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A review by chicagobob
The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Christopher Clark
3.0
On the one hand, a strong explanation of how WW I came to break out. It's like a good history seminar for seniors majoring in history on the subject with all the details.
On the other hand a tough book to get through. The writing is fine, but not especially graceful. There are other works of history whose writing does a much better job of making them readable by both a purely academic audience and also the in-between audience interested in something semi-popular that can be read.
Specific quibble: The book would have been hugely helped by a list of the major players up front. There are a lot of them, and many of them are not familiar names to 21st century US or British readers.
On the other hand a tough book to get through. The writing is fine, but not especially graceful. There are other works of history whose writing does a much better job of making them readable by both a purely academic audience and also the in-between audience interested in something semi-popular that can be read.
Specific quibble: The book would have been hugely helped by a list of the major players up front. There are a lot of them, and many of them are not familiar names to 21st century US or British readers.