The Guns of August
The Outbreak of World War I; Barbara W. Tuchman's Great War Series
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4.4 • 560 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • “A brilliant piece of military history which proves up to the hilt the force of Winston Churchill’s statement that the first month of World War I was ‘a drama never surpassed.’”—Newsweek
Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time
In this landmark account, renowned historian Barbara W. Tuchman re-creates the first month of World War I: thirty days in the summer of 1914 that determined the course of the conflict, the century, and ultimately our present world. Beginning with the funeral of Edward VII, Tuchman traces each step that led to the inevitable clash. And inevitable it was, with all sides plotting their war for a generation. Dizzyingly comprehensive and spectacularly portrayed with her famous talent for evoking the characters of the war’s key players, Tuchman’s magnum opus is a classic for the ages.
The Proud Tower, the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Guns of August, and The Zimmermann Telegram comprise Barbara W. Tuchman’s classic histories of the First World War era
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Barbara W. Tuchman’s Pulitzer-winning history of World War I reads like a wildly thrilling novel. Finely detailing each major player (from Germany’s erratic and pompous Kaiser Wilhelm to the plump, taciturn French commander-in-chief Joseph Joffre), Tuchman chronicles each telegram between battlefield commanders, twist of a monocle, and broken treaty that put the wheels of the bloody conflict into motion. Starting with the grandiose 1910 funeral of England’s Edward VII and ending at the First Battle of the Marne in 1914 (which destroyed the Germans’ vain hopes for a quick, decisive victory), Tuchman weaves a tale that transforms names and dates into a heartrending tale of the people, philosophies, and unspeakable atrocities that changed warfare forever. The Guns of August is among the most potent wartime histories we’ve ever read.
Customer Reviews
The Guns of August
Well researched concise depiction of the events surrounding the first month of WW1. Wish there would have been an epilogue that reflected all the countries that became involved and that civilian deaths could have outnumbered military deaths. Very cruel war.
KJG
Tedious and too detailed. Read too much like a history text book. I learned a lot though.
Outstanding
Excellent referenced material - not a lot of editorializing, rather a presentation of the facts of that fateful August in 1914. Highly recommend reading this book.