Product Description

Covering the period before World War I, this book examines the world from the patrician society of Britain in the 1890s and early-20th century to the worldwide anarchist movement.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #456068 in Books
• Published on: 1997-11-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

Customer Reviews

History how it should be; both entertaining and informative
The Proud Tower is a book about people, or more specifically, about the people of the period immediately before the First World War. In a whistle stop tour of the planet, the ever brilliant Tuchman takes on a roller coaster ride through the political and social worlds of the times. Focus falls predominantly on the structure, ways and sentiments of the societies of the worlds greatest powers. In her portraits of the changing worlds of British, German, French and American life in the period 1890-1914, Barbara Tuchman provides us with a unique insight into the state of the world in this precarious period of history. It is in her chapter on Germany that Tuchman excells. Focussing on the way that the music of Strauss reflects German society she portrays a society in turmoil. Bismarck had fallen and all the forces that this "sorcerers apprentice" had juggled during his time in office, came crashing down on top of German society. Tuchman is the best account I have read on the turmoil and contradictions of society and the immense changes taking place in the political world. This book is a must for those who wish to try and comprehend the time that preceded one of the greatest tragedies in human history.