I normally find the author of interest; her book, Paris 1919, was an excellent work; tight, concise, and provided excellent portraits of many of the key players. This work, however, would be better titled, War 101 for beginners. If you have a high schooler, purchase it for them (or save your money, get it from the library) so that they will have an overview of how strategies have changed due to weapon developments, the changing role of civilians and international law, the reasons, even the evolution of war. For the individual who does not understand war, for the naïve, this is a good book.
This should have been a great book as she attempts to go into many of the key areas of conflict. In each section, several examples could have been used to fully illustrate the stresses, decision making process, limitations, etc. for that area. That would have made the book more enjoyable and would have led the reader to possibly do further research and find the conflicting arguments surrounding those actions. Instead, we get a book that reminds me of a term paper that was slapped together the night before it was to be handed in. It is obvious that it attained the best seller rating on the New York Times book list on the strength of her name and not the contents of her work. To read the reviews and then to read the actual work makes me wonder about the intelligence of the reviewers or if they even opened the book.
The amateur historian and certainly the professional historian will find this book so basic that one will continue simply in the hope that there will be some new kernel of a view or fact that is not obvious. For the novice, the book follows the logic and history in each category, so everything is nicely laid out, but for anyone who has read about the technology, logistics, strategies, etc. of the history of mankind, it is a sad disappointment.
After reading this book, I immediately listed it on Amazon at a good price hoping to at least capture something for my money and time. If there is any further question in your mind, let me answer it by saying that I was disappointed by the book and certainly by the author.
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