A graphic, straightforward history of the war on the Western Front, written at the suggestion of an American officer who, on his arrival in France, found that he could not gain a meaningful perspective on the war raging across Europe. He had followed its phases in the newspapers but found that, by concentrating primarily on the great events, the overall canvas had become too large to comprehend.
Based mainly on personal observation, however, this book has the advantage of being the work of a war correspondent of no ordinary ability; a man who saw himself as "a Briton by birth and an American by adoption," and is certainly not lacking in perspective. Through his vivid, accurate and illuminating narrative, our author draws his pictures with an eye to the diplomatic reasons behind the plans of war, the great sweep of armies as they manoeuvre for advantage, and the effect of the life and death decisions of Generals on the fighting man and on the civilian population.
Book 5 of the Wars and Words series