Monday, 3 February 2014

Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914, Donna Tartt, The Secret History

Due to the centenary, there's an awful lot of stuff around about the First World War at the moment; silhouettes of tin-hatted Tommies standing mournfully in a muddy field are everywhere. 'The sleepwalkers' is meant to be the best examination of how on earth Europe managed to implode in 1914, and is very good at debunking the various German expansionist/Naval rivalry/Russian designs on the Balkans explanations in favour of there being no great design or conspiracy, just dysfunctional diplomats sleep walking towards hostilities despite no-one wanting it.

'The Secret History' was leant to me by a work colleague, and came with excellent reviews 'Truly deserving of the accolade Modern Classic', apparently.  I wasn't that gripped by the fairly common tale of spoilt college kids forming a clique, accidentally murdering someone and then attempting to cover it up. It's the same plot as 'I Know What You Did Last Summer'. 

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