Don Hazen, Adam Hochschild: Ending All Wars!

Adam Hochschild has a unique view of history. Though the story of great wars is normally told through expanding empires, heroes and villains, as well as the battles, he does not ignore the big moments. In his newest book: "To end all wars" he takes readers into the insanity of World War I and the unfathomable and unstoppable march to war, including the narratives of people who fought slavery, colonialism and the insane and apparently unstoppable march to war. In his newest book, "To end all wars", he takes readers on an extraordinary, novelesque journey into the unbelievable insanity of World War I, and the unfathomable idiocy of the upper-crust British military leaders who orchestrated the slaughter of millions of volunteer soldiers, mostly from the working class. He showcases the enormous heroism of those who fought against what they saw as the inevitable disaster of World War I, as well as those caught up in the patriotic war fervor. As always, there were the contradictions, the splits in families between brothers and sisters, father and sons, who took opposite directions in their response to the madness that overtook Europe in the years leading up to and including 1914. My grandfather in Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland) who fought in Germany's Western Front) was an eyewitness to the folly of war's barbarism, and he tried very hard to keep my father out of the horror of World War II, but failed. When it became my turn to fight in Vietnam, my father told me: Though the German officers were Nazi's, they always demanded to lead the most dangerous missions. If you cannot follow their example, don't return to this household. When I returned from Vietnam, I saluted and told my father: "Mission accomplished - all of my men returned safely to their families. And that is what it means to be an officer."