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Title: The First World War: A Complete History by Martin Gilbert ISBN: 0-8050-4734-4 Publisher: Henry Holt & Company Pub. Date: 01 May, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.42 (36 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Sort by Date
Comment: I'm not privy to the specific tchniques that Gilbert used in compiling this volume, but one suspects that he compiled a large computer database with each entry carefully dated. He ignored any large scale accounts such as analyses of campaigns and battles and, instead, concentrated on personal accounts, letters, and poems. (He apparently discarded none of the latter). Finally, he sorted by date, edited this chronological assortment of personal accounts, and called it a "complete history."
The result is a disjointed, small scale view of the battlefield with little insight into the large events that made up World War I. One is left with a sense of the incredible stupidity of the political and military leaders that led to the senseless slaughter of millions of men. If you didn't already know that, then buy the book. If you already knew this essential fact about WWI, there may be better (and more complete) histories out there.
Rating: 5
Summary: Fantastic overview
Comment: Gilbert's one-volume account of World War I is replete with the high level content expected in a single-volume history. This text discusses various root causes of WWI, all major battles and the socio-political atmosphere of all combatant nations, both during and after their participation in the war.
Gilbert does not stay strictly with an overview perspective, but rather puncuates key moments, whether they be policy enactments or key seconds in a fierce battle, with eye-witness accounts. These hands-on perspectives serve to move the point of the text from a mere history lesson to a cautionary tale of poignant significance.
This text is a fantastic start for anyone interested in studying the basics of WWI. It does not contain the minute details of other, more advanced works, but it more than adequately portrays WWI as both a stirring tale of war and a glaring condemnation of its brutality.
Rating: 2
Summary: Off-target and slip-shod
Comment: This is an ambitious attempt to tell the history of World War One in a single volume. Given the length and complexity of the War, I suppose that any historian writing about it as a whole has to be selective in which parts of the War are to have more attention than others: quite simply, there is not enough space to cover everything in equal depth.
Martin Gilbert's book is no different, but I found that my main problem with it was that his selection appeared strange - true, it is a very Anglocentric account, but to neglect the French contribution as much as he does perplexed me. Given the space limitations of the one-volume general history, why was so much space was given to poetry? Indeed, Gilbert seemed addicted to it. There was so little about the effect of the war on the various home fronts (apart from airship raids), and listing the number of casualties. Poets weren't the only ones who died. Also irritating was Gilbert's propensity to tell of the experiences of people who only became notable during World War Two.
At times, I felt that the size of the task he set himself daunted Gilbert. Sections are little more than lists of battles and numbers of casualties - context and analysis being dispensed with. The production values (at least in the edition I was reading) were frequently poor: a dismembered part of a paragraph appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the text on one page.
The editing and proof reading left a lot to be desired too. A sentence like the following should have been tidied up prior to print:
"On May 17, in Prague, a provocatively named Conference of the Suppressed Nations of Austria-Hungary was held in Prague."
At one point Chancellor Kohl of West Germany is named "President Kohl".
Given the money I'd parted with, I expected better.
G Rodgers
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Title: The Second World War : A Complete History by Martin Gilbert ISBN: 0805017887 Publisher: Owl Books Pub. Date: 15 December, 1991 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: The First World War by John Keegan ISBN: 0375700455 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 16 May, 2000 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: The Second World War by John Keegan ISBN: 014011341X Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 1990 List Price(USD): $20.95 |
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Title: The Secret War Against Hanoi : The Untold Story of Spies, Saboteurs, and Covert Warriors in North Vietnam by Richard H. Shultz Jr. ISBN: 0060932538 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 05 December, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: An Illustrated History of the First World War by John Keegan ISBN: 037541259X Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Pub. Date: 30 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $50.00 |
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