The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916 - Softcover

Horne, Alistair

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140170413 ISBN 13: 9780140170412

Publisher: Penguin Books, 1994

Synopsis

The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916 is the second book of Alistair Horne's trilogy, which includes The Fall of Paris and To Lose a Battle and tells the story of the great crises of the rivalry between France and Germany. The battle of Verdun lasted ten months. It was a battle in which at least 700,000 men fell, along a front of fifteen miles. Its aim was less to defeat the enemy than bleed him to death and a battleground whose once fertile terrain is even now a haunted wilderness. Alistair Horne's classic work, continuously in print for over fifty years, is a profoundly moving, sympathetic study of the battle and the men who fought there. It shows that Verdun is a key to understanding the First World War to the minds of those who waged it, the traditions that bound them and the world that gave them the opportunity. 'Verdun was the bloodiest battle in history ... The Price of Glory is the essential book on the subject'
  Sunday Times 'It has almost every merit ... Horne sorts out complicating issues with the greatest clarity. He has a splendid gift for depicting individuals'
  A.J.P. Taylor, Observer 'A masterpiece'
  The New York Times 'Compellingly told ... Alastair Horne uses contemporary accounts from both sides to build up a picture of heroism, mistakes, even farce'
  Sunday Telegraph 'Brilliantly written ... very readable; almost like a historical novel - except that it is true'
  Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery One of Britain's greatest historians, Sir Alistair Horne, CBE, is the author of a trilogy on the rivalry between France and Germany, The Price of Glory, The Fall of Paris and To Lose a Battle, as well as a two-volume life of Harold Macmillan.

About this title

About the Author:

One of Britain’s greatest historians, Sir Alistair Horne, CBE, is the author of several famous books on French history as well as a two-volume life of Harold Macmillan.

From AudioFile:

No other campaign, save for that of the Somme, epitomizes the "meat grinder" character of the Western Front in WWI than Verdun. Some 1,250,000 casualties were incurred by the French and Germans in about ten months for a piece of land "little larger than the combined Royal Parks of London." Although almost forty years old, this account is probably the best in English and is meticulously researched and exquisitely written. This audio production displays what is so wonderful about audiobooks, as well as what some may find frustrating about them. Bill Kelsey's reading is laudable. His deep, resonant voice is easy to understand and has a tone of authority to it. Each chapter begins with an epigraph or two, many of which are in French or German. These he ably reads and, as in the print edition, they're not translated. Unfortunately, and here's what may be frustrating, the many maps, photos, and illustrations of the print edition are not reproduced. Also, the excellent bibliography and references are not included. Their inclusion would have added to a magnificent reading. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0140170413
• ISBN 13: 9780140170412
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 388