The Guns of August

By: Barbara W. Tuchman

Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon

Length: 19 hrs and 9 mins

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.

Critic reviews

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

Does not flow

Is there anything you would change about this book?

This is a very detailed technical book about the start of WWI. This was not a good book for me to listen via audio only. I may have had a better feel for the book if I had read it.

Could you see The Guns of August being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

no

Masterful History Great Presentation

This book remains as one of the essential histories one must have read in order to understand this present world.
The reading by Nadia May is so well done, just enough accents, just enough deliberate slowly through some of Tuchman more complicated moments, I have praise and will now for any other work of hers.

WWI at it's Finest

a history must for any one studying the first world war and the generals and military minds behind the conflict. from the oversimplification of what it would take to win a war to the stunning lack of understanding of what this total war would come to mean for the future of all warfare this is a must read for anybody even remotely interested in war.

war

it was an absolute phenomenal story about World War 1, I highly recommend people to listen to this story or read the book.

Textbook details

So obviously it is a great book but it does bog down in detail of naming every player, every landmark, every skirmish leading to the turning point. It just brushes over the feelings of the generals and soldiers, so I felt like I was getting a history lesson in war strategy rather than a history involving human beings.

EXCEPTIONAL. OUTSTANDING.

I rarely write books reviews, but I found this work to be EXCEPTIONAL.

EXCEPTIONAL writing and translation of a known historical event is presented by Barbara Tuchman, whereby she transfixes us with her extraordinary gift for story telling.

EXCEPTIONAL and OUTSTANDING narration is performed by Wanda McCaddon, that keeps one glued to the story—with perfect inflection, insight into the subtle quips and intelligent wit presented by the author, and appropriate accents to remind the listener who is speaking.

I highly recommend this book. FIVE STARS.
It is perfect in every way.

If I were to venture one constructive suggestion for a book like this being READ to a LISTENER such as via AUDIBLE, I would prefer an attachment / PDF of the maps concerning locations of certain battles, or the regions described—but this day and age one can find these maps with a simple google search.

I did just that—and the regions really sprang to life and it enriched my understanding of this extraordinary work of history.

That said, I cannot give this book any higher praise. Well done.

Best reader I've heard so far. Thank You.

Best reader I've heard so far. Reader combined with story made a book I was sad to see come to an end. Thank You.

Excellent and fascinating world war one history

The narrator does an excellent job of putting the listener in the middle of the story.

Masterful, primarily military, history of WWI up to the Battle of the Marne

This book is truly a classic and deserves all the praise heaped on it over decades. This is not a fad nonfiction of the moment, but, to quote Thucydides, a possession for all time. Having first read The Proud Tower, I am grateful to have begun my journey into WWI and the 20th Century with Barbara Tuchman.

Although sometimes a bit hard to follow over audio because of the lack of maps, I did not have trouble understanding the large movements. A look at a map online now and then aids the understanding.

The narrator is great, with good French and passable German. I did not listen to this book at 1.25x speed, because I enjoyed the original pace of the narrator.

Great resource for budding enthusiasts!

This classic recounting and analysis of the first 30 days of the war is perfect for anyone whose interest in the great war has been piqued. Beware though, if you have no practical knowledge of the faces, forces, and major brushstrokes of the war this book can become overwhelming very quickly. Particularly in audio format.