Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful read
Review: John Keegan's books bring great insight not just on war but on man himself. Mans pride is brought before us in a incredable way in this book, so many deaths and for what?
Rating: 
Summary: A Worthwhile Read
Review: The First World War by John Keegan is a wonderful overview of the First World War, its cause and its effect. Much of the book is devoted to troop movements and the resulting battles and is hard to follow. Worse are the maps which tend to confuse more than explain. With this limitation the book is very worthwhile.Keegan's strength is on describing why the war began and the historical context in which it was played out. He goes to great lengths to describe how each event effected a latter event, whether it be the Russian Revolution or the Second World War. Keegan writes marvelously and the book for the most part flows well. This was my first book on the First World War and it gave me a good overview. All in all a worthwhile read.
Rating: 
Summary: Try this instead of a tranquilizer dart.
Review: The people who have said "BORING" neglected to say "depressing" and "pompous". Certainly it is about a depressing and wasteful war, but it is unfair to those who died, to render their sacrifice into a stultifyingly dull intellectual ego trip. I have a couple of degrees in history, and this is the kind of stuff that makes other people hate history, so I doubly resent it.
Rating:
Summary: Fine History of Significant Event
Review: Anyone who can keep me reading for over four hundred pages about the details of a major, epic war with all kinds of details has to be an outstanding scholar and writer. Such is Keegan and this fine book. Needing to have some more grounding in WW1, I selected this book. I was not let down. His informative style shows beyond doubt that he has researched and culled the data down into manageable chucks which then hedelivers with a smooth style which keeps your attention. Informed the reader will be after hearing how the gears of several nations and individuals within those nations started down the path to major conflict which could have been avoided. This of course escalates into the stalemate of trench warfare and attritrition. Particularly fascinating is the interplay between the use of technology of the times, leadership and morale. The decline of the French and Russian armies at the last and the entry of American troops as well is enlightening. This is a good read if one truly is interested in obtaining a background into the global taking of so many young lives. Provided are good bibliographies of interested areas and he certainly makes the case for follow-up on several interesting aspects and individuals.
Rating: 
Summary: FOR ASPIRING HISTORY PROFESSORS ONLY
Review: Anyone who regularly reads history knows that there are certain topics which have been written about ad nauseum.It seems like every year at least one new book is published about Lincoln, TR, FDR, and the civil war. Since "Saving Private Ryan" there has been a deluge of books about WWII, most of them, like Tom Brokaw's books, not very good. Since new information on these topics rarely surfaces, the new books are based on the same old sources. Likewise, there have been hundreds of books written about World War One, some very good. The question then is why would Keegan write yet another book about WWI? Better yet, why would anyone want to read it? The customers who have criticized this book for being boring and confusing are right on the mark. Remember these are not students with no interest in history who were forced to read the book, they chose to read the book, (and in some cases, spent a lot of money to do so), because they have obviously have a great interest in the topic. The customers who express disdain that other reviewers found the book "like sominex in a dust jacket," are exhibiting faux intellectual snobbery. ("The hoi poloi just don't get it.")There is no rule that says a book about history has to be excrutiatingly boring to be great. And this book is boring. It is really boring, deadly boring(and confusing too.) It is so dull that no one who was not preparing for a doctorate in American History could possibly read it in its entirety much less enjoy the experience. Keegan covers the same tired territory in mind numbing fashion, bombarding the reader with an enourmous amount of dull information. Writing well and writing in a manner interesting to the reader are not incompatible. There are a number of books about WWI which are well written, informative, and (perish the thought)interesting.
Rating:
Summary: History on a grand scale
Review: John Keegan is, without doubt, one of the great military historians of the current age. His previous books, such as "The Face of Battle" and "The Price of Admiralty" draw lessons and conclusions from varying periods of military history, often with ramifications for military and foreign policy in the current era. "The First World War" takes on a different objective - that of providing a comprehensive, one volumed, study of the "war to end all wars" - and he does so to great success. This is history on a grand scale - it is not excessively anecdotal nor is it wholly strategic. Readers are provided with a comprehensive picture of the entire period of the First World War - the political machinations of the first years of the 20th Century which led to war, the folly which surrounded the mobilisation process, the strategy of the war itself and the social, political and economic consequences which the war had on a whole generation and, more importantly, on our lives to this day. Writers cannot be all things to all people. This book is not an anecdotal account of life on the trenches - that type of account is provided by other writers. Nor can the book spend too much time on any one particular campaign, commander or incident - to do so would have created a completely unwieldy book. This book is aimed at those who may know nothing about the history of this horrible period or who have only a cursory knowledge of its events. More importantly, it does not attempt to impose one particular view of history on the reader (as many contemporary historians now do) - you are left to draw your own conclusions on the causes and consequences of this war. The First World War is one of the great tragedies of all time and yet, as its last veterans pass away, it faces relegation into the realm of distant history. Given the massive scale of human suffering which the war created, and the political consequences which set the stage for even more horrific events 25 years later, it would be a crime to relegate to ancient history the sacrifices made by those who fought in this conflict. The Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium commemorates some 70,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers who gave their lives in the fighting around the Ypres Salient but whose bodies were never identified or recovered. It bears the inscription "their names liveth forever more". John Keegan has presented readers with a wonderful, insightful and serious account of the First World War and, in doing so, helps to preserve the names and legacy of those who were its victims.
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Summary: Difficult book on a difficult topic
Review: If you are looking for a summary overview of World War I, look elsewhere. If you love history and cherish detail, Keegan is a fabulous, though challenging, read. The origins of the war, and the circumstances surrounding the armistices that ended it, are endlessly frustrating to those who like history shrink-wrapped, but Keegan does a superb job setting the stage. Where the book falls short -- even for those of us who enjoy historical works -- is that it describes offensives in minute detail with too few maps. Unless you live in Belgium or eastern France, or have a thorough knowledge of the geography, you may be frustrated in your attempt to understand the significance of much of the detail. This is a serious flaw. Strengths: I thought Keegan hit some important points when discussing WHY military leaders in the War were unable to effectively command their forces, and also how such terrible casualties resulted. Essential concurrent events such as the October Revolution in Russia, and the crumbling of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, are described in sufficient detail without these sections attempting to serve as self-contained histories of topics beyond the scope of the present work. Also, several of the photographs were amazing, especially the one showing a French soldier being greeted during the liberation of eastern France. Finally, the author provides balanced coverage of the conflict around the world, not focusing unduly on the infamous Western Front. To the reviewer who found the book to be a bore -- one of the most frustrating aspects of the First World War was that it was a terrible stalemate for four years. Keegan astutely writes that a duller conflict would be hard to conceive. Add to this the senseless slaughter of millions (1.7 million French alone by 1918) and the ominous result (the disastrous Versailles treaty and crippled German republican government) and I believe the author achieves his purpose. This is NOT an exciting account. Neither are the best fictional works of the War -- Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front and Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. This is a very good account of the Great War. With additional maps, it would be a great book. Recommended for history buffs with an appetite for detail.
Rating: 
Summary: hard to figure out without maps.
Review: John Keegan is usually good with his books but somehow he forgot one important thing that should be in history books, maps. Without them it's confusing to read since you have no idea where the battles are based most of the time. The Second World War had maps on almost every page so it was easier to understand where on the continent battles were fought. So unless you know your geography skip it.
Rating:
Summary: Get Past 1916 And You'll Enjoy This Book
Review: I almost put this book down after the first 150 pages. The first third of the book, which discusses the Crisis of 1914, the war plans of each major combatant, and the battles that led to the stalemate on the Western Front, are terribly boring. This book is not the Stephen-Ambrose-style history book that I am accustomed to. It floods you with names, places, and military units and assumes that you already know them all. But eventually the book seems to become more interesting (as did the war) around 1916. I learned quite a bit from reading this book, which was the reason I read it. It goes into great detail on the politics, the strategies, and the military strength, while does not tell the reader much about the people who fought the war, the horror stories from the fronts, nor the personalities of any one involved in the war at all. This is for history fans, not for light readers.
Rating:
Summary: World Bore One
Review: Like sominex in a dust jacket. Keegan covers familiar ground in thuddingly dull fashion. Tough sledding even for history buffs.
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