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ianlewis's review against another edition
5.0
For anyone who wants to be a student of the First World War and learn about the origins of the Great War - this is a must read. Tuchman’s writing style was like reading a novel - engaging, readable, and well researched. The book definitely pushes me to read more about the Great War and how it has impacted our present day (and even more WW2).
One takeaway from the book and observation I didn’t realize was how prevalent nationalism was in most of the nations taking part in the war and how past historical grievances played such a large part towards the start of the war.
Sadly we are seeing much of the same in our cultural moment locally and globally. What would forgiveness, repentance and restoration have looked like between France and Germany (specifically) if they would have pursued that instead of war? What does that look like today?
One takeaway from the book and observation I didn’t realize was how prevalent nationalism was in most of the nations taking part in the war and how past historical grievances played such a large part towards the start of the war.
Sadly we are seeing much of the same in our cultural moment locally and globally. What would forgiveness, repentance and restoration have looked like between France and Germany (specifically) if they would have pursued that instead of war? What does that look like today?
gadicohen93's review
2.0
I let go at around page 280 (out of 440 in my edition), when I started realizing that every paragraph is so chunked up with minute details about this general moving these troops out of this place and into this wing on this day because of these emotions and this miscommunication and this people's overconfidence that it just all became so trivial and so unbelievably lifeless--which in a weird way completely contradicts all of the GR reviews I've read about how this book brings life to the first month of the war. I also think the writing just slowly, gradually became less and less vigorous and more rote as the war left its initial stages and moved to the actual fighting of month 1.
I realized I didn't want to finish this book when it struck me that it's all just pointless military maneuvers, some of them more successful than others, almost all of them led by a bunch of overconfident idiots, and that I had nothing to gain from learning about these dumb poops and their meaningless military decisions.
I actually really liked the first part of the book, and liked the second part. It was the third part, "Battle", that just gutted me with its unbelievable tediousness. And I hate giving up on books, but there are only so many free seconds in my life to dedicate to things I don't enjoy.
I realized I didn't want to finish this book when it struck me that it's all just pointless military maneuvers, some of them more successful than others, almost all of them led by a bunch of overconfident idiots, and that I had nothing to gain from learning about these dumb poops and their meaningless military decisions.
I actually really liked the first part of the book, and liked the second part. It was the third part, "Battle", that just gutted me with its unbelievable tediousness. And I hate giving up on books, but there are only so many free seconds in my life to dedicate to things I don't enjoy.
alpheus's review against another edition
4.0
Slow at times with detailed descriptions of troop movement and organization, but I'm not sure how else the author could have adequately described the situation. Overall worth reading, there's definitely a reason this is the book that made Tuchman famous.