Tuchman's Guns of August provides a very thorough overview of the events of the first month of World War I - August 1914. It really is amazing how many things happening in that month and how complicated it all was. I've come to realize that, at least in my experience, as Americans we kind of skim over the early part of the war in school, reading some fiction but not getting too much into the politics, to get to the part where America was involved. I'm not criticizing - I understand that when we only have a limited amount of time to focus on a subject we are much more likely to focus on the part that interests us, the part we were involved in. But, it means that as I was listening I realized that I just kept waiting for Archduke Ferdinand and his wife to be assassinated and kick this whole thing off and then I didn't really know what happened next (note that the Archduke and his wife were assassinated in June 1914 and, therefore, the event was not even covered in this book).

I really struggled through this book. I have said it before, but I just do not enjoy reading about battle tactics and war politics. Give me culture! I want to hear how it affected the people! But I also realize that it is important to be aware of how everything went down because these are things that have affected relationships between nations for decades - almost a century now. Sadly, I found some bits and pieces that I discovered in researching about the book much more interesting than the book itself. President John F. Kennedy loved The Guns of August so much that he quoted it often and even commanded his cabinet and military leaders to read it. The book was given the Pulitzer for Non-Fiction instead of History because Pulitzer's will specifically stated that the history winners could only be about American history. I also thought it interesting that it was on the New York Times best seller list for forty-two consecutive weeks. I would have thought it would have such mass appeal, but people will surprise you when given the right time, political climate, and a recommendation from the president. ( )

Germany came close to winning the First World War in the first month of fighting. German commanders confidently expected to march their exhausted troops into Paris in the first week of September. The French Government has already fled the capital. It was to be the crowning glory of a month of victories. Germany had a forty-day plan for winning the war and their armies were right on schedule. In four days they expected to be in Paris. What they did not expect was for the retreating French forces to turn and attack.

Tuchman’s Pulitzer Prize winning history stops on the eve of the first Battle of the Marne. It critiques the persistence of generals on both sides for their unwavering adherence to their war plan even in the face of contrary evidence that the enemy was not behaving as expected. Her portraits of officers and heads of state are vivid and witty, and her narrative style is superb. ( )

I am not a very apt student of history, particularly military history. I am also of the generation that grew up in the 80s. World War I was not something I knew much about, apart from having read All Quiet on the Western Front in high school.

I also come from a nonmilitary family. However, I had a godfather who was a Tuchman fan as well as an amateur historian and who had worked in the shipyards in Portland in World War II. This is his book. I saw it on my mother's shelves a couple of months ago (my godfather having passed away in 1993) and something made me ask to borrow it.

This book was not easy for me to read. My brain does not keep up with troop movements and logistics, I don't understand military theories, and I am a lifelong pacifist. I kept feeling an overwhelming sense of doom, since I knew that this story of the first month of World War I was going to end with the pieces in place for the horrible trench warfare that lasted four years and caused so many deaths.

However, I could not stop reading it, and even when it saddened me to the point that I left it for weeks at a time, I had to go back to it. This is for two reasons. The first is that I feel a sense of duty to learn more about the war that set the pattern for the terrible, blood-drenched 20th century. The second is that Barbara Tuchman is such a compelling writer.

The book hurled me (I was going to say "the reader," but it occurs to me that not all readers may react as emotionally as I do) between anger and frustration - with the various military leaders. for their adherence to what seemed to me to be insane military theories - and extreme admiration mixed with sadness - for sometimes those very same military leaders, but also civilians, who behaved with great courage and did truly great things. These were people I'd never heard of. It is shameful to me that I knew so little about them. King Albert of Belgium, for example - what an inspiring leader. And the taxi drivers of Paris who transported the soldiers to the Marne - Tuchman says in her Afterward, "Of course all the world knows about the taxi drivers," but I am afraid not.

This book chastened me and saddened me. I feel that I am a different person for having read it - definitely wiser, if not happier. ( )

The very best book on World War I ever written. The prose is elegant and sparse. The pace is relentless, and swift - like the first 30 days of the war, before the trench war stalemate ensued. A masterpiece. ( )

Although much of this book was difficult for me to follow, I was impressed by it. I expected it to be a general history of World War I, and was surprised to discover it is actually an analysis--give or take a few days--of the first month of the war, the days before the stasis of trench warfare. Despite the fact that it is is a book of military tactics and political analysis, Tuchman has the talent of a novelist. She brings the war to life through surprising anecdotes, haunting images, and piercing, though subtle, quips of wisdom. ( )