Guns of August

Rating:
Summary: An Historical page turner
Review: Barbara Tuchman and Shelby Foote must have hung out together at one time. Both have written Histories which compells the reader to keep reading untill exaustion overcomes them.

Unlike Foote leviathan THE CIVIL WAR A NARATIVE Barbara Tuchman gives us the first month of the "Great War". This first month is filled with drama, excitement and all of the enthusiam of the tens of thousands of young men who still harbored the illusion that the war would be short never expecting the stagnet ordeal and slaughter that awaited them and millions of their fellows.

We see England, Germany, France, Russia and tiny Belgum all struggling with the life and death decisions that ironicly we now face today nearly 90 years later. We see the MEN who actualy made the decision and their interplay and battles with their own as well as their foes.

From massive assults to navel chases we are led through a month where the history of the 20th century might have been re-written many different ways. We see decisions which MIGHT have led to the 30 day war and all the IF ONLY's that come with it.

This book is one of the most worthwhile on its subject matter. It's relevence to its topic and the understanding of the various military mindsets of the time is a valuable resource to any who would understand the 20th century and where this war led us.

Rating:
Summary: Good Overview
Review: I have finished reading the great First World War book, The Guns of August. Barbra Tauchman wrote this wonderfully constructed book over a period of time, which is seen throughout all her books, to which she dedicates accuracy and objectivity. This book is an intriduction to the events leading up to the Great War. She clearly lays out the objective of all sides and gives her typical through analysis. Her appreciation of the event is illustrated style of the book's flow. This is a very enjoyable book and I strongly recommend this book for anyone who would like to read a nice, quaint and easy-to-understand book of the events leading upto the Frist World war and the first months of the conflict.

Rating:
Summary: How do you arrive at 4-and-a-half stars overall?
Review: I have read, and listened to, this unforgetable book several times and was astonished to see it rated by your customers at 4.5 stars. However, after reading the reviews, I can only conclude you have simply erred or are not applying any editorial sense to what is plainly in front of you in the words of your reviewing readers.

Please correct the rating so that potential readers are not mislead about the extraordinary reading experience provided to all of us by Barbara Tuchman.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent.
Review: This is history written not from the author's notes, but rather from her intimate knowledge of the subject. In this wonderfully well woven book, the stage leading up to WWI is set and the story of the first major campaign is told in detail. I would have really enjoyed reading her retelling the story of the entire war, but I am content with having gotten a great opening lecture.

Rating:
Summary: First act of the Great War
Review: Barbara Tuchman details the first month of the Great War (WW1) with a detailed eye to the huge movement of men in what was to become "the war to end all wars". Never before had such huge armies clashed in the field, the German buildup and advance through Belgium and on to France was a huge undertaking. The general concept of the First World War is the static line which developed early on in the war, but at this early stage it was a very mobile and tactical war, and the chances of Germany overrunning all of Europe were very high indeed. Tuchman explores the viewpoints of the leaders on both sides, political and military, as well as showing the cost of war, especially by neutral Belgium. As always with Tuchman, it is a readable and very well researched book.

Rating:
Summary: The Guns of August
Review: The Guns of August wonderfully illistrates the first 30 days of WWI. Barbra Tuchman lays down the early foundation leading up to the entaingling alliances, and the personalities of WWI. I would recomend this book to any history enthusiest.

Rating:
Summary: Simply fantastic...
Review: I just finished Tuchman's "Guns of August" and I won't bore you with another in-depth analysis (you can read other reviews for that) but will make a personal, emotional pitch: I was so caught up in her storytelling that I had a hard time separating myself from the book. I read pages beyond the point of exhaustion, read on the train to and from work, read walking home from the station, read in bed, in the kitchen, in the bathroom, on the sofa, during meals, on my lunchbbreak... I think you get the picture. It's become sort of humorous, my attempting to engage my friends in excited, animated discussion about World War I - and they look at me funny when I do so - but what can I do? This book is terrific.

History telling as Tuchman does it rivals any great suspense novel I've ever read for sheer engagement. You want to get hooked? Buy this book.

Rating:
Summary: An amazing piece of writing
Review: This book, more than any I have read, captures both the reality and the mentality of the Great War. Not only that, but it so vividly argues for the War's importance to the modern sensibility that it hardly seems an arguement at all. If you are even remotely interested in the War or just in 20th Century studies, this is a must read. It is difficult for me to imagine anyone living today in Western society that could not benefit from the reading of this book.

Rating:
Summary: Review of Audio Version
Review: As most of the reviewers here have noted, the book is *wonderfully* written. The Books-on-Tape version has a very good narrator (Jack Hrkach), so it's easy to listen to a full 13 cassettes by him. However, the detailed descriptions of army movements and major battles will leave you confused if you don't have access to the maps in the book or at least to an atlas.

If you listen to the tapes without one or the other, long portions will be lost on you.

Otherwise, a terrific reading of an exceptional book.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: Barbara Tuchman (1912-89) captured the 1962 Pulitzer Prize with this gripping look at the opening stages of World War I. Tuchman begins by examining the pre-war politics, military plans, and inept diplomacy of major European nations. Once hostilities begin, she focuses heavily on Germany's attack through Belgium and Northern France - an offensive that just missed defeating France outright in 1914 and altering the course of history. The author exposes military stupidity, German atrocities in Belgium, and shows how this conflict opened as a murderous war of movement rather than as the entrenched stalemate that followed. I'd have liked fuller coverage on competing theaters of war, and wish that Tuchman hadn't stopped at the Battle of the Marne. Still, this is compelling history. Most importantly, the author shows how new technology and bungling politicians that failed to control their eager militarists plunged Europe into needless disaster. No wonder President Kennedy referred to this book during the Cuban missile crisis.

Tuchman was one of a few readable non-historians (William L. Shirer, John Toland) who outdid the stuffy academics. I particularly liked her coverage on Belgium's dilemma: either let the Germans march through, or fight them against overwhelming odds - you have 12 hours to decide. "The Guns of August" is gripping, tragic history at its finest.