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These past few weeks, I've been trudging through Barbara Tuchman's The Proud Tower, the history of Europe prior to WWI. She followed this work with The Guns of August, about WWI, which I plan to read after I complete next month's Carrollwood Cultural Center Book Club's choice of Just Kids by Patty Smith.

The information in TPT is all new to me. Nothing did I know in detail, just tiny snippets of events, such as The Dreyfus Affair, America's choice to become imperialistic, the phenomenal wealth of the aristocracy and the great gulf fixed between them and the everyday man; the contribution to thought by the writers of those days, including Oscar Wilde and his standout trial for pedophilia and homosexuality which even some of the aristocracy was doing but were not criminalized but instead were rushed away, out of sight and mind of the public; the Spanish-American war which included forced entry into the Philippines and Cuba; the many assassinations of those who represented privilege by Anarchists, including President McKinley; and the building of the U.S. Navy.

I would recommend this book highly for those desirous of quotes from sources from those twenty of so years. It's a fascinating piece of history that is totally addicting, for as I read Tuchman's book, I will take side roads into particular events sometimes lasting for days.

Do not pass by this book if you are interested in the events at the turn of European 20th Century. It is a treasure trove of thought and reporting. Do yourself a favor: obtain a copy for reading when your present list of books diminishes to nothing more than the writing of fiction. You owe it to yourself to tackle Mrs.Tuchman's manuscript with all its many

One of the best books by one of the best authors I've ever read. Tuchman, a two-time Pulitzer winner, constructed this book as a compendium of essays which provide perspective to the state of the world immediately prior to World War I. I have always thought of this period of history as a bit boring, but boy was I wrong.

If you've read The Guns Of August this book will make you aware of the state of the Western ethos of the times. There is a section on the distribution of wealth in Britain at this time as well as an essay on the anarchist movement which compares closely with the terrorism we see in the world today, as well as how the English aristocracy policed itself from causing scandals which would permit the lower classes from seeing them in their true light, to the workings of Parliament, and even the music of Strauss as well as many other essay topics.

I highly recommend this book to students of history interested in steeping themselves in the more subtle background history of the period between 1890 and 1914.