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The Guns of August |  | Author: Barbara W. Tuchman
Publisher: Presidio Press
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy New: $4.31
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Seller: BRILANTI BOOKS
Rating:  182 reviews
Sales Rank: 3867
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Edition: Illustrated.
Pages: 640
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.3
ISBN: 0345476093
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.4144
EAN: 9780345476098
ASIN: 0345476093
Publication Date: August 3, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
"More dramtatic than fiction...THE GUNS OF AUGUST is a magnificent narrative--beautifully organized, elegantly phrased, skillfully paced and sustained....The product of painstaking and sophisticated research."
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Barbara Tuchman has brought to life again the people and events that led up to Worl War I. With attention to fascinating detail, and an intense knowledge of her subject and its characters, Ms. Tuchman reveals, for the first time, just how the war started, why, and why it could have been stopped but wasn't. A classic historical survey of a time and a people we all need to know more about, THE GUNS OF AUGUST will not be forgotten.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 182
 Superlative Writing Talent Sabotaged By Inferior Editing June 30, 2010
Don Reed (Cliffside Park NJ)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
The Guns of August [1914], Barbara Tuchman; The Macmillan Company (1962)
"The essence of good history is well-directed research that knows what to do & [what to] leave out, & also [written] extraordinarily well, & it involves people in their books."
An unidentified historian, paying a compliment to historian Martin Gilbert, at a Washington D.C. symposium on Oct. 16th, 2005 (on CPAN3, 01/27/08).
By this articulate standard, GOA was initially regarded as amazing good. Initially, its length - 440 pages - did not seem unreasonable.
But on pages 216-219 (hardcover edition), the text collapsed into an astonishing sinkhole of multiple editing failures, the greatest of which was the violation of the indispensable advice above - "what to leave out."
This dismaying trend continued until I eventually staggered to page 309, the conclusion of the Battle of Tannenberg.
By then, instead of being able to simply read, I was constantly forced to edit what I was reading (inserting critical missing commas that must follow introductory phrases at the start of complex sentences, marking up redundancies, etc.).
The literary triage system alarm sounded; there are other promising books that have arrived in the mail. GOA went back on the bookshelf, with its seven final chapters left unread.
Other notes:
---When Belgium was invaded by the Germans in 1914, "on August 18 [,] von Kluck's leading troops reached the [River] Gette..." Had a notable battle of WWI been fought at that location, the post-war speech honoring the fallen soldiers would have been known as the "Gette's Burg Address."
---Can books be separated at birth?
With the example that follows - even though the chronology instantly invalidates the premise - the inclination is still to say yes, it is possible.
Tuchman's brilliant writing style, abundant talent & critical faults - made evident in 1962 - are, in an astonishing & innocent coincidence, identical to those of Margaret Leech Pulitzer, whose acclaimed Reveille In Washington was published in 1940.
---But a history published in the same year as GOA also deserves mention: Cornelia Otis Skinner's superb Elegant Wits & Grand Horizontals.
If you managed to finish Guns of August (perhaps with the assistance of a month-long DWI jail term, which frees up all sorts of time for catching up on your recreational reading), make "Elegant Wits" your next book.
Discover what the French - primarily those residing in Paris - had been up to in the comparatively docile 1890s.
This time, you'll be reading the work of an equally creative author who knows the inestimable value of getting to the point.
 Excellent book May 9, 2010
g999b (Hong Kong)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
a. i was always confused with the reasons behind the beginning of WWI... until i read this great book! b. it reads like a novel, very well written indeed. c. excellent kindle edition.
 Start with a different book on WWI and work up to this one April 29, 2010
1000Books (NY,NY)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
My professor adores this book and had me read it to understand WWI. I think for someone who is just starting to understand this period, it is ABSOLUTELY not the first book you should read. There are just too many names and places covered rather quickly in this short novel. For the slower of the bunch (i.e. me), you might be able to get what, and how, but not the why and deeper intrigue that war time stories often have.
However, if you are already an expert on the topic, I suspect you'll absolutely love this piece (as my professor does). I just need to cover the basics first.
Kennedy read this book April 24, 2010
Jeffrey T. Maxfield (Seattle, WA)
During the cuban missile crisis Kennedy was very afraid that it would start World War 3. He had just finished reading "The Guns of August". He remarked to his staff that he wished every ship Captain on the blockade could read the book. The lesson he wanted them to take note of was how the author showed that events could move faster than rational thinking and escalate a situation to a full scale war. I have read all of her books and consider her to be one of the best historians of the 20th Century. This is her best book. I would recommend reading "The Proud Tower", also by the author, before "Guns....". The "A Distant Mirror" is another favorite of mine.
Informative, well written and captivating March 29, 2010
Thomas A. Fenton (Walton, Kentucky, USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
How do you critique a book given almost universal acclaim, and the winner of a Pulitzer prize? The answer would have to be "Very carefully". I tend to prefer the shorter and more concise works, but found myself immersed in this very detailed and excellent analysis of the origins of World War I, aka The Great War. However, in spite of the slowness of reading, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Let me say, if you happen to be of German descent, which I am, you might NOT like this book. It is not complimentary to German leadership and priorities, or even to the tendency of the German people to be docile and obedient to their leadership. However, her analysis of the average German citizen's obedience is not presented as her opinion, but rather is presented as the reported opinion of the German leadership themselves. Still, I found it to be a reasonable and interesting assessment of the causes of the Great War, and not at all derogatory. As a historian, Tuchman provides details and analysis that goes beyond normal historical writings. She has done her research, and organized it very intelligently. The result, to me, is an analysis that showed the errors, foolishness and military gaffes of all sides. Many historical writings concern themselves with WHAT happened. Tuchman tells us why, and how it happened, and helps us understand the years following 1914 in ways that simple facts do not.
Tuchman's style of writing is also to be commended. I found it interesting and entertaining. She is an excellent wordsmith, leading me to investigate other of her writings. As the result, I am now reading a book written 4 years before The Guns of August entitled The Zimmerman Telegram, concerning events that led the United States into the conflict in 1917.
I highly recommend The Guns of August for anyone wanting to do more than just KNOW history, but also UNDERSTAND it.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 182
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