Mead, Gary. The doughboys; America and the First World War.

Overlook, dist. by Penguin Putnam. 494p. illus. notes, bibliog, index, c2000. 1-58567-323-4. $19.95. A

For the United States, the Great War was a time of heroism and fearful carnage, of lightly trained but ebullient troops coming to the rescue of England and France, but also of bewildered despair in the trenches. The final victory came perhaps a little too soon for the war's grimmer realities to make a lasting impression on the nation's consciousness. Consequently, even the most recent popular histories tend to dwell on the undeniable heroism of America's doughboys at Cantigny and Belleau Wood, rather than the tactical mistakes and the rather shocking level of casualties.

Mead's book begins, wisely enough, with an ail-but-unarmed nation heeding the war drums in Europe, and ends with hardened American troops blundering around in Siberia. In between, the author shows the enthusiasm and outright heroism of America's citizen soldiers, naive as they often were, even as their allied partners watched cynically and the Germans looked forward to a wholesale slaughter of the lightly trained newcomers. The resulting American casualties were far higher than commonly supposed, but the raw newcomers quickly learned the art of war. The book's overall tone is realistic and occasionally iconoclastic, not an antiwar screed, but a coolly objective look at themes long thought sacred. Military buffs will be surprised, for instance, to learn that General Pershing's tactics were indeed as obsolete and unrealistic as his allied counterparts maintained. But nothing succeeds like success. Pershing's strategies were unstoppable; the Kaiser's superb troops were indeed driven back and the course of European history was changed.

Mead is a writer, not an historian, but his fresh take on this oft-told tale is worth reading, and his skill with words makes it a pleasure. For adult public collections, but interested YA readers will enjoy it too. Raymond L. Puffer, PhD, Historian, Edwards Air Force Base, CA