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The Guns of August  By  cover art

The Guns of August

By: Barbara W. Tuchman
Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
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Publisher's summary

In this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, historian Barbara Tuchman brings to life the people and events that led up to World War I. This was the last gasp of the Gilded Age, of Kings and Kaisers and Czars, of pointed or plumed hats, colored uniforms, and all the pomp and romance that went along with war. How quickly it all changed...and how horrible it became.

Tuchman masterfully portrays this transition from 19th to 20th Century, focusing on the turning point in the year 1914: the month leading up to the war and the first month of the war. With fine attention to detail, she reveals how and why the war started, and why it could have been stopped but wasn't, managing to make the story utterly suspenseful even when we already know the outcome.

©1990 Dr. Lester Tuchman (P)2005 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

"More dramatic than fiction...a magnificent narrative - beautifully organized, elegantly phrased, skillfully paced...The product of painstaking and sophisticated research." (Chicago Tribune)

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What listeners say about The Guns of August

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful

Occasionally I come across a book that is so good that I don't know if I should keep listening or turn it off for fear of finishing too quickly. This book is one of those.

I think that Nadia May, who narrates this and other Barbara Tuchman books, does a wonderful job. Descriptions and events are clear and largely riveting. I have only 2 complaints. One is that not all of the French is translated into English and the other is that there are no maps. I had to get my John Keegan book on the First World War and look at the maps to understand exactly what was happening. However the first complaint is problably a lack in the original printed form of the book and the second is a drawback of narrated books in general. One would hope that given the new visual capabilities of todays devices the producers would find some way to include maps.

I gave this book 5 stars and think it is worth every one. In my view it is better than either of the other of her books (The Proud Tower and The Distant Mirror) that I have listended to. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the events leading up to the First World War.

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117 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A Great Book-One Of My Alltime Favorite Books

I first read this book years ago when I was teenager and found it be so fascinating and well written that it stimulated my interest in history (especially World War One) which I have maintained to this day. Although she went on to write several other excellent books , I believe that this was Barbara Tuchman's best book. This audiobook has reinforced my opinion. By listening to the audiobook, one really acquires a great understanding of just how August 1914 transformed the world. Up until that point, the old order (monarchs and aristocracy) held strong in Europe and Europe controlled the world. After 1914, things would never be the same. Although the war lasted until 1918, by the time it ended, nothing was left of the old order and it was really the personalities of the new order (Lloyd George, Clemenceau and Wilson) who brought about the peace. What makes the book great is the manner in which the author takes the historical figures of that time period (such as the Kaiser, Foch, Joffre, Churchill, French, Kitchner, Von Moltke, Poincare) and paints a very human portrait of all of them through short biography of their pre 1914 lives and how these pre war events shaped the decisions that they made during the first month of the war. The narration is quite good as the narrator does her best to put foreign accents on all of the French and German personalities (I actually think it might have worked better if a man had narrated the book- namely because all of the main characters were men-but Ms. May does a very good job). I also believe that listeners will enjoy the chapter that chronicles the flight of the German cruiser Goeben during the first month of the war. I would strongly recommend this audiobook to anyone who is interested in history and to anyone who has never been interested in the subject, because they found history to be boring when they studied it in school. It is very well done- a good recording

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94 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A Microscopic View

I agree with other reviewers that this is a difficult book to follow in the audio version. There are so many players, so much "he said-she said" and a definite need for a map to refer to constantly. I too would have liked to have been able to flip back several pages to refresh my mind many times during the reading. The narration was good overall. The detail of the research was intense. The book was overwhelming in spots.

That said, I love blow by blow accounts of history and that was exactly what this hairsplitter of a book was all about. What's more--my beloved British grandfather fought in the trenches and survived mustard gassing and the war. I listened because I wanted to understand his experience better. Heart pounding and terrifying. A must for history lovers--but maybe the print version or a kindle/audible link would be best so you can flip back and forth. Plus find a good map--you are going to need it!

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78 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

The definitive work

If you're a student of WWI you already know that this is the definitive work. There is no University History or Political Science Course that does not start with the opening paragraphs of Guns of August.

If you are NOT a student of the era and wish an introduction there is no better.

An enduring work that is of interest to both the scholar and novice.

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49 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

If Only All History Could Be Done Like This

You already know the outcome of the war, or you should unless you went to a public school in the US. The personalities and decisions made in the course of one month still affect us today. Having this come alive in this wonderful story gives everyone the opportunity to understand what kind of impact one person can have on the whole of world history.

We are treated to some of the most compelling history, not written for idiots but for thinking adults. Barbara Tuchman is certainly on her game, and this is a must hear for everyone.

The production is wonderful, the energy of the narration and the presentation in total make this a wonderful addition to your audiobook library.

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45 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

One of the Greatest history Books ever

If you want an exellent book about the political and military situation at the start the first world war, then there is no better opition. Even if you don't think you are interested in the first world war i guarantee you will enjoy this book and it will make you interested in the war. After reading it you will want to know more and more about the conflict. I personally had focused on WWII as my main focus, but this book was recommended to me and after reading it (i read it before i bought the audio book). I will probably read this book a half dozen time before in my life because there are unexplainable thing about the time period and and the way it is described in this book that makes me never want to forget it. The author maybe a little "baised" as other have said but this "baise" was devolped from a close studying of the facts. She doesn't just tell you what happened and what the generals decided, but rather throws her own well informed opinion into the matter as well. Not only does this help to give the reader/listener perspective on the matter, but it makes the story interesting and allows the reader figure out easily who is a genious and who is a fool.

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38 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Narrator very good

I enjoy Barbara Tuckman books and, for some reason put off reading this one. I decided to try the audiobook. Unlike one of the other reviewers, I thought the narrator was very good. She did the best possible job in my opinion. I do have to say however that I think this type of book with so many historical characters and events is better read than listened to.

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37 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Everybody knew, and everybody was wrong.

As the world threw themselves into World War I, everybody was convinced that they could win the war in six weeks, or perhaps as much as six months. Everybody was certain that their own plans would be the one that won the day, and everybody was wrong.

Listen along as you see the end of the old world, the Victorian age of mankind, and are brought lurching into the modern twentieth century. Exceptional detail and insight into the events that literally reshaped the world for the rest of the century.

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33 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Slightly outdated, single sided perspective

If you want a lengthy account of the month of August 1914 from an Anglo-Saxon point of view, this book is for you.
While a lot of sources are cited, this is more of a narrative than a scientific account. It tells a good, if somewhat one-sided story. In this sense, the book feels a bit outdated as the last years of thinking about WWI are not reflected. In language and content, it is still in the tradition of the WWII generation, meaning more anti-German in spirit, language and interpretation of events than recent historians. If you don't mind this and you want to be entertained by history in a detailed account, this is a good (audio-)book.
About the audio: The narrative is likeably and I feel the speaker matches the writers style. Unfortunately the pronunciation of French and German is poor and where foreign accents in English are emulated from supposedly native Russian, German and French speakers it becomes simply annoying. Somebody who obviously does not speak these languages simply cannot bring across the accents properly (especially to someone like myself who is not a native speaker of English). It would have been a much better – if more costly – choice to have these parts spoken by foreign (and male) speakers to contrast narrative and citation.

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32 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Just Amazing

Any additional comments?

I went into this expecting a story about WWI what a got was a history of WWI, at least the beginning. What is amazing is that 99% of this info is not in the school history text books I studied. They seem to gloss over everything, make make is sound like nothing is caused by anything and it's a mysterious.

Tuchman really knows how to bring history to life and make it interesting.

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25 people found this helpful