This is a long, long book. It is about the six months in 1919 after WWI when President Woodrow Wilson, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George and French Premier Georges Clemenceau met in Paris to form a lasting peace. This narrative history shows how historic mistakes can change the future problems of nations. And how peace can’t come from diplomatic meetings and discussions but only from the enthusiasm and wishes of the citizens. It took me a time to read, but by the end I found out about the history of which I had no realization. It is an interesting book.

The book takes a while to get going, but once a few chapters passed I was engrossed. I would recommend it to anyone with a passing interest in history...the book puts much of the latter portion of the 20th century into context.

McMillan's day- to-day expose regarding the arbitrary redrawing of the map of Europe, Asia and the Middle East in the 1919 Paris Conference, provides a sobering critique when we have the advantage of addressing the end result today with all the unrest in the Balkins, China, Palentine and Irac. Her book is full of facinating characters like the Big Four-Wilson, Orlando, Lloyd George and Clemensau, as well as other not so lesser knowns who walk through the pages suddenly like Arnold Toynbee and Lawrence of Arabia. A great read and a chilling statement regarding why politicians are usually more wrong than right, and the price we all later pay for their grand decisions and delusions.

I can't comment on the entire work because I have so far read only Chapter 17, titled Poland Reborn (207-228) . Unfortunately, after what I have found there, may prevent me from reading anything else in Macmillan's book. I am just afraid that if saturation with errors distributes uniformly throughout the book, and in my opinion the probability of that is approaching one, I may get too many factual and typo inaccuracies, distorting history only because of the editorial slovenliness, and that is simply too much for not a historian; I just happen to know quite a bit about Polish history, and Paderewski and his whereabouts is my hobby. The facts: Dmowski’s name has been distorted so many times, it is had to believe there was any editorial review at all; the ship that brought Paderewski from England to Poland was Concord not Condor (pg. 213); Were Lithuanians a separate nationality or variety of Pole? (pg. 216) – this kind of a question, asked by a scholar [historian(!) particularly] gives one ultra-super chills. I will skip some other flaws… There are some extremely good remarks, opinions, and quotations as well, but all that so much veiled by the “un-classy” slipups, oh, myyyyyyye God!!!

C

Maybe my english is poor , I have read this book one year ago. Mrs.MacMillan is very angry at Romania and favorable to Germany and Hungary. In the chapter "Hungary" she is guessing that a modify of present borders between my country and Hungary it is very close. It is 2013 and her prophecy it is not done, and the chances are getting weaker day by day.

She is very sympathetic at Germany and Austria & Hungary , forgetting the fact that the imperialism of Austria & Hungary in Balkans was the primary cause of the war. I invite Mrs.MacMillan in Romania to study our archives, it's so evident that her studies necessary for the book are not from multiple sources.