The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman. The audio book is also great. The writing style is gripping and it's a very funny book despite being about a serious subject: WWI. It also gives a sense of how much pressure the leaders were under and how some managed while others simply broke as initial plans went awry. The author makes clear how individual decisions made huge differences and the entire outcome of the war could have been very different based on the personalities of those involved. These personality insights and descriptions really shine through. The book is not a definitive history of the start of WWI by any means but it is highly entertaining and reads quickly.
The chapters about Turkey can be skipped since they don't seem to fit in with the rest of the book. I found them boring.
The chapters about Turkey can be skipped since they don't seem to fit in with the rest of the book. I found them boring.