Fantastic book. Should be read by everyone who cares to understand what happened to America. The one thing that I would add to it would have been an explanation of the propaganda by the Herest Newspapers (and others) in whipping up a percentage of Americans to scream for war. But the book is a very, very fine explanation of what happens when the people permit those they listen too to demonize others, to the point where the people will line up to become cannon fodder.
And if you pay attention in this book, you can clearly see the genisis of WWII, Korea, and yes, Viet Nam, AND, the change that permits the control of the US military by foreign officiers.
There are a number of things that we, as Americans, do not understand about WWI.
page 566; As the numbers became known, the shock echoed through the entire AEF (American Exp. Force). The battalion of the Fifth Marines that had been trapped in the "box" north of Blanc Mont Ridge had numbered a thousand men. By the end of the fighting, one hundred thirty-four marched out.
Beginning on page 634, the truth about this war is revealed in better words than any I had read before;
The Legacy of the "War to End All Wars"
The numbers tell the tale. In four years of the most brutal combat the world has ever seen, nearly ten million men die on the battlefiend or in the hospitals nearby. The cost in human life can be translated to the loss of more than five thousand men every day the war was fought. Thus an entire generation of young men is erased from the furutre of humanity.
In all fifty-seven countries participate on some level in the Great War. The war, and the subsequent treaties that fillow, radically alter the map of Europe and the Middle East. Where once were kings and empires, from Germany to Austria-Hungrary, Turkey to Russia, new governments arise, new leaders place their names in the history books.
In the United States, the cost of the war is horifying in its own way. Over fifty thousand men die, a number that pales in comparison to the losses of the other major participants. But the American deaths occur in the relatively brief period from May to November 1918. The number is errily similar to the losses suffered in the Vietnam War, losses that occur over a period of fourteen years. Other numbers are appalling as well. In the fledgling American Air Service, one-third of all pilots who report for duty in Europe are killed. ...
All in all, the book is a hero-worship book; all praise to those who gave their all for the United States!
To me, it is a momument to the ignorance of people that would scariface their children to the war profiteers who would rule the earth.... through our ignorance, and willingness to kill each other.... for 'them.'
A book well worth reading to gain knowledge and understanding. I do recommend it.