To the Last Man: A Novel of the First World War
by Jeffrey M. Shaara
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jeffrey M. ShaaraEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-10-26
ISBN: 0345461347
Number of pages: 672
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of To the Last Man: A Novel of the First World War
Book Review: Powerful "Through The Eyes Of" Treatment of WWI
Summary: 5 Stars
Jeff Shaara has written and written well about famous Americans fighting America's wars . . . he has brought the Civil War, the American Revolution, and the Mexican War to life magnificently.
Fortunately for us, Shaara set his sights on America's involvement in World War I, which is a surprisingly overlooked conflict in America's military history. After reading "To the Last Man," one wonders how WWI can be so neglected -- the events chronicled in Shaara's new novel rival anything that WWII or Vietnam could offer.
True to form, Shaara follows a few characters around as his novel explores the different aspects of the war. The lion's share of the novel focuses on four men: General "Black Jack" Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force; Raoul Lufbery, one of the first American pilots to fly in combat; Manfred von Richtofen (the Red Baron), the hunter of the skies; and Roscoe Temple, a Marine in the front lines. Shaara focuses on each character one chapter at a time, and he manages to balance these often-independent storylines very well.
After some brief character exposition and a horrifying introduction to trench warfare through the eyes of an anonymous infantryman, Shaara focuses his story on Lufbery and the Red Baron. WWI saw the introduction of aircraft to the military as a combat vehicle, and these two men are pioneers in dogfighting. The Red Baron is a hunter's hunter, a killing machine whom Shaara imbues with a noble, reticent humanity (the Baron's scenes with his beloved Great Dane are heartbreaking).
Lufbery's situation is more complicated. Isolationist America won't enter this European war, but many Americans realize the plight we will be in if Germany's aggression is not beaten back. So wealthy Americans send their dollars and a handful of their sons to form the American contingent of the French Air Force. Initially outclassed by the German pilots and German aircraft, the fledgling Allied air force takes its lumps but quickly learns the game, and Lufbery is a master pilot. Shaara imbues the dogfighting scenes with a vivid realism that brings the reader into the cockpit.
Shaara also brings the reader into the hangars and the bars where the pilots spend their off-duty hours, and we see the psychic toll on both the Baron and Lufbery as their original cast of comrades grows smaller and smaller, and both men realize what the war is doing to them and their countrymen. The parallel tales of these two airmen meet a climax at the midpoint of the novel that is truly moving.
The second half of the novel follows General Pershing as he attempts to build an American army out of nothing . . . and in spite of the incompetence back in Washington D.C. and the dueling motives of the European allies. Pershing's achievements deserve greater recognition than he has received, but Shaara's book is a step in the right direction.
The second half of the novel also follows Marine rifleman Roscoe Temple as he journeys into the front lines and indeed the very teeth of the German army. Temple begins his sojourn as green as they come, but by the end of the book Temple is a haunted, scarred veteran who understands the vast gulf between a civilian and a veteran. Temple's tale may be the most powerful of them all, as Temple learns first-hand the shock and horror of what trench warfare can do to your friends, and what that means to your family back home.
Americans need to appreciate WWI more than we do. Our nation overcame its isolationist tendencies to send millions of young men overseas to fight for soil that was not theirs. This event laid the groundwork for our massive mobilization in WWII, but WWI was the first time America asserted itself so magnificently on the world stage. Shaara's novel is a great education for those, like me, who did not appreciate our involvement and the tremendous sacrifices made by so many.
Summary of To the Last Man: A Novel of the First World War
Jeff Shaara has enthralled readers with his New York Times bestselling novels set during the Civil War and the American Revolution. Now the acclaimed author turns to World War I, bringing to life the sweeping, emotional story of the war that devastated a generation and established America as a world power.Spring 1916: the horror of a stalemate on Europe?s western front. France and Great Britain are on one side of the barbed wire, a fierce German army is on the other. Shaara opens the window onto the otherworldly tableau of trench warfare as seen through the eyes of a typical British soldier who experiences the bizarre and the horrible?a ?Tommy? whose innocent youth is cast into the hell of a terrifying war.
In the skies, meanwhile, technology has provided a devastating new tool, the aeroplane, and with it a different kind of hero emerges?the flying ace. Soaring high above the chaos on the ground, these solitary knights duel in the splendor and terror of the skies, their courage and steel tested with every flight.
As the conflict stretches into its third year, a neutral America is goaded into war, its reluctant president, Woodrow Wilson, finally accepting the repeated challenges to his stance of nonalignment. Yet the Americans are woefully unprepared and ill equipped to enter a war that has become worldwide in scope. The responsibility is placed on the shoulders of General John ?Blackjack? Pershing, and by mid-1917 the first wave of the American Expeditionary Force arrives in Europe. Encouraged by the bold spirit and strength of the untested Americans, the world waits to see if the tide of war can finally be turned.
From Blackjack Pershing to the Marine in the trenches, from the Red Baron to the American pilots of the Lafayette Escadrille, To the Last Man is written with the moving vividness and accuracy that characterizes all of Shaara?s work. This spellbinding new novel carries readers?the way only Shaara can?to the heart of one of the greatest conflicts in human history, and puts them face-to-face with the characters who made a lasting impact on the world.
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