The History Book Club discussion
THE FIRST WORLD WAR
>
END OF BOOK DISCUSSIONS - SPOILER THREAD
date
newest »
newest »
Mod
OK, I will start it off.
PROS:
a) Keegan has an excellent command of the subject matter.
b) The one volume approach works well for those folks short on time and want a comprehensive high level approach to the subject matter.
c) If you are looking for a high level strategic view of what happened and potentially why - this book would fit the bill.
d) Keegan packed a lot into a small package. Still a wealth of great information and comprehensively delivered.
CONS:
a) The maps were dreadful and few; the editing was not very well done. The bibiliography needed to be verified and made more accurate.
b) If you were looking for a chronological view or a complete history of the war - this is not it.
c) Very British centric; the entire story of the war appears to focus on those areas of British involvement; and superfically covers the other allies aside from the French; hard to tell from Keegan's account that the Americans showed up.
d) Keegan got bogged down in some sections and then it appeared that he rushed at the end to wrap it up.
This is a SPOILER thread. So folks who are still reading Keegan's book - stay away until you have completed the entire book.
We still have two more weeks of non spoiler threads to go so beware of spoilers if you are still engaged with the book.
However, some folks read straight through and we wanted to give these folks a place to discuss the book, Keegan, and/or any aspect of the book itself.