THE YANKS ARE COMING! A Military History of the United States in World War I By H W Crocker III

Publisher:  Regnery History
Release Date:  September 22, 2014
Pages:  404
Genre:  History
Reviewed By WC

About the Book:  Bestselling military historian H. W. Crocker III (The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War, Robert E. Lee on Leadership, etc.) now turns his guns on the epic story of America’s involvement in the First World War with his new book The Yanks Are Coming: A Military History of the United States in World War I.

2014 marks the centenary of the beginning of that war, and in Crocker’s sweeping, American-focused account, readers will learn:

How George S. Patton, Douglas MacArthur, George C. Marshall (of the Marshall Plan), "Wild Bill" Donovan (future founder of the OSS, the World War II precursor to the CIA), Harry S. Truman, and many other American heroes earned their military spurs in "The Great War"
Why, despite the efforts of the almost absurdly pacifistic administration of Woodrow Wilson, American involvement in the war was inevitable
How the First World War was "the War that Made the Modern World"—sweeping away most of the crowned heads of Europe, redrawing the map of the Middle East, setting the stage for the rise of communism and fascism
Why the First World War marked America’s transition from a frontier power—some of our World War I generals had actually fought Indians—to a global superpower, with World War I generals like Douglas MacArthur living to see, and help shape, the nuclear age
"The Young Lions of the War" -- heroes who should not be forgotten, like air ace Eddie Rickenbacker, Sergeant Alvin York (memorably portrayed by Gary Cooper in the Academy Award–winning movie Sergeant York), and all four of Theodore Roosevelt’s sons (one of whom was killed)

Stirring, and full of brilliantly told stories of men at war, The Yanks Are Coming will be the essential book for readers interested in rediscovering America’s role in the First World War on its hundredth anniversary.

WC's Review:  The cause, or more definitively, the causes of the world war of 1914 through 1918 remain difficult to define. "On 28 June 1914 the Archduke Franz-Ferdinand and his wife, Countess Sophie, were assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia" thus triggering the conflict that became known as "the Great War."

And, as they say, the rest is history. Germany, of course, led the onslaught in their quest for continent domination, followed by France (always a canker to Germany), England, Poland, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and ultimately the United States. Arrogant Woodrow Wilson never saw a conflict he didn't like.

Indeed the book focuses on the grand designs of President Wilson who saw himself as the major figure on the world stage whose destiny was as the creator of a post-war utopian community.

He damned near succeeded, thwarted by Senate Republicans and a revengefully recalcitrant emerging hero of an embittered, defeated Germany.

American warriors are given their due, including John J Pershing, Peyton C March, Douglas MacArthur, Billy Mitchell, John A Lejeune, George S Patton, George C Marshall, Eddie Rickenbacker, and the invincible sharpshooter, Alvin C York.

Sight challenged Harry S Truman gets in here as do the four sons of Teddy Roosevelt. Who was "Wild Bill" Donovan?

The short epilogue is what rates this informative book of World War I the rating of five stars.