence had made war irrational and self-defeating rather than profitable.
His career stretched well beyond one book. He lectured widely, helped found organizations devoted to international understanding, and also served as a Labour Member of Parliament. In 1933, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for writing that challenged the idea that war could bring lasting national benefit.
Angell lived through both world wars, which gave his work a complicated afterlife: he is often remembered as a peace thinker whose warnings were debated, criticized, and revisited across the 20th century. Even so, his central question still feels modern—whether nations in an interconnected world can ever truly gain from conflict.