"The Guns of August" is the narrative history of the first month of World War I. It describes the strategies of the generals, the preparation and morale of the armies of the nations at war and the everyday problems of the field commanders.
"Fascinating . . . One of the finest works of history written . . . A splendid and glittering performance."
–The New York Times
"MORE DRAMATIC THAN FICTION . . . A MAGNIFICENT NARRATIVE . . . elegantly phrased, skillfully paced and sustained . . . The product of painstaking and sophisticated research."
–Chicago Tribune
"A BRILLIANT PIECE OF MILITARY HISTORY which proves up to the hilt the force of Winston Churchill's statement that the first month of World War I was 'a drama never surpassed.' A writer with an impeccable sense of telling detail, Mrs. Tuchman is able to evoke both the enormous pattern of the tragedy and the minutiae which make it human."
–Newsweek
"[A] BEAUTIFULLY ORGANIZED, COMPELLING NARRATIVE."
–San Francisco Chronicle
"AN EPIC NEVER FLAGGING IN SUSPENSE . . . It seemed hardly possible that anything new of significance could be said about the prelude to and the first month of World War I. But this is exactly what Mrs. Tuchman has succeeded in doing . . . by transforming the drama's protagonists as well as its immense supporting cast, from half-legendary and half shadowy figures into full-dimensional, believable persons."
–The Christian Science Monitor
"EXCELLENT . . . [The Guns of August] has a vitality that transcends its narrative virtues."
–The Wall Street Journal
Barbara W. Tuchman achieved prominence as a historian with The Zimmermann Telegram and international fame with The Guns of August, which won the Pulitzer Prize. There followed five more books: The Proud Tower, Stilwell and the American Experience in China (also awarded the Pulitzer Prize), A Distant Mirror, Practicing History, and The March of Folly. The First Salute was Mrs. Tuchman’s last book before her death in February 1989.