Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the history of World War I. It compares three books on the subject and discusses their use, details and easiness to understand. The paper compares "A History of the American People" by Paul Johnson, "America: A Narrative History" by George Brown Tindall and David E. Shi and "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn.

From the Paper:

"Zinn, however, did not go as deeply into the some of the incidents leading up to the war that were mentioned in Johnson's and Tindall's books. It is necessary to read more than Zinn's book to understand the WWI era. The best of all worlds would be a book that covers the war in an objective manner, presenting both sides, in a less formal way as Zinn does. If the Tindall/Shi book was edited down and made more reader friendly and included some of the "narratives" in Zinn's book, this would be the right approach. World War I is a difficult time to understand with all the underlying personal agendas and the ramifications that resulted from the treaties. For the layperson, it has to be clear and user friendly, as well as well-rounded."

Sample of Sources Used:

• American Destiny. Book 12: Making the World Safe for Democracy. Great Britain: Orbis, 1986.
• Johnson, Paul. A History of the American People. New York: Harper Collins, 1997
• Tindall, George Brown and Shi, David. America: A Narrative History. New York: Norton, 2001.
• Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States. New York: Harper Collins, 2003.

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