<p><b>Barbara Tuchman''s <i>The Guns of August</i> is a spellbinding history of the fateful first month when Britain went to war.</b><br><br><i>War pressed against every frontier. Suddenly dismayed, governments struggled and twisted to fend it off. It was no use . . .</i><br><br>Barbara Tuchman''s universally acclaimed, Pulitzer prize-winning account of how the first thirty days of battle determined the course of the First World War is to this day revered as <i>the</i> classic account of the conflict''s opening. From the precipitous plunge into war and the brutal and bloody battles of August 1914, Tuchman shows how events were propelled by a horrific logic which swept all sides up in its unstoppable momentum.<br><br><b>''Dazzling'' Max Hastings<br><br>''Magnificent'' <i>Guardian</i><br><br>''Fascinating, splendid, glittering. One of the finest works of history'' <i>New York Times<br></i><br>''A brilliant achievement'' <i>Sunday Telegraph</i></b></p>