To The Last Man

Author: Jeff Shaara
Published: 2004
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 4

Summary
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. In the skies, 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.
Review
As expected from Shaara, the work is well-researched and written. My understanding of trench warfare and of aerial combat increased significantly. However, the first two-thirds of the work drug a bit. It was difficult to identify with the flying aces and their attitude about their conquests (although I am sure that was portrayed accurately). The final third of the book moves much more quickly.

Notes
As expected in any work about war, this book contains a lot of swearing. Most of it is of the "Biblical" kind.