HAYES, CARLETON JOSEPH HUNTLEY. Brief history of the great war. *$3.50 Macmillan 940.3
20–8603
The author states that he has essayed to sketch tentatively what seem to him to be the broad outlines of the war, the “domestic politics of the several belligerents no less than army campaigns and naval battles,—and in presenting his synthesis to be guided so far as in him lay by an honest desire to put heat and passion aside and to write candidly and objectively for the instruction of the succeeding generation.” (Preface) After giving in due order the various events and phases of the war the last chapter—A new era begins—is devoted to the settlement, the losses and the landmarks of the new era. The three appendices contain: The covenant of the league of nations; American reservations to the treaty of Versailles; and Proposed agreement between the United States and France. The book contains a select bibliography, an index, ten maps in color and numerous sketch maps.
“This is the best single-volume history of the great war which has so far appeared, and it is one of the very few which deserve serious consideration by professional students of history. It is written with a high degree of scientific responsibility, and not for mere purposes of journalism or propaganda. At present it holds practically a unique place for fullness of information, fairness, balance, and accuracy.” W: S. Davis
+ Am Hist R 26:91 O ’20 1250w
“Useful as a school text or reference.”
+ Booklist 17:24 O ’20
“In mastery of detail, in perspective, in proportion, in perspicuity, in philosophic grasp of his subject as a whole, he outclasses all rivals, whether they have written in English, in French, or in German. Even his faults, such little ones as may be picked out here and there, are but the excesses of his virtues. Thus, in his desire to make everything perfectly clear, he verges on the pedagogical. Certainly, by his lucidity and his impartiality he has attained a result unsurpassed by the poets and thinkers who have written on the war, by Sassoon or Barbusse, by Keynes or Bertrand Russell.” Preserved Smith
+ − Nation 111:46 Jl 10 ’20 850w