Paris 1919

Six Months That Changed the World

By: Margaret MacMillan

Narrated by: Suzanne Toren

Length: 25 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize, renowned historian Margaret MacMillan's best-selling Paris 1919 is the story of six remarkable months that changed the world. At the close of WWI, between January and July of 1919, delegates from around the world converged on Paris under the auspices of peace. New countries were created, old empires were dissolved, and for six months, Paris was the center of the world. Bringing to vivid life the individuals who participated in the great Peace Conference, including Woodrow Wilson, Winston Churchill, Lawrence of Arabia, and Ho Chi Minh, Paris 1919 is a landmark work of narrative history.

©2002 Margaret MacMillan

Critic reviews

"This book is a treasure." (Booklist)
"MacMillan's lucid prose brings her participants to colorful and quotable life, and the grand sweep of her narrative encompasses all the continents the peacemakers vainly carved up." (Publishers Weekly)

Packed with Insight

I have enormous respect for this writer and this book! It's long, but I had no trouble at all getting through it. So much information. If ever a book illustrated the old proverb "if you don't learn from history, you're doomed to repeat it", this one does! Read this for a fascinating portrayal of the times, the characters, the politics of this monumentally important occurrence at the end of WWI. I learned so much and it sent me on to other histories of the European wars of the 20th century. A truly extraordinary look at an amazing event!

Interesting and Detailed but Not for Everyone

This was quite a marathon listen, even for me - and I regularly listen to long, dense non fiction and enjoy it. It wasn't so much the length but rather the degree of detail that made it seem like such a long book - it really went over every little bit of the peace conference. I appreciated this, since I bought it to learn about the conference, after all, but it was excruciating at times. It covers not only the peace treaties with Germany, Austria, Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria, but also the formation of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Poland, Iraq, Armenia, Turkey, Syria, and Palestine (it covers border disputes in detail, so pulling up a map is really helpful if you do not have detailed maps of Europe and the Middle East memorized). It covers the Chinese-Japanese conflict in China, the origins of the dispute between Zionist Jews and Arab nationalists in Palestine, and the Russian civil war. It also gives a great deal of insight into the personalities of not just the biggest players, but also less well-known people like the leaders of British Empire dominions (like Canada and Australia - something this Canadian really appreciated), the leaders of defeated countries, nationalist leaders like Ataturk, and delegates from minor players like Greece and Romania. I feel like I know so much more than before I started that even now, less than a week after finishing the book, I'm having trouble straightening out all the details in my head. It's one of those books you need to listen to three times to really get everything, and not always in a good way.

Because it covered everything, it could be difficult to keep track of at times because of all the events that you need to remember over the course of the book. This problem, which is mostly inevitable with historical non fiction that focuses on such a short time period, was made worse by the author's decision to divide the book by issue covered at the conference rather than telling it as a more coherent narrative. I understand that this was done because telling it day-by-day would have been even worse (they were dealing with multiple issues every day), but there should have been some sort of compromise between those two extremes. It had some, though not enough, references to events going on at the same time to help you piece together the context of the timing, but overall it was often confusing, especially since a reference might be to something you haven't listened to yet because it's discussed in a later section. If the format had been at least a little chronological (maybe by month first and then by issues covered that month?), it would have been a lot easier to appreciate the good qualities of the book.

I have listened to several audiobooks about this time period and therefore was familiar with some of the people and a lot of the preceding events (like the armistice agreement and the abdication of the Kaiser), but even with background knowledge this book was at times totally overwhelming. It made a lot of assumptions about what you already knew as a reader and it required very close attention in order to keep track of everything. It's too bad that the book would be inaccessible to someone who doesn't know much about this time period, because the consequences of the peace conference were at times surprising, enlightening, and fascinating and I'm sure a lot of people would find them interesting in a more accessible format. There were a lot of times where I said out loud, alone in the car, "What?! I didn't know that!" - it gave me a new perspective on a lot of things, both historical and modern. There was a lot of good material in there, once you got over the hurdles of too much tiny detail and not enough context for non-enthusiasts.

One other strange thing about the book was the ending. After having been neutral and factual throughout the book, the end was all about the author's point of view that the Versailles Treaty should not be blamed for the Second World War like it often is by historians. This was an interesting point of view that was well-supported by facts I didn't know beforehand, but it felt sort of out of place when the focus of the book was not exclusively - not even primarily - the German treaty.

The narration was good. It was easy to follow and mostly not monotonous, which was good because you needed to stay engaged in the book constantly in order to follow it.

Overall, I would say I expanded my knowledge of this time period and its effects on the present day, but I sort of felt like I was listening to a professor give a lecture series where I was expected to take notes and do more research on my own time. This isn't a book for people who are looking for a first foray into learning about this time period (you need to already know a reasonable amount about the First World War, and to some extent the Second World War, the Russian Revolution, and the Cold War, to fully understand it) - it is definitely not light reading. If you are interested in the subject already, as I am, it's worth listening to - I'm glad I did in spite of the book's flaws. But it takes some concentration and dedication to finishing it to do so because of the jumping around in time and the huge cast of characters. This book was so informative and detailed that it was more like taking a course than reading a history book intended for public consumption - it is not for everyone. For me, it was a four-star book - worth reading in spite of its organizational issues - but I wouldn't recommend it to very many people I know all the same.

A little disappointing

What did you like best about Paris 1919? What did you like least?

The books seems to lack a theme or hypothesis that ties it together; she is very fond of the amusing anecdote or pithy quote, but it doesn't quite add up, and because of the lack of a unifying theme is quite hard to remember the details

Would you be willing to try another book from Margaret MacMillan? Why or why not?

Yes, her subjects are great

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Reader has a lovely clear voice, but it has a slightly affected quality, with its hyper-diction, that begins to wear, and doesn't seem quite right for the subject. I'd love to hear her read, say, Edith Wharton

Could you see Paris 1919 being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Nope

Fantastic Book Fills Huge History Gap

I i’ve been a student of military history all my life, but had a history hole in my 1914 to 1919 period. I know broad themes, And accepted that The Versailles Treaty was used by Hitler, et al. to Grab the souls of his movement, but what the hell went on across Africa, In the Middle East, China, Japan, the Caucasus, etc.

Margaret Mac Millen tells that story fabulously. When she’s finished, your understanding of the fears and desires of every ethnic, racial, political, national etc, group will CHANGE.

It is now possible to actually understand who we are and where we came from. Every conflict today I can think of, MacMillan connects to the Great War, threading the human drama of the Leaders, power brokers, and refugees into a brilliant “ history of how with the best intentions, such grand human endeavors — led by humans— have all the good intentions AND all the poison in the DNA at Birth.

Eye opening historical account

Very detailed account of a pivotal slice of history. Shows us what self centered, egotists the main four world leaders were at that time. Are they any different today?

Informative

The book ranged from "wow, I didn't know that", to blah, blah. You'll learn a lot about the formation of the countries Europem, Asia Minor, and Africa. You get insight into the "ancient" hostilities that lead to WWII, war between the Serbs and Croats, hostility between the Greeks and Turks, and more. I would rate it higher, but despite all the good things about the book, toward the end I was really ready for it to be over.

Factual and colourful

I'm overwhelmed with the exhaustive effort Margaret MacMillan put into this book. For the first time, I have some idea of the challenges that faced the leaders of the day.
The book is rich in factual detail and coloured with the personal details, observations and personalites of the players.
It has immediately become a very important element in my understanding of the 20th century.

The Treaty that didn't cause nor prevent the WWII.

Gives the reader a good understanding of who was at the peace table and what they were looking for in1919.

Illuminating history

This is an excellent history of the conference that produced the Treaty of Versailles, concluding what was then called the Great War. MacMillan's mastery of the details is impressive, and she weaves a fascinating tale. Of particular interest to the contemporary reader is the way she demonstrates how the high handed treatment by the Great Powers (Britain, France and the United States) of people in Africa, Asia and especially the Middle East has consequences we still face today. She also does an excellent job of dispelling many of the popular myths about the Treaty, especially that it made World War II inevitable: as she rightly points out in her Conclusion, although the Treaty itself had many failings - and proved to be an excellent propaganda tool for Hitler - WW II was the result of actions taken (and not taken) by nations and governments in the twenty years between 1919 and 1939.

Hard to keep my interest.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

You can learn a lot from the book. But it moves so slow.

If you’ve listened to books by Margaret MacMillan before, how does this one compare?

First one

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Suzanne Toren?

Lots of people. But the material would be hard for anyone to keep interesting.

Did Paris 1919 inspire you to do anything?

Stop listening halfway though.

Any additional comments?

I started, stopped and started this book multiple times. Its just hard to keep my interest. I am interested in the Versailles Conference. This book tests how much.