This illustrated history is an outstanding summary of current scholarship on the war that was supposed to end all wars. Nearly two dozen contributors write smart and accessible essays on a range of subjects, including the military strategies of the Allies and the Central Powers, the war at sea, economic mobilization, politics on the home front, and the peace settlement. The chapters are full of intelligent insights. John Morrow, writing on the air war, notes that fighter pilots became "the ultimate heroes of the First World War" because their feats of individual combat could be easily romanticized, in contrast to the mass slaughter taking place in the trenches below.
The collection of essays isn't a narrative of what happened, even though its material is presented in roughly chronological order. Rather, it approaches the conflict from several angles and studies them up close. Readers who aren't familiar with the fundamentals of the conflict may want to look elsewhere for basic information--one writer, for instance, refers to the Zimmerman Telegram without explaining what it is. Those who know the basics, however, will find this book quickly rewarding. Good reading for armchair generals. --John J. Miller
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