World War I: The Essential Reference Guide

Tucker (formerly Virginia Military Inst.) begins this work with an informative overview of the Great War and two insightful chapters on its causes and consequences. Next are 83 articles of one to two pages on the conflict's most prominent battles, participants, terms, and treaties. All entries are signed and include resources for further reading. Maps, photographs, selected primary documents, an extensive chronology, a detailed bibliography, and a comprehensive index supplement the text. The monthly chronology is particularly noteworthy, as it tracks events on an almost daily basis, providing users with a sense of how situations unfolded over the war's duration. At the same time, the guide's many maps lay out battle campaigns precisely and clearly. All 54 contributors, primarily military historians and specialists from American universities and war colleges, write in a credible, descriptive, judicious, and readable style. This title does not replace narrative classics such as Winston Churchill's The World Crisis, John Keegan's The First World War, or Hew Strachan's The First World War. Instead, like Colin Nicholson's The Longman Companion to the First World War, it is a commendable ready reference that admirably reaches its intended audience.