The way a narrative history book should be written. Treasure this book.

Probably the best popular history of WWI that I’ve seen. Does an excellent job of zooming in from the big picture to the individuals acting within(and often in ignorance of) it, and back. Does an excellent job of tying together the personalities, politics, plans, cultural forces, technological advances, and terrible follies that caused the old world to spin apart in a sudden and inexorable conflagration that almost nobody seemed able to anticipate or resist.

I finally bought my own copy of this book, and will resume reading it when I clear my backlog of library books.