Book Review: The Price of Glory...

Written by Alistair Horne, The Price of Glory is an eminently readable history of the horrifying Battle of Verdun in 1916, during the first World War.  The perspective of the narrator rambles over almost every possible position, often deliberately contrasting perspectives within a few sentences of each other.  For instance, in describing the battle for Fort Douaumont, the narrative flips freely from the perspective of the German attacker to the French defender, then from a front-line soldier to the battalion commander and then to the commanding general and even the politicians.  Horne is adept at weaving all these perspectives into a story that gives the reader a much deeper appreciation of the entire event.

And what an event!  Even before I read this book, I'd read enough about WWI to make the word “Verdun” unusually evocative of the horror of war.  After reading this book, I have the same deeply horrified feeling one has after reading one of Edgar Allen Poe's novels – with the additional frisson of knowing that Verdun really happened.  And, one can't help but think, might possibly happen again...

Highly recommended reading for anyone with even the slightest interest in World War I...

Link to Amazon: The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916