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The Guns of August

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The Guns of August

By: Barbara W. Tuchman
Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
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About this listen

 In this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, historian Barbara Tuchman brings to life the people and events that led up to World War I. This was the last gasp of the Gilded Age, of Kings and Kaisers and Czars, of pointed or plumed hats, colored uniforms, and all the pomp and romance that went along with war. How quickly it all changed...and how horrible it became.

Tuchman masterfully portrays this transition from 19th to 20th Century, focusing on the turning point in the year 1914: the month leading up to the war and the first month of the war. With fine attention to detail, she reveals how and why the war started, and why it could have been stopped but wasn't, managing to make the story utterly suspenseful even when we already know the outcome.

©1990 Dr. Lester Tuchman (P)2005 Blackstone Audio, Inc. 20th Century Military Modern World War Imperialism Royalty Russia Middle Ages Imperial Japan Interwar Period

Critic reviews

"More dramatic than fiction...a magnificent narrative - beautifully organized, elegantly phrased, skillfully paced...The product of painstaking and sophisticated research." (Chicago Tribune)
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I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get lost in the middle with all the names, but I found it an interesting book and enjoyed ze accents.

Very Interesting

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Reading a lot of newer books on ww1 I've often heard Tuchmans Guns of August referenced.

In many ways this is the main book on that first month.

Now I finally got round to it and I was not dissapointed. This is truly a masterpiece. That's all there is to it.

Very enjoyable.

A great boon

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This book considers the events of 1914 which led the various fractions within Europe to believe they had no alternative to war. In addition ‘The Guns of August’ continues past the causes of the war and continues to assess the various initial battles which had commenced in the West and the East and the various winners and losers.

I found this book to be very easy to read and comprehend, some history books can be very dry and analytical. However within ‘The Guns of August” I found myself becoming quickly caught up in all the action and events. The writer uses a lot of detail about the events and the various protagonists which paints a vivid picture of their various appearances and characteristics. I found this extra details enabled me to be able to picture the events taking place over a hundred years ago and to feel present within the moment.

A must read for anyone with an interest in history and World War One.

A comprehensive and compelling introduction to WW1

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Any additional comments?

Tuchman's book has been around for a while, but it remains a very good account of the first month of the war. Some understanding of the basic geography of Europe is helpful to understand the movement of armies across territory, but listeners can always check a map between chapters.

A Classic Account

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Very enjoyable. If you can call industrial slaughter enjoyable, of course. A good work of history.

The narration.

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