Sprawling ... In cogent and steady prose, Pettegree recounts an array of historical moments ... Pettegree clearly possesses an exceptional breadth of knowledge, in addition to a skill for nuanced narrative and convincing arguments ... Often fascinating ... Pettegree’s fondness for detail is at times indulgent ... Evocative.
This is a big, eclectic, eccentric, and discursive book ... This is a long, loping read, a campaign to reveal functions of reading that we often take for granted. The results are expansive, rather than reductive, and well worth the fight, as long as you’re willing to learn a little about Prussian history along the way.
Fascinating ... The book has been many things during times of war — a comfort, a provocation and a menacing threat. Now, and not for the first time, it is a sandbag too.
Endlessly fascinating ... Overwhelmingly a western history. Much, then, remains to be written about the books that circulate around the globe - but for now, Pettegree has reminded us of their frontline position in a world of perpetual conflict.
The range of reference is vast and at times dizzying ... Pettegree is a vigorous guide, but the breadth and rapidity of the coverage result in some lack of nuance.
Pettegree humanizes his narrative with lively anecdotes and facts that change the way the subject is approached ... The writing is brisk, the scholarship formidable. This is an eminently approachable study that opens a new way of making sense of World Wars I and II.
