n interesting premise here. Jeff Shaara, a historian, writes a fictional account with real people, trying his best to tell the events of a war (this time, World War One) from the surmised point of view from some of the people who lived (and died) in it. For this novel, the author chose four people to represent various viewpoints – Rosco Temple (an American doughboy), John J. Pershing (his general), Manfred Von Richthofen (the “Red Baron”) and Raoul Lufbery (one of the early fliers in the Lafayette Escadrille, a French squadron of Americans). Other historic figures are also encountered, and one or two get their own chapters, but really, it comes down to the big four.

And here’s where I have a bit of a problem with this book. Sure, American really entered the war at a critical moment and likely turned the outcome around. Without America, any peace would have been simply all sides giving up. But really, almost everyone in the book is American, and it mostly deals with the issues of getting an American army into the field. In that, the book largely ignores the lives of millions of men who lived (and died) in the trenches. Other nationalities, millions of men with millions of experiences, are overlooked. The focus on the book is on Americans, and the first two years don’t really count.

Second, half the book is devoted to the various air services. Look at the characters – two of the four are pilots, so much of the book is about flying. Sure, I’m a WW1 nerd. But a history book this thick, one that uses historic fiction to place us into the action, should be focused on a broader front. What was it like in a u-boat? A zeppelin? An ambulance? What about the Italian front? Russian? My grandfather was in the field artillery, as a spotter (a very dangerous position) – not a lick of a word about that.

So yes, those are my two issues with this novel – it’s really about the American experience (from two guys over two years). This war was vast. This book was focused.

But interesting.

>>>MY OWN HISTORIC FICTION, HERE<<<