Review by Choice Review
Because of the complexity of WW I, historians of the era frequently must limit their focus to single aspects of the war, providing depth but little attention to the interconnections among the social, political, and military facets of the conflict. Tooley (Austin College) addresses these connections skillfully, providing a concise but meticulous work that compares tactics, trenches, generals, propaganda, popular music, and many other facets of wartime life among the belligerent nations. Shell shortages, for instance, hit all of the armies on the western front within months of August 1914, and the attempts to resolve these shortages gradually revealed that the old styles of political and economic organization were no longer effective. The author argues that the escalation of wartime expenses, battlefield carnage, and mechanization that occurred in 1916 and afterward led to increased administrative controls over civilian populations and industry and changed the nature of government for the rest of the century. The necessity for heavy-handed political intervention in national economies from 1916 through the end of the war provided opportunities for authoritarian leadership in the postwar decades. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. E. J. Jenkins Arkansas Tech University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
