An engrossing read encompassing the total mortality of approximately one million fatalities in a ratio of 550,000 French deaths to 450,000 German deaths. Verdun is a town of approximately 100,000 inhabitants but once was the seat of the French monarchies around 600 AD. The WW1 battles were principally to the North of the town ranging over both sides of the Meuse River in an area of perhaps 300 square miles. which equates to 3000 deaths per each square mile. The period of military activity was from 21 February 1916 to wars end on 11 November 1918. A period of approximately 950 days with a daily mortality of over a thousand deaths per day on average! The Verdun area of NE France is almost adjacent to the border with Germany. The US army was active in this area from 21 Sept 1918 until the armistice declare on 11 November and added another 10,000 deaths, or an additional 200 deaths per day. The writing was so realistic, that I did not discover that the book was in fact a history novel until I was over halfway completed. The language usage made for an easy read. From cover to cover a read of about 650pp. Unfortunately the book contains no maps. Verdun is approximately 150 miles east of Paris at about a 49 degrees latitude. My interests typically are not of the conduct of War but generally relate to the why only! However I believe that this book although only a novel is a must read to provide an insight into the life and death of technological wars that started with the era of the US Civil war and the approximately 600,000 deaths attributed to that US "civil" conflict. ( )

1205. Verdun, by Jules Romains (Jan 14, 1973) This is Volume VIII of the author's multi-volume Men of Good Will. I read this with some hesitation since I don't like to read a series except from the beginning. But I doubt I could have found the earlier volumes, and the battle of Verdun has long been a huge interest of mine: ever since reading Alistair Horne's matchless The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916 on Sept 7, 1964. Romains' volume on the battle spent more time telling of the characters peopling his epic, and since they were new to me I had less interest in them than I would have had if I had read the prior volumes. I never have read but this one book by Romains, immortalized by winning the 1915 Nobel Prize for literature. Here is a link: Amazon.com: Books: Men of Good Will ( )