A great book, well-written and comprehensive, with the only demerit being that Clark uses the most complex grammar and vocabulary to explain even the simplest events or concepts.

The protagonists of 1914 were sleepwalkers, watchful but unseeing, haunted by dreams, yet blind to the reality of the horror they were about to bring into the world.

Anyone who knows me might find it bit unusual that I would be picking up a book about one of the World Wars, that it would take me over a month to read it, and that I would give it such a high rating. In fact, after I had finished school I was very much fed up with studying the two World Wars ad nauseam. This book, though, bares a mere passing resemblance to the narrative we were supposed to memorize in school. For one thing, Clark is not interested in producing another blame narrative. Instead he gives an account of how the events unfolded and the people that were involved. That might sound inconsequential, but it actually makes all the difference. Because nothing distorts a picture like the lining up of evidence against one side or the other. And conversely, few things will get you riled up about history like watching flawed people make ill advised decisions that lead to disastrous consequences you are still getting to experience today. I do agree with Clark that the events leading up to the Great War feel much more relevant today than they would have at any time since. That might have been one reason why I had to put the book down so much just to find my calm again.