Yanks: The Epic Story of the American Army in World War I Book

John Eisenhower was a prolific military historian during his lifetime. He made something of a specialty covering America's lesser known military involvements such as The Mexican-American War and our ground troop commitment to the Western Front during World War One.

Mr. Eisenhower's writing was professional, well researched and easy to read. He was a solid middle of the road historian who examined the events and wrote about them. He was not a historian with an ideological agenda to push.

There are not that many books about the American Expeditionary Force (AEF). The American involvement in WWI has been overshadowed by WWII and the veterans of WWI have been forgotten. They say Korea is the Forgotten War, but I would argue that one can make a stronger case that WWI is the United State's "Forgotten War".

The AEF was really only involved in the last five months of fighting (May - November 11, 1918), but those last months were as violent and hard fought as the earlier years of the war. The United States lost approximately 112,000 men; of whom approximately 58,000 were killed in combat. The rest were lost to accidents and disease - in particular the so-called "Spanish Flu". Now 58,000 doesn't seem like much when compared to the British and French casualties, but consider this. That is approximately the same number of men we lost in three years of combat in Korea and approximately eight years in Vietnam. In just under six months 58,000 (give or take a few thousand) Americans lost their lives on the Western Front. That's a lot, but most brush it off as if it were nothing. It wasn't and Mr. Eisenhower shows just how hard of a fight it was that the Doughboys had to go through.

"Yanks" is not a long read so if you are hoping to find detailed accounts of the various actions that the Army and Marines engaged in then you will be disappointed. Mr. Eisenhower covers just a couple of the battles, but those that are examined are done so competently. He also gives coverage to the political scene and the strategy of the Allies. As I stated earlier Mr. Eisenhower was a good solid historian. He did not try to break new ground or argue new theories. He wasn't that type of historian. He was of the school of historian who wanted to educate and ensure that those men and women who served in overlooked and forgotten conflicts received their just due. This was his objective (or so it seems to me) and he served the Doughboys well with "Yanks".