 "A must read..." | 2009-09-29 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1TOD19KD2ITK0 |
... but not as good as other great history books. Still, I would recommend people to read the book to get some perspective on what happened in those six months. What went wrong and what some of the reasons are. If you are looking for perspective, this book will give you some of that. I didn't think it was as well written as some of Robert K Massie's books (Dreadnought is a much better read for example).
If you are interested in multiple perspectives about WWI I would recommend to read the following:
1) Dreadnought - Robert K. Massie
2) Guns of August - Barbara Tuchman (excellent in itself)
3) Paris 1919 (as reviewed above)
These three books will give you the lead-in to the war, the early days of the actual war (and why the Germans failed) and some perspective on the aftermath... |
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 "excellent primer to strt a study of the 20th century" | 2009-08-30 |
| - Reviewed By lesfearns |
Margaret Macmillans "Peacemakers" is the book I wished had been written when I was a student (or as I covered the Peace Treaties year after year with my examination students beginning their exam courses). It is valuable on two levels. Firstly there is the obvious: a study of the drafting and setting up of the Peace treaties that ended the First World War. Macmillan writes in a clear readable manner, portraying the key participants, Wilson, Clemenceau & Lloyd George as very human characters, grappling with enormous issues but also showing up their flaws. Wilson for example, spending too much time on the creation of the League and failing to focus on the inconsistencies of Versailles re his 14 Points (especially concerning the German minorities left in Poland & Czechoslovakia). Equally his failure to see the need for US all party support dooms the settlement to US rejection.
The book also shows clearly the emergence of the Anglo-Saxon alliance that is to develop as the 20th century progressed. Most of all it presents the three as facing a novel situation: no real precedents; the sudden German collapse presented no time to prepare for the peace; the pressure of public opinion limited the freedom of action and forced some decisions the three knew would cause future problems. Additionally they were hemmed in by a desire to prevent the further growth of a feared new ideology adopted by their earlier ally - Bolshevism. It is clear the ending of World War 2 was to be very different, much as a consequence of these 1919 issues: no big postwar conference, no deputations from smaller nations. Rather 1945 produced a peace that the Great Powers could realistically enforce on their own, and in their own interests.
But perhaps the real value of the book is on another level. It is an excellent primer for the 20th century. Coverage is gloabal as Macmillan goes into detail about the creation and future problems not just of eastern & central Europe but also the Far and Middle East. For Example Japan's concerns over the inclusion of a League principle to guarantee racial equality reveal the depth of unease the west (and especially the white Dominions) had in dealing with a newly industrialised & strong Japan. There is also a clear explanation of the role the Great War played in the rise of an expansionist Japan in China which is not always dealt with in western textbooks.
My only reservation is that perhaps like the Peacemakers Macmillan may have ignored the Germans. The full footnotes, bibliography and listing of unpublished sources lack any in German indicating a reliance only on what has appeared in English. Nonetheless, this is a key resource for those beginning courses on 20th century history, making clear the origin of what become the dominant problems and concerns that mark out the century's progression, or in many cases, regression. |
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| "Books should be made to last..." | 2009-08-06 |
| - Reviewed By User: A38ZKVGI4ZME7X |
This was a very comprehensive and well-researched book, far superior to anything I have read on the topic. It is well organized and very readable, filled with facts and wonderful anecdotes.
However, I paid full retail for this book, brand new off the shelf, and the book fell apart in my hands on the first reading! I know how to take care of a book, and when a book cannot endure a single reading without the binding coming apart, I can only conclude that the publisher has lost control of its manufacturing process.
I offer my kudos to Ms. MacMillan for her fine work. Shame on Random House for such shoddy manufacturing and quality control.
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| "Enjoyable and historically detailed" | 2009-06-09 |
| - Reviewed By stratiotes_doxha_theon |
By way of anecdotes and biographical sketches, Ms. Macmillan gives a detailed and studious yet thoroughly enjoyable history of the early 20th century treaty that shaped the modern world. Unlike many scholars of the post WWI peace, Ms. Macmillan does not focus on the faults and she does not feed the notion that Paris 1919 made the second world war inevitable. Instead she focuses on the monumental task set before the allies and the impossibility of a just settlement that would please all. In the early 20th century many were still prone to loyalties to their religion or clan rather than identifying themselves with a particular national identity. This made the lofty ideals identified with President Wilson's "self-determination" principle impractical in implementation. Yet those same ideals, one voiced, took a life of their own and became the rallying cry for every special interest group, greedy politician, and self seeking thug. Personal conflicts between the allies only fed the long-standing prejudices and fears that led to further alienating African and Asian interests from the west.
In a sense we would agree with Ms. Macmillan that the events of Paris 1919 did not inevitably lead to the second world war. On the other hand, with the obstacles and impossibility of pleasing every party involved as she describes, it seems at times that she makes the point she is denying. But her writing style is absolutely enjoyable and immensely readable while still providing the depth desired by the most ardent student of the first world war years. Ms. Macmillan can only be compared with the likes of Barb Tuchman (see for instance, The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914) in her depth of knowledge and communications skills. A must have for any student wishing to understand the events of the early 20th century and the historical ripples that continue to follow those events today.
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 "A valentine for great grand dad" | 2009-05-24 |
| - Reviewed By User: AHJ6NK23TDO8O |
| I read the first 50 or so pages. when the author started gushing about her great grandfather David Lloyd George, "a cheerful, rosy-faced man", and a "natural optimist", in contrast to the horrible Woodrow Wilson and Georges Clemenceau, something drew me to the author bio on the back jacket. sure enough, Ms. McMillan has a rather startling bias. no thank you, I don't need to read your valentine. everything you say is suspect. there are too many other great books to read written by authors without a familial lineage to promote. good grief. |
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 "The Sweep and Scope of the Human Drama of History..." | 2009-04-20 |
| - Reviewed By mikekilianski |
Margaret Macmillan's Paris 1919 is a massive tome, running to almost 700 pages, that addresses one of the most controversial and convoluted historical subjects in all of its many complexities: the Paris Peace Accords that ended the First World War and launched the modern world into the violent and calamitous 20th century.
Whereas most histories on the subject previously written dealt exclusively with the Treaty of Versailles; the heavy burden of war reparations placed on Germany by the big 3 allies (Britain, France and the United States) and the exlusion of the Soviet Union from the entire peace process, Ms. Macmillan deals with these matters as well as delving even deeper to show the effects that the peace settlement had on the futures of peripheral nations in the Balkans, Africa and Asia who at that time were just coming out from beneath the yolk of western imperialism with the conclusion of the Great War.
By making Paris 1919 not just a story of political boundaries and post-war military wrangling over arms control, but rather by making it a tale of people, namely France's Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, Britain's Prime Minister David Lloyd George and America's President Woodrow Wilson, Ms. Macmillan makes those fateful months in that long ago Spring of 1919 come alive so that the reader can almost feel the trees begin to bloom along the Champs Elysee as the weather outside the conference room grows warmer.
Too often, histories dealing with the Treaty of Versailles have become but a footnote to the seemingly larger history of the later Second World War, or the rise of Nazism in Germany or Fascism in the Far East. But through a combination of lively writing, meticulous chronological research and concrete history, Ms. Macmillan makes sure that the reader's mindset becomes one with the contemporary mindset of the year 1919 because throughout the book she never loses her grip on the objective truth of that moment in history by becoming bogged down with the subjective benefit of nearly 100 years of historical hindsight.
If there is one overriding criticism that the reader could rightly voice about Paris 1919, it is that the work is TOO immediate and TOO intimate in its observations and that in her efforts to paint a literary mosaic containing the full scope and sweep of the human drama inherent in the peace process that ended World War One, Ms. Macmillan loses sight of some of the later negative ramifications that occured in our world as a result of what was decided in Paris during that spring of 1919.
It should also be noted that Ms. Macmillan is a descendant of the then British Prime Minister David Lloyd George. And I believe that as a result of that fact, she often times paints quite a forgiving picture of the British leader at the expense of others, most notably the French, whom it should always be kept in mind paid more dearly for the war in terms of human life and sheer destruction than any other nation with the possible exception of the aggressor nation of Germany. But, despite these slight criticisms, Paris 1919 is a wonderful example of thorough historical scholarship, human drama and an engaging narrative of a bygone era.
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