SOURCE: A review of The Pity of War, in The Wilson Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 3, Summer, 1999, pp. 131-3.

In the following review, Bacevich concludes that The Pity of War is an “important contribution” to the study of World War I but finds Ferguson's analytical approach inadequate and reductive.

Soldiers, statesmen, and scholars have long shared a common conceit: that, given sufficient effort and the right analytical tools, they might one day fully decipher the nature of war. As to where that understanding would lead, though, these groups part company. The soldiers and statesmen imagine bending war to their will and employing military power more effectively. The scholars, in contrast, dream that a full understanding would halt the military miscalculation, slaughter, and pointless destruction that have constituted so much of contemporary history. This impressively researched and highly original but uneven book falls squarely in the latter tradition.

The subject of...