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A review by gregbrown
To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918 by Adam Hochschild
5.0
Excellent book on World War One that exceeded my expectations, chronicling not only the anti-war movement in Britain but also the shape of the war as a whole. Probably my favorite I've read on the conflict so far.
Hochschild does a great job focusing on both the individual interesting personalities in the movement—many with family vocally for the war—while drawing in the current events and larger context that drove them to keep escalating their opposition. He really captures the way media and society was mobilized to gin up energy to keep fighting, and ensure loyalty by soldiers and civilians despite the mounting horror that ensued.
There's a certain fated melancholy that pervades the book: we know they failed and we know the war ground on for four years, chewing up millions more lives than any expectations and leading directly to an even larger and deadlier conflict two decades later.
Hochschild does a great job focusing on both the individual interesting personalities in the movement—many with family vocally for the war—while drawing in the current events and larger context that drove them to keep escalating their opposition. He really captures the way media and society was mobilized to gin up energy to keep fighting, and ensure loyalty by soldiers and civilians despite the mounting horror that ensued.
There's a certain fated melancholy that pervades the book: we know they failed and we know the war ground on for four years, chewing up millions more lives than any expectations and leading directly to an even larger and deadlier conflict two decades later.