The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914 (Paperback)

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A collection of essays and magazine pieces published from 1962-65, Mrs. Tuchman attempts a snapshot of the major powers as well as two of the major movements: the first organized terrorist movement, Anarchism and the rise of... See more » A collection of essays and magazine pieces published from 1962-65, Mrs. Tuchman attempts a snapshot of the major powers as well as two of the major movements: the first organized terrorist movement, Anarchism and the rise of Communism which agitated and propelled that Lost World into the catastrophe that ended European dominance and put the remaining Empires (British, French, Belgian and Dutch) on life-support and led to the twin horrors of the Shoah and Communism. The "chapters" are only loosely linked by the theme announced in the sub-title: "A Portrait of the World Before the War." Mrs. Tuchman doesn't quite achieve that, put her fluid, graceful prose and easy, unostentatious erudition still make even the less significant pieces a pleasure to read. While an attempt was made to mould them into a homogenous whole, it doesn't quite work. They remain separate pieces. The qualities of the essays vary with the ones on German militarism and "L'Affaire Dreyfus" Chapters 4 and 6. Tuchman also badly misunderstands the greatest and most influential of all German 19th century philosophers--Nietzsche--but she's in excellent company there. Few students of philosophy properly understand Nietzche so it's hardly surprising a general historian would repeat the cliches and misunderstanding of that enemy of German militarism and premature proponent of European cosmopolitanism--a process not dissimilar to that which the US Civil War began and which is still not complete within the United States. As introduction to the period, the two above-noted essays are good enough. But a far better introduction to France before the war and the treason comitted by prominent French politicians as well as the Drefus Affair, Richard Watt's "Dare Call It Treason" is far superior. A much better examination of Wilhelmine Germany (1871-1918) is to be found in Alexandra Richie's monumental "Faust's Metropolis", a history--if not "biography"--of Berlin. Though the period in question forms only a part of Richie's book, it gives a much better account of the insane militarism and the peculiarly fin-de-siecle German qualities of inferiority and megalomania. The vision of the Kaiser conducting champagne-fueled, homosexual orgies is shocking when you remember that more than two million German soldiers were dying whilst this busted flush of an Emperor debauched and disgraced himself while his nation's manhood underwent its own holocaust that would destroy the social fabric of Germany. Indeed, the lack of focus in this book is its biggest weakness. "The Guns of August"--to which this book serves as a kind of preface or prolouge--and "A Distant Mirror" bring laser-like focus to one subject and use that to explore the ancillary subjects and illuminate their relationships to the "world-historical" events surrounding them. "Proud Tower" is essentially the ancillaries without the main event, the overture without the opera. With so many books about these two subjects, Wilhelmine Germany and Third Republic France (the longest French form of government to last since the French Revolution, 1871-1940), the book has little that strikes this reader as distinguishing it from the crowd. The essay on Anarchism is interesting in light of the War on Terror but, like the others, it provides little more than a superficial introduction to deeply complex events. Had Tuchman conceived and written this book "of a piece" it would probably have been far superior. On the other hand, it suffers from the defect which it shares with nearly all one-volume histories: in order to give a comprehensive account, the author must decide which events to leave out, which to gloss over and which to concentrate more fully upon. The fact the book is a collection of essays ramifies the defect. Tuchman's last book, "The March of Folly" shows that she could have done a much better job of linking widely different and complex historical events to an overarching theme. All in all, it fails to meet the brilliant standards of "The Guns of August," "A Distant Mirror" and the "Zimmerman Telegram." But, it does have the See less »

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19th century, 20th century, anarchism, anarchy, civil war, communism, economics, europe, france, history, philosophy, politics, social, society, terrorism, tuchman, united states, usa, world

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The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914 (Paperback)

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