Scan barcode
fourtriplezed's review
3.0
I had seen the TV series that this book was based on and had to admit to myself that that was all I had to offer in terms of knowledge on the subject. So the book was going to be hopefully a more than useful beginner’s guide and it has turned out to be so. Each chapter was full of subject matter that made me realise I need to dig deeper into the Great War. The book itself covers mostly the political events and the major battles with the cultural events hardly covered. Fair enough I suppose. 330 pages cannot be enough to cover such a momentous event, an event that has had consequences even now, one hundred years later.
As I beginner I found myself realising that from an English speaking perspective and living in Australia the vast majority of what little I did know was British and ANZAC. This book makes me want to expand to the eastern front and look further into the Russian Revolution. The French took a hideous smashing on the western front and that to needs further reading. I think that war weariness played a huge part in how they approached WW2.
With that, anyone with deep knowledge of the subject may find this a bit too beginner friendly so I would not recommend it to the well-read. I also found a couple of indexing errors that should not have occurred and there is no bibliography though the footnotes do cover that area fairly well. A solid though not spectacular read and glad to have read it. I now understand the lure of the Great War to those that have immersed themselves into its dense written history.
As I beginner I found myself realising that from an English speaking perspective and living in Australia the vast majority of what little I did know was British and ANZAC. This book makes me want to expand to the eastern front and look further into the Russian Revolution. The French took a hideous smashing on the western front and that to needs further reading. I think that war weariness played a huge part in how they approached WW2.
With that, anyone with deep knowledge of the subject may find this a bit too beginner friendly so I would not recommend it to the well-read. I also found a couple of indexing errors that should not have occurred and there is no bibliography though the footnotes do cover that area fairly well. A solid though not spectacular read and glad to have read it. I now understand the lure of the Great War to those that have immersed themselves into its dense written history.
kimjongev's review against another edition
1.0
Too much information about military maneuvers, not enough about the people involved.
stomper4x4's review against another edition
I gave up on this. Not that you should.
More...