Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: This is a solid overview of the military history of WWWI. It is not a history of WWI. Keegan does a good job of reviewing the major campaigns and summarizes operations well. There is no description or analysis, however, of the major social or political changes that occurred during the war, and relatively little on the experience of combat. His analysis, as opposed to description of the outbreak of the war, is embarassing. There has to be better conclusion than lack of rapid communications, though this may have been a contributing factor. There are other disappointing features. There are relatively few maps, and in an operational history, this is a major defect. The bibliography is scanty considering the huge literature on this subject and an essential feature of any good one volume history of a major subject is an extensive bibliography and interpretative bibliographic essay on the secondary literature. For example, see the bibliographies in any volume of the outstanding Oxford History of the United States. Keegan does relatively well on the Eastern Front campaigns, which tend to be obscured by the huge literature on the Western Front, but his coverage of the critical Atlantic submarine conflicts is poor. Writing a one volume history of WWI would be very difficult, but Keegan had not even come close to doing a satisfactory job. For comparison, see the shorter but insightful book by the French scholar Marc Ferro, which does a much better job of providing an overview of the conflict, its causes, and its aftermath. Keegan's book is the work on a man living on his reputation.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing overview of WWI
Review: This book offers only a general overview of the military operations of the First World War. The analysis of the battles is not very detailed and the tactical issues are not treated in depth. Admittedly, the author refuses to consider the tactical handling of battles as a crucial point in determining the reasons for the stalemate on the Western Front. His point (imbalance between the advance in weapons technology and transport and communication means) carries conviction, but the scholarly debate on the importance of the tactics is too superficially dismissed: in the least, it would have been helpful to illustrate the other historians' views on the subject. The naval and air operations are treated in a very sketchy way and nothing new is said about them. The economical and social background of the warring nations is simply ignored, although some of the books cited in the bibliography examine it in detail. The consequences of the war are explained superficially; to state that the First World War it's a "mistery" (misterious it's cause, misterious it's prosecution after so many casualties in the first year) is amazing: since the first years of the XX century it was clear to any military men and to many politicians that a war was impending and more and more voices even advocated it (See D. Herrmann, "The arming of Europe and the making of the First World War"). Finally, Europe was NOT a "power for good and wealth" for herself and the world: just look at the facts related in T. Pakenham's "The Scramble for Africa" to see what the benefits were of European domination of the Black Continent. I don't mean to make here an ideological critic; I say that this statement is superficial and simplistic from the historical point of view. Finally, the bibliografy is very scanty and the book has numerous editing flaws. All in all, it's a decent general volume, but only for the general reader: anyone with a minimal knowledge of the scholarly work on the subject will be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Overrated
Review: The lack of maps is only one probem. This book is far less a narrative than it is a litany of facts (armies, corps, battles, leaders, etc.). Only rarely does Keegan employ compelling, elegant prose as described on the book's jacket. His paragraphs, at times, ramble beyond an entire page. Keegan also appears fond of changing subjects completely within the same paragraph. An apt question would be, "Where were his editors?" I found Keegan's "The Face of Battle" to be a wonderful, fascinating read. This book falls far short of its potential.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book for the national war college.
Review: Mr. Keegan is a great researcher and the detail of order of battle in this book is commendable, but for what audience? This book would be better suited for a national war college. If the author is cartographically-impaired he should have employed someone to have provided maps to go with his prose. If on the other hand, the editors excised them, they should be shot for dereliction of duty.Martin Gilbert's treatment of this horrible conflict, while also map deficient, captures the human element and vividly describes the war fronts with his wonderful anecdotes from common soldiers and nurses to the men who would have the reins during the second major global conflict of the 20th century.
Rating: 
Summary: Get a good map first
Review: I found myself referring to Keegan's W.W.II book and also the internet for additional maps. This made reading his book more of a chore than a pleasurable learning experience. Why didn't the publisher simply add one dollar to the price of the book and add good, detailed maps?
Rating: 
Summary: Perceptive, concise presentation of a world-shaking event.
Review: Such a good book! Thank goodness for people like John Keegan, with the perspective and perception to boil these events down from 10,000 pages to 475, and still track all the threads. Particularly impressive is the presentation of the war in the middle east, with the Gallipoli Campaign and the contribution of the Arab Army under Hussain of Mecca considered in true relation to their effects on the overall situation. This book needs to be required reading anyone at any level, strategic or tactical, who must send children into battle. The foregoing good stuff notwithstanding, the carping by other reviewers about scarcity of maps is justified. I can imagine John Keegan writing in 100 maps, and the publisher insisting on not more than 5 maps, and the final total of 17 maps pleasing no one. Still, it's an ill wind! Now, we can look forward to a 2nd. edition with a "slip case" at the back cover, containing a CD with two large scale beautiful full-color maps of Europe and the Middle East, one in 1913, one in 1925, with overlays for all the campaigns, and naming all the towns, cities and locations referred to in the text. One small request for the next edition (even if it doesn't have the CD): Some latitiude and longitude tics on the endpaper maps, and at least one latitude and longitude tic on each of the campaign/battle maps, would be of immense help in tying together the geography. Thanks, John Keegan, for a powerful lesson and a great book.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book! (map issue)
Review: This book is very well written and quite a page turner. However, the issue of maps has credibility as the author mentions several locations throughout the book and one will find themselves turning back several pages to find the maps in reference. Here is a hint: Bookmark all the maps prior to reading as Keegan will start and new chapter and the map in reference will be found later into the chapter.
Rating:
Summary: Not Keegan at his best but still good work
Review: While not as eloquent in depicting the true nature of war as fictional accounts are able to because of their more flexible formats, 'The First World War' can measure up to and even exceed the popularity of spellbinding war novels like 'The Triumph and the Glory' and 'All Quiet on the Western Front' because John Keegan has such a great understanding of conflict and presents it in such a manner that the reader can't help but turn the page. I hope he keeps writing military history for a long, long time. Bravo.
Rating:
Summary: Detail drowns analysis
Review: Could not agree less with professional reviewer who said the book does a good job of making technical detail understandable. I thought the detail was excessive when compared to the analysis asserted. May be a good book for historians, but not the general reader.
Rating:
Summary: Expecting More
Review: I couldn't agree more with the distinguished gentleman cslinks, whose commentary on the physical condition of the book I found to be both insightful and uncannily accurate. I have followed cslinks' reviews of other books with a great deal of interest, and invariably buy and read the books he recommends. I would encourage all users of Amazon.com to do the same, as I suspect cslinks may be a high-level publishing executive whose opinions carry much weight.
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