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Alan Tomkins's Reviews > A World Undone: The Story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918
A World Undone: The Story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918
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I knew very little about this crazy, complex, tragic war before reading this book. Meyer clearly explains it with the narrative skills of a gifted storyteller, as well as an accomplished and objective historian.
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Reading Progress
March 7, 2018
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Started Reading
March 7, 2018
– Shelved
March 17, 2018
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10.0%
"Crazy good. History can be as intense and wild as any novel or Netflix series."
March 22, 2018
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15.0%
"Fascinating. The causes of the war, so often cited as mysterious or muddled, are made clear...but by no means do they seem sensible. Egotists and war mongers called the shots and controlled the fates of millions."
March 24, 2018
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20.0%
"Intense. August 2014: High political drama explodes into war of unimaginable proportions in nothing flat. The improbable becomes inevitable, and Europe begins to tear itself apart."
March 31, 2018
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26.0%
"If you wrote a novel with crazy plot development like this, and whacko generals , duplicitous diplomats & politicians, and idiotic royals in charge like this, well...no one would believe it. History is proof that truth is stranger than fiction. This book kicks ass, by the way."
April 2, 2018
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30.0%
"I like how background chapters are interspersed with the action filled narrative chapters. This writing technique works very well for relating the history of a war as complex as the First World War."
April 10, 2018
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42.0%
"Fascinating. This war really didn't need to happen. But almost all the countries involved were still run by kings and emperors who still had nineteenth century mentalities and huge egos to go with their new twentieth century weapons and industrial capacities...and that was a very unfortunate and explosive mix."
April 13, 2018
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45.0%
April 18, 2018
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50.0%
"When psychopaths controlled governments and sent millions of their subjects/citizens into a pointless and colossal meat grinder of a war."
April 22, 2018
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65.0%
""It is not surprising if the effect on some intelligent men was a bitter conviction that they were being uselessly sacrificed.""
April 29, 2018
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70.0%
"Riveting account of war at its worst. WWI is often overshadowed by WWII, but it is every bit as crazy and fascinating."
May 2, 2018
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80.0%
"I really like how the author interspersed "background" chapters between the main narrative chapters. The background chapters, in a different font, explain cultural factors, pertinent historical factors, and contemporary issues particular to the various countries involved in the Great War. This writing technique greatly enhances the reader's understanding and appreciation of the narrative."
May 5, 2018
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90.0%
"The final year of the war has a lot going on, and the author covers the bases pretty well, finally getting to Lawrence of Arabia and the guerrilla war the Arabs and British fought against the crumbling Ottoman Empire."
May 7, 2018
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Finished Reading
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Patrick
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Aug 25, 2022 03:39PM
Interested in a couple books about the aftermath of WWI?
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Patrick wrote: "Interested in a couple books about the aftermath of WWI?"Sure. Which do you recommend?
Nation, State and Economy by MisesOmnipotent Government by Mises
The first is more arcane and difficult, since it deals with Central/Eastern Europe more than the US or western US.
But perhaps that is why it is all the more important.
The second is much more attuned to US readers, written during WWII. It has really insightful and important stuff on fascism, communism and interventionism: statism in general, that apply very much to today's American and the world situation.
Patrick wrote: "Nation, State and Economy by MisesOmnipotent Government by Mises
The first is more arcane and difficult, since it deals with Central/Eastern Europe more than the US or western US.
But perhaps tha..."
Thanks for the heads up.
