So, as you can see, I don't review much nonfiction. (Caveat lector: the newer, smaller "nonfiction" tag is for nonfictional stuff that I have reviewed since 2021. The older "non-fiction" tag is for nonfiction reviewed before then; I don't quite disown anything under that tag, but it's kind of terrible.)
Anyway, this book is rather obviously about World War One, aka the Great War, aka the War to End All Wars. It's a collection of essays on various WWI topics ranging from the Battle of Jutland (Jutland, by John Keegan; pages 154-177) to the Red Baron (The War Lover, by Robert Wohl; pages 271-285) to the First Battle of the Falklands (The First Battle of the Falklands, by Ronald H. Spector; pages 124-140). The essays are of varying quality, ranging from 2 to 4 stars. I'll summarize particularly notable ones below.
One of the earlier ones (possibly even the first; can't remember which) had an approximately 3-page documentation of the etymology of the phrase "no-man's-land". It was super boring. If you ever read the book, just skip that, unless you're into 3-page etymologies.
The Christmas Truce (pages 50-64), by Stanley Weintraub, was about the Christmas truce of 1914. It was a weirdly heartwarming episode in the middle of an otherwise super horrific conflict, and almost assuredly one of the more... kid-friendly essays in here. Pretty sure I smiled all the way through it, only to stop smiling again when the next essay was about the Battle of Aubers and had a horrifically huge death toll again.
(Side note: You may notice I use the word "horrific" twice there. This was World War 1, it killed 15 to 22 million people.)
Section 3 was the polished jewel of the collection, containing only 25% lackluster essays and some of the book's best. (Note: I am biased to essays/books/what-have-you describing large machinery, so bear that in mind.) I mentioned Jutland and The First Battle of the Falklands earlier, and the only other noteworthy one was The Wreck of the Magdeburg (pages 141-153) by David Kahn.
The German warship Magdeburg was a normal small cruiser (smaller than a light cruiser), which went aground off an island in the Gulf of Finland. It was carrying important stuff and they couldn't let it get captured, so they blew it up.
Except it didn't work completely, and Russia was able to recover some stuff. This included what they termed "Codebook 151", which they sent to the British codebreaking agency, and... well, they broke it. Knowledge ensued.
On pages 215-216 (territory of Kut,
by Robert F. Jones), there's a description of a death march. I don't
actually know how graphic it was, because I saw the words "death march"
and skipped to the end of the essay. Let the prospective reader beware.
"These Hideous Weapons" (pages 307-319), by Bruce I. Gudmundsson, is about flamethrowers. I learned some interesting stuff about them, including that they were mostly operated by former firemen (remind you of anything?) and that the French ones were manufactured by a maker of cigarette lighters.
Die Pariskanone (pages 404-409) was about a giant cannon capable of firing shells 65 miles and hitting Paris with them. It was broken up at the end of the war, but then some guy in the 60s "[left the Canadian government] to pursue his real interest: very big guns." That line just cracked me up. (The guy ended up going to prison and eventually being assassinated for supplying very big guns to various less-than-savory countries who could pay for them.)
Were this a videogame, its subject matter would get rated: M. Possibly AO. It was WWI.
However, the book handles it in a way that's more: T15+.
Overall, this book gets 4 stars. It had its boring parts.
I do enjoy etymology, but three pages might be a bit much even for me.
ReplyDeleteFlamethrowers are just cool. One of these days, we'll watch Hell is for Heroes andSands of Iwo Jima, both of which involve them.
I disagree. Flamethrowers are very, very hot.
DeleteIn all seriousness, though, I can paraphrase it for you. Here goes.
"The phrase 'no-man's-land' is as old as the Domesday Book, meaning land nobody owns. It was first used in its present meaning by an author whose name I forget, then adopted by the troops in World War One."
Lol, you've got me there.
DeleteYou two are a riot to read! That sounds like an interesting book, at least parts of it. I prefer WWII, but there's a lot of really interesting stuff written about The Great War, as well.
ReplyDeleteGreat job, Sam,
Grammy