Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World,   ISBN:9780375760525

Customer Rating: 

Other reviewers have covered this book thoroughly and well. My single point is that the Paris Peace Conference turned geographic areas with highly heterogeneous populations into artificial nation-states based on a single ethnicity-culture and ignoring all the other ethnicities-cultures within their boundaries. We live with the results today, as these nation-states splinter apart. While watching the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver winter Olympics I was struck by the presence of such countries as "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia." The history of this period is so convoluted I cannot begin to follow the chronological threads; it's like trying to follow a single piece of confetti to the ground in a parade. But it's interesting, exciting reading.

Customer Rating: 

I was channel surfing and one of the stations we get is the military channel. Trust me, I very rarely stop at that channel because its usually about weapons and things of that nature. No interest there for me. BUT, this day they were showing a documentary based on this book and I was hooked. I love history for exactly the same reason people like Macmillian write it. To get to know the very human people that were part of it. This book is a gem because it goes beyond the surface level of those who were there. I highly recommend this.

Customer Rating: 

Though I agree with most reviews; what I came away with most is the interaction of the various countries: their demands, their weaving diplomacies, their fears, greed, etc. Many expected another conflict in the not too distant future. The apparent lack of geographic knowledge the principals had; yet had the temerity to know where the borders, boundaries, and peoples should live was disquieting. The tragedy of the war should have been SHOWN TO THE WHOLE OF GERMAN PEOPLE IN ENOUGH DETAIL FOR THEM TO APPRECIATED WHAT WAS WROUGHT ON FRANCE & BRITAIN & OTHERS!

Customer Rating: 

I looked forward to reading this book immensely, but is poor. Also I recommend reading: "THE HOAX OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY" by Arthur R. Butz.

Customer Rating: 

Why is our world in such a mess today? Why do we have constant political problems in Israel-Palestine, in the Balkans, in Iraq and the Middle East, between the U.S. and France, and so on?

Are these issues a result of events happening today or yesterday?

All of these issues, and many others, are in one way or another tied to the resolution of World War I, which was, historians tell us, triggered by the assassination of an Austrian prince in Sarajevo. The Germans and the Austria-Hungarians then commenced a war that was largely fought in the trenched fields of France and Belgium. Millions died on all sides, including the Russian front.

When the war was over, due to surrender by the Germans before the war crossed the Rhine, the Paris Peace Conference was convened to settle the political fallout. New countries were created, old borders re-drawn, entreaties granted or denied, and the personalities and relationship of Woodrow Wilson, Clemenceau, and Lloyd George created a new world order. The war to end all wars, of course, was a failure in many ways, not the least of which the breakout of another war with a generation.

Many of the whys and wherefores of the Twentieth Century emanate from the Paris Peace Conference. We see the fallout everyday in the press.

Paris: 1919 is a historical masterpiece. In many places it reads like a history book, complete with the author's feelings about the nature of conversations that did or could have taken place. On the other hand, it is an easy read in terms of focusing on the history of places or events that are of interest to you.

In my case, I have always been fascinated by Turkey, Israel-Palestine, the Crusades, the Byzantine Empire, Roman and Greek conquest and administration of the area, and so on. These subjects are addressed in the final 150 or so pages. I read each word, riveted by the role that one of my favorite historical characters (T.E. Lawrence, the ubiquitous Lawrence of Arabia) played in the peace process.

I found Paris: 1919 to be amazingly thought-provoking. Would the world be a better place today if Woodrow Wilson had had a different personality, or if the U.S. had taken the Palestinian Mandate?

Could Barack Obama, Gordon Brown, and Nicholas Sarkozy to a better job if we had a Paris: 2010 Peace Conference?

If you wonder about the politics of today, spend a few hours in the politics of 1919-1920 and let your own thoughts soar.