James W. Gerard (1867–1951)

I thought this would be very dry reading and that I would quit very quickly. I bought the book because I love hardcover books. I was wrong about the subject and the writer. It was a personal look into the time leading up to and just after the start of WWI by the US ambassador during that time. I learned more about WWI and the German geography than I had known before. I had questions answered and learned things I didn't even know to ask. Although, there was some dry reading but the content was enough to keep my attention. The writer, who was the ambassador at the time, states from the beginning that the book is not a recount of the stuff already in history books and readily available in US State Department collections. I recommended it to an Economics college professor.… (meer)