To the Last Man

[Marilyne]

Cover says it’s the best FWW novel since “Im Westen nichts neues” and I agree !! It’s a superbly written book. Shaara mixes history and fiction by setting into scene then men of the American intervention in France. From Raoul Lufbery at the Escadrille Lafayette and the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen in the air to the AEF of General Pershing and Marine Roscoe Temple at Belleau Wood and St Mihiel. He manages to bring the reader to the direct action of the front and at the same time describe the intrigues on the political level but above all focuses on the MEN and their own perception of the war rather than the ranks and places they occupied in general culture. All the actors in the book are real-life persons in this first-rate storytelling.

[Mark Hone]

This book has generally received a pounding on the forum on previous threads. The consensus has been that it is poorly researched and shows little knowledge or understanding of the British in particular. Mr. Shaara is better off sticking to the American Civil War.