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Rating: 
Summary: THe best book on world war 1 ever!
Review: I was searching for numerous days to find a book about all the different countries sides of view, on all the battles, on all the diplomacy and i have finnaly found such a book.The first WOrld war gave me not only a great history of the war but it also gave me a great description of real-life stories. I also would recomend this book to students who are studying World War 1. This book rates as one of my faavorite history books ever. ALong with Complete idiots guide to World WAr 2. Hew Strachan is one of the greatest historic authors of all time and at of all his books this is my favorite. THis book has great discriptions of strategy and weaponry as well and the thoughts of different people after the devestating war. PLease read this fantastic book!
Rating: 
Summary: Not for the Beginner
Review: Let me add a disclaimer to this review, I am only moderately interested in the First World War and was hoping to get an easy to read and complete history of the conflict to aid my understanding. I thought this would be a good book to accomplish this task and cover the basics. What I found was that I had made a mistake. The book is a collection of essays written by some very competent and well thought of British historians. It appeared to me that each of them was very familiar with the topic chosen and the essays really were good, well thought out and written documents. The issue I had is that I was looking for more of a overview of the war, these essays left a lot of the basic information out, thus many times I felt that I was not getting the full story or even that I was lost. I also have a hang up with books that are written in this method - a different author does each chapter. I tend to be bothered by the different writing styles and sometimes not complete follow through of the subject / topic. With these statements made, the book is a well-written document on the war. The illustrations are very interesting and bring a good deal of life to the topic. The editor places the pictures and illustrations though out the book. I found the chapters on the Eastern / Western fronts and the entry of the American's to be the most interesting. So if you are like me with a marginal interest in the war and are looking for a well-written overview this is not the book for you. But if you are a WW 1 history buff then you will probably get a lot of enjoyment out of this book and you should disregard my review.
Rating:
Summary: Not for the Beginner
Review: Let me add a disclaimer to this review, I am only moderately interested in the First World War and was hoping to get an easy to read and complete history of the conflict to aid my understanding. I thought this would be a good book to accomplish this task and cover the basics. What I found was that I had made a mistake. The book is a collection of essays written by some very competent and well thought of British historians. It appeared to me that each of them was very familiar with the topic chosen and the essays really were good, well thought out and written documents. The issue I had is that I was looking for more of a overview of the war, these essays left a lot of the basic information out, thus many times I felt that I was not getting the full story or even that I was lost. I also have a hang up with books that are written in this method - a different author does each chapter. I tend to be bothered by the different writing styles and sometimes not complete follow through of the subject / topic. With these statements made, the book is a well-written document on the war. The illustrations are very interesting and bring a good deal of life to the topic. The editor places the pictures and illustrations though out the book. I found the chapters on the Eastern / Western fronts and the entry of the American's to be the most interesting. So if you are like me with a marginal interest in the war and are looking for a well-written overview this is not the book for you. But if you are a WW 1 history buff then you will probably get a lot of enjoyment out of this book and you should disregard my review.
Rating:
Summary: World War 1
Review: The essays in this book are excellent. Writen by some of the greatest historians, of the First World War.
Rating: 
Summary: Slightly Disappointing But Good
Review: This is not a bad place to start if you want to read about World War I. Personally I thought the book was a bit impersonal, and I preferred stories on the action and I like the books by Malcolm Brown of the British Imperial War Museum. In that book he uses a lot of first hand stories from soldiers writing home - both men and women. Having said that this book is a collection of one chapter accounts by over 20 experts, and it gives a broad picture of the war, a total picture including all the fronts, navy, women, arms, etc. each contributor writes on one area. Many do not like this style, some do. If you wanted one quick book buy this present book or perhaps The First World War by John Keegan would be another place to start if you want a single author approach.
This present book is what I would call a shotgun approach. Hew Strachan is a well qualified WW I scholar from Oxford is putting together a comprehensive three volume epic series on WWI. So far just one volume is published, that being The First World War: To Arms. Also he has a short overview book called the First World War. Here he writes one chapter and edits about 20 other writers to create a broad description of WW I with many photos and a few maps in the present book.
I put together a Listmania list on WWI and would suggest that before you buy the book at least go to a bookstore or library first and get a feel for the book of interest. There is a reasonable selection of books essentially all about the same subject but presented in different formats, with different source materials and by different authors.
Personally I like the Brown books plus possibly one map book such as Simon Forty's book on maps, along with the three big Oxford books by Strachan as they become available.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This is one of the best books I've read about WW1. I have an extensive library, of books on WW1. I own well over 100 volumes.
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