The War to End All Wars: World War I - Hardcover

Freedman, Russell

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0547026862 ISBN 13: 9780547026862

Publisher: Clarion Books, 2010

Synopsis

Nonfiction master Russell Freedman illuminates for young readers the complex and rarely discussed subject of World War I. The tangled relationships and alliances of many nations, the introduction of modern weaponry, and top-level military decisions that resulted in thousands upon thousands of casualties all contributed to the "great war," which people hoped and believed would be the only conflict of its kind. In this clear and authoritative account, the Newbery Medal-winning author shows the ways in which the seeds of a second world war were sown in the first. Numerous archival photographs give the often disturbing subject matter a moving visual counterpart. Includes source notes, a bibliography, and an index.

About this title

About the Author

Russell Freedman (1929-2018) received the Newbery Medal for Lincoln: A Photobiography. He was the recipient of three Newbery Honors, a National Humanities Medal, the Sibert Medal, the Orbis Pictus Award, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, and was selected to give the 2006 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture. Mr. Freedman lived in New York City and traveled widely to research his books.

Reviews

Starred Review. Grade 7 Up—In August 1914, European countries "armed to the teeth" and bursting with exuberant nationalism entered what they believed would be a short, glorious affair. What emerged on battlefields such as the Somme, Verdun, and Gallipoli were nightmarish scenes played out on desolate barbed-wire "no man's lands" of machine-gun fire and poison gas. From the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 to the controversial Treaty of Versailles in 1918, Freedman lucidly recounts the origins, meaning, and legacy of history's first "total" war that spanned the globe and was characterized by the horrors and brutality of trench warfare. In synthesizing larger scholarly works, the author's excellent narrative skillfully encompasses all facets of the conflict including battles, leaders, and the new technologies that made it so destructive. Freedman also provides a keen analysis of the ramifications of the war, including an end to a century of American isolation, the Russian Revolution, and the troubled legacy of defeat that provided a foundation for the rise of Fascism and Nazi Germany. Elegantly written and filled with vivid, powerful photographs, this masterful work demands a spot in every collection.—Brian Odom, Pelham Public Library, AL
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*Starred Review* In his signature lucid style, Freedman offers a photo-essay that examines World War I, the first global war in which modern weapons inflicted mass slaughter and an estimated 20 million people were killed. Interwoven into the big picture of the war’s causes and consequences are unforgettable vignettes of German and Allied soldiers, drawn from reports, letters, and diaries, and the personal details are heartbreaking, as in the example of a Frenchman in the trenches who wrote “Humanity is mad” a minute before he was killed. Both the intimate accounts and the historical analysis are all carefully documented in appended chapter notes, and the book’s open design, illustrated with maps and captioned photos on almost every page, will draw browsers into the passages of nonstop action and political discussion. Freedman contrasts the battle details of No Man’s Land, trench warfare, machine guns, poison gas, tanks, and emerging aircraft technology with the military leaders’ distance from the mass of soldiers and everyday people, and he shows the connections between this war and the causes of future conflict, including World War II and discord in the Middle East. An important addition to history curriculum. Grades 6-10. --Hazel Rochman

Edition details

• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0547026862
• ISBN 13: 9780547026862
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192