Last year for Vignovic Book Club, my son and I read The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman (winner of a Pulitzer Prize). Her book briefly covers the events of July 1914 but is mostly concerned with the first month (August 1914) of battle. Just saying I finished GOA but my son got bogged down and "stuck in the trenches". Both books take a top down look at the beginning months of World War I, and as I said last year--what a mess. I don't want to start ranting about the ineptitude of old white men in government--especially not now as America is ramping up for true chaos--sorry I mean the 2024 presidental election that is looming ever closer this November.

Mr. McMeekin does an admireable job narrating the genesis of World War I and his book draws on troves of archives and new evidence across Europe to show how a single month--and a handful of men (old, white)--changed the course of the twentieth century. (paraphased from blurb on the back cover)