The War to End All Wars

Starred review from July 5, 2010
This gritty, well-sourced account of WWI offers a compelling and often horrific look at the conflict. Freedman (Washington at Valley Forge) hooks readers with his fluid style and a detail-rich story of Archduke Ferdinand's assassination and the political powder keg that existed at the time in Europe. The book recounts gruesome mass killings brought about by trench warfare and going "over the top" into the "no man's land" in between, combined with the debuting technologies of machine guns and tanks, chemical and air warfare. Haunting b&w photos and poignant quotations from both Central and Allied combatants do not gloss over atrocities ("dozens of men with serious wounds must have crawled for safety into new shell holes, and now the water was rising about them, and... they were slowly drowning"). This remarkable pictorial overview of WWI, its causes, major battles, and legacies (namely WWII and the repartitioning of Europe and the Middle East) concludes with chapter notes, bibliography, and index. Readers' conclusions will likely mirror that of a French soldier writing in his diary just before he was killed: "Humanity is mad!... What scenes of horror and carnage!" Ages 12–up.

January 1, 2011
With an abundance of historical photographs and a characteristically lucid, well-organized text, Freedman documents the history of the First World War: from its tangled beginnings, through years of stalemate, to the collapse of empires and uneasy peace, and ending with a brief description of the rise of Hitler. Freedman's narrative, dedicated to his WWI veteran father, is dramatic and often heart-wrenching. Bib., ind.

(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from March 1, 2010
Grades 6-10 *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 wars 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 books 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 Mans 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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)

Starred review from July 1, 2010
With an abundance of historical photographs and a characteristically lucid, well-organized text, Freedman documents the history of the First World War: from its tangled beginnings, through years of stalemate in the trenches between 1914 and 1918, to the collapse of empires and an uneasy peace. Freedman dedicates his book to his father, who served in France in 1918; indeed, a picture of that sixteen-year-old soldier is a moving reminder of the youth of the sixty-five million who fought. This was the first war to use modern weaponry-"the bloodiest conflict the world had ever seen"; by war's end, some twenty million people had died. Freedman begins, chronologically, with the assassination in Sarajevo; then describes how the war was fought, in the trenches and "over the top"; and picks up the pace to highlight battles at Verdun, the Somme, and at sea. His dramatic, often heart-wrenching narrative ends with a brief description of the rise of Hitler, leading to the reopening of hostilities in 1939. Although his focus is the war in Europe, and the book is unusually evenhanded in assessing the faults and virtues of the combatant countries, Freedman touches on fighting elsewhere in the world. Discussing American participation, he describes the contributions of both women and African Americans. Chapter notes provide the sources for quoted material, and a bibliographic essay is appended. Index not seen.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from June 15, 2010

Freedman once again demonstrates his incomparable mastery of presenting complex, sweeping historical subjects in an engaging, dynamic narrative. Using his signature photo-essay format, the author examines the first modern global war that inflicted mass slaughter. He lucidly explains the complicated political situation that led to war and discusses how the first use of modern weapons such as aircraft, flame throwers, long-range artillery, machine guns, poison gas and tanks used in a war fought with old-style strategies and tactics resulted in horrific carnage. Especially vivid is the graphic depiction of trench warfare. Focusing primarily on Western Front campaigns, the narrative effectively interweaves the big picture of the war's causes and consequences with intimate stories of individual German and Allied soldiers drawn from reports, letters and diaries. In the concluding chapter, the Newbery, Sibert and Wilder Award winner offers a brilliantly concise discussion of the direct connections between the "Great War" and the causes of the Russian Revolution, World War II and conflict in the Middle East. Carefully documented in appended chapter notes, the text is illustrated throughout with maps and stunning photographs. (bibliographic essay) (Nonfiction. 12 & up)

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