July 1914: Countdown to War (Sean McMeekin)

[@martgatz75]

Currently reading this book and have Stalin’s War up next. This was a great rundown. I’ve been searching for a modern historian I can read and not cringe at. McMeekin’s work is really good.

[@CharlesHaywood]

I have a "Stalin's War" review too . . . . Also "The Russian Revolution."

[@skenzyme81]

Is this another excellent book that I can only get from a private seller for $400?

[@CharlesHaywood]

Nope. Cheap!

[@simonbagel]

Recently visited the National WWI Museum in Kansas City. I anticipated typical US War propaganda. Not so, although the moneyed influences that motivated both Churchill and Wilson were largely ignored. Anyway, a must see if you're passing through that town.

[@chickenfishhybrid44]

I assume a lot of the same "propaganda" was present and active at the time? Not including it might almost be inaccurate, no?

[@SalmonJonesTheMagnificent]

Fantastic museum, really really is worth the trip. Something you really come away from it realizing is that the american "every war is a massive moral crusade" thing has been around a LOT longer than most people think. Some of the displays of war propaganda, from over a hundred years ago, are just astounding. Who even remembers the Kaiser, let alone cares about him anymore? But at the time the state made it very clear he was the actual devil incarnate, just like other germans we haven't liked throughout history, or putin now. Same thing, different time. America doesn't go to war, it goes on a crusade against old scratch, no matter how little sense that makes at the time or looking back on it. And most americans believe it.