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Title: The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916 (Penguin History) by Alistair Horne ISBN: 0-14-017041-3 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: January, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.74 (31 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Classic of War Writing
Comment: Alistair Horne's Classic "The Price of Glory: Verdun, 1916" wears well for a book written in the middle of the last century.
This book tells the story of Verdun during World War I. Over one million became casualties there over a period of ten months -- all in an area one could easily stoll through in an afternoon.
Horne tells the story not only from the vantage point of the grand strategists (although calling those who fought the battle strategists is a stretch), but also through the words of soldiers on both sides who wallowed in the mud and death of a patch of France for the better part of a year.
This story is well told. It serves not only as a first class history of one of the world's most ferocious battles, but also as a testament to the banality and waste of war. Highly recommended
Rating: 4
Summary: Best English-language study of Verdun
Comment: Until recently, I was a battlefield tour guide in Europe. One of our most popular tours was to Verdun. The best source in English we found for details of the battle was "The Price of Glory". Most English-language histories concentrate, naturally, on British and Empire contributions. However, Verdun was a bloodier battle than the Somme (it indirectly caused it), and was responsible for the change of mindset in France and Germany about this conflict being over by Christmas. Yet, Verdun is known only generally by most English-speaking historians. After 35 years this book is still "the" source for Verdun, and deserves to be in every WW1 historian's library. However, some of the author's prejudices are apparent (note I am NOT a PC historian): early on we read that he "dislikes Germans", and while French commanders are almost invariably described as embodying the "Gaullic Temperament/Ideal", their German equivalents are "beady-eyed, low-browed" brutes. French colonial troops are also given this patronizing treatment that is embarrassing to a reader in the late 1990's. Finally, I found a preponderance of views from the French side, the German perspective is slighted. Perhaps in future editions, the stereotypes will disappear, and more research on the Central Powers will balance this excellent work.
Rating: 5
Summary: possibly best book on WWI
Comment: If you read just one book about World War I you should make it this one. Many WWI books are disappointments, but Horne does a magnificent job describing the tragedy of Verdun in a way you will never forget it -- the heroism, the foolishness, the waste.
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Title: The First World War by John Keegan ISBN: 0375700455 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 16 May, 2000 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman ISBN: 034538623X Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 08 March, 1994 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Death's Men: Soldiers of the Great War by Denis Winter ISBN: 0140168222 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: March, 1993 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Hell in a Very Small Place: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu by Bernard B. Fall ISBN: 030681157X Publisher: DaCapo Press Pub. Date: 16 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: The Great War and Modern Memory by Paul Fussell ISBN: 0195133323 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: February, 2000 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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