So I wanted to learn more about World War I and read a few reviews here and other places online to find a good book regarding World War I. Most sources pointed to the book, The Guns of August. to learn more about what precipitated World War I, and although the author spent the first one fifth of the book, going over some of what was going on in France, Germany, and England, the entire rest of the book was spent going over military tactics, and the movement of military forces during the first month of World War I. I honestly should’ve put the book down halfway through and looked for another book but I wanted to finish books so I stuck with it and I am kind of upset that I did. I cannot understand why this book gets such great reviews. Literally 4/5 of the book talks about how army corpse and divisions moved around the battlefield. The book didn’t even really go into action either so it wasn’t like I was reading a book that had some good war scenes in it. No the entire book was about military logistics, supply lines, And some movement regarding the military staff for each country.
After having read about 500 pages, I know nothing more about Germany, France, or England, and how they operated prior to World War I. The author spent one paragraph describing the event, where the assassination of Franz Ferdinand took place one paragraph! I learned nothing about World War I other than it took longer than they expected because none of the countries could see clearly.
For those who read the guns of August and liked it, can I please get a second opinion? Can someone please tell me why they like the book so much? Maybe I’m dumb I don’t know. But it is so mind-boggling how this book won a Pulitzer prize when all the author talks about is fucking military logistics for 400 pages.
by SynecdocheNYC