The First World War

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 tha......more

I wish I could rate this higher for what it does right, in particular Strachan's emphasis on events outside of the Western Front. However, his detached and judgmental style is grating. He likes to poke holes in "misconceptions" with such glee that he often fails to explain why the accepted view is w......more

An outstanding single-volume history and a remarkable feat of distillation and synthesis. When the 340 pages are finished, you're almost left feeling like it was too short. Serious students of history will be a little annoyed at the light sourcing, particularly when it comes to Strachan's confident......more

In this book, Hew Strachan provides a succinct overview of World War I. Although detail is lost, it makes the history of this conflict easily accessible to the average reader. It is primarily an aggregation of scholarly literature that was published in the century proceeding the signing of the Armis......more

This was not the easiest to follow. It was hard to keep up with all the names of military leaders as well as the places where battles were happening. But I still learned plenty about WWI. Reading a paper copy might have made it easier to follow along than listening to the audio version.......more