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kburns2004's review
4.0
Such a fascinating book. I picked up on the recommendation of Dan Carlin and I wasn't disappointed at all. It's so crazy how much was left behind after wars and what needs to be done to clean up.
tartancrusader's review
4.0
A thoroughly gripping account of what happens to battlefields after the war is over. It looks at the work needed to clean them up and dispose of the ordinance left behind. From the unexploded artillery shells that still turn up to this day in the fields of France, to the disposal of chemical weapons in accordance with disarmament treaties, this is utterly fascinating stuff.
snailkite28's review
5.0
We all know that war happens and assume that when one is over, that's it. Life goes back to normal. Webster shows that this is definitely not the case--not with any war. He begins with WWI then each subsequent chapter moves on to the next war, ending with the Gulf War. (The final chapter is a description of the chemical weapons destruction facility in Tooele, Utah.) In each chapter, Webster visits a country that was involved in the war (France--WWI, Russia--WWII, Vietnam--Vietnam War, Kuwait--Gulf War) and describes what is left behind. The aftermath includes unexploded bombs, live land mines, and chemical agents in the bloodstream of agent orange victims. All will take time to clean up and there are many lives lost in the process of doing just that. "There is no such thing as a good war and there is no such thing as a bad peace." Ben Franklin
dreamwanderer's review
4.0
Many history books spend a great deal of time on the events leading up to a war which is necessary but personally, I have always been interested in what happened after the guns go silent and the treaties are signed. What happens after everyone goes home? What if they have no home to go home to? What is the effect on communities where a percentage of their young men are lost, or even in some cases if the town itself is lost?
Donovan Webster wondered the same thing. Traveling to France he wandered over the old WWI battlefields that still scar the landscape. The huge craters from underground bombs are now little ponds, added touches to golf courses but everyone knows if someone started digging around they would find human remains. Unexploded ordinances are still a 'thing', often displaced by locale farmers. A special team of brave demolition experts goes from place to place collecting armaments. The idea that this would be necessary 100 years after the war shocks the mind into realizing the scope and awfulness of the first World War. There are acres of land where no one can walk because it is still too dangerous. Human remains are often uncovered. This was from 100 years ago.
If the reader cannot comprehend this, then Stalingrad is ten times worse. Acres and acres of still unburied bodies. Tanks left scattered on the landscape. The Russian Government allowed the Germans to come in and bury their dead but would allow no monuments, just simple markers. It is terrible.
Webster travels to Sarajevo, Viet Nam, Kuwait and the parts of the American West that were the test sites for nuclear missiles. Everywhere the effects of war on the planet and on the present population are observed and recorded.
It's a sobering story and not for the faint of heart.
Donovan Webster wondered the same thing. Traveling to France he wandered over the old WWI battlefields that still scar the landscape. The huge craters from underground bombs are now little ponds, added touches to golf courses but everyone knows if someone started digging around they would find human remains. Unexploded ordinances are still a 'thing', often displaced by locale farmers. A special team of brave demolition experts goes from place to place collecting armaments. The idea that this would be necessary 100 years after the war shocks the mind into realizing the scope and awfulness of the first World War. There are acres of land where no one can walk because it is still too dangerous. Human remains are often uncovered. This was from 100 years ago.
If the reader cannot comprehend this, then Stalingrad is ten times worse. Acres and acres of still unburied bodies. Tanks left scattered on the landscape. The Russian Government allowed the Germans to come in and bury their dead but would allow no monuments, just simple markers. It is terrible.
Webster travels to Sarajevo, Viet Nam, Kuwait and the parts of the American West that were the test sites for nuclear missiles. Everywhere the effects of war on the planet and on the present population are observed and recorded.
It's a sobering story and not for the faint of heart.
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