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Title: The First World War (Cassell History of Warfare) by Robin Prior, Trevor Wilson ISBN: 0-304-35256-X Publisher: Cassell Pub. Date: 01 March, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3 (2 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Quality Book, Poor Content
Comment: This book is great in the technical meaning of the word. The cover is very capturing of the era, the binding is top notch, and the high-gloss pages have the look and feel of a top quality book. That's where the high sticker prices comes from. Other than that, this book wasn't very impressive. I bought this book with the full intent of learning of the political and strategic aspects of World War I, but this book made even WAR boring.
I bought this with the full understanding that it wouldn't give me a soldier's perspective of the war. I read Death's Men for that. I wanted to get a big picture of WWI including the military tactics, political mindsets, and the chain of events. Though this book has the chain of events, it is shallow as to the why (military tactics and political mindsets) and the chain of evens are written in such a mechanized prose that it is hard to keep reading. This happened... then this happened... then this happened... then this happened...
This book reminds me of the classic history textbook, but it is even less encapsulating than that. This book DOES have a good selection of maps and photographs, but I just couldn't get past the mechanized prose. In some sections, the grammar is poor, which I also abhor. I'm going to force myself through the rest of the book after just 80 pages. After the first 2 chapters, I've already lost interest in WWI, which I didn't think was possible after Death's Men.
Rating: 4
Summary: A basic introduction to the Great War
Comment: This is another volume in Cassell's History of Warfare series, which combines a general history of each topic with lots of maps and photos. This addition to the series deals mostly with events on the West Front, although some *brief* coverage is offered for Gallipoli, Mesopotamia, Russia, Austria and Italy. In focusing on the West Front, the authors lavish the most attention on British and Commonwealth forces. Do not expect to find much on the naval or air forces involved.
The book begins with a short analysis on the causes of the war. The authors place most of the blame squarely on the Kaiser and Moltke and seem to go out of their way to discount AJP Taylor's thesis that the Great Powers stumbled into war. They are probably correct in their analysis, but I'm not sure such an academic debate belongs in a general history such as this.
The next several chapters deal with the chronological events of the war, year by year, with one chapter reserved for events on the peripherpal theaters.
The book concludes with a decent summary of the Treaty of Versailles and how it led to World War II.
All in all, I'd recommend the book to those looking for a general introduction to the land campaigns of World War I on the Western Front. While the maps are a tad busy, the photographs are well selected to enhance the text.
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Title: Ripples of Battle : How Wars of the Past Still Determine How We Fight, How We Live, and How We Think by VICTOR HANSON ISBN: 0385504004 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 16 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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