Book · 2014 · History
The Guns of August
The Classic Bestselling Account of the Outbreak of the First World War
#213 of 16,857 books, ranked by how many different people bring it up on podcasts
- mentions
- 14
- people
- 13
- podcasts
- 13
- episodes
- 13
- critical mentions
- 0
The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman, possibly the best pure writer.
What they say about it
- History of World War One“history of how World War I started”6
The best things said about it
But she wrote Guns of August about the origins of World War One. A great book. Not a biography, but a fantastic book. And by the way, very influential book.
My third recommendation would be actually The Guns of August, which is basically history of how World War I started.
Somebody got me a gave me this book uh the guns of august and it's about world war one and it's phenomenal.
Bill Burr Monday Morning Podcast · Apr 2022 You know, the run, the famous Barbara Tuckman's famous book, you know, The Guns of August, where we almost, we fell into the First World War.
I mean I do believe I remember Barbara Tuckman was a great heroine when I read her book Guns of August when I was in college and she said that even when you're a narrative historian you have to pretend to yourself you do not know how a war ended.
Kennedy was famous for having given The Guns of August, the book that's about the lead into World War I and how nations were kind of sucked into something they didn't want to do.
Where and when it comes up
How it comes up
13 people who brought it up
- Bill Burr2 mentions · 1 rec
- Admiral James Stavridis1 mention · 1 rec
- Dario Amodei1 mention · 1 rec
- Lloyd Blankfein1 mention · 1 rec
- Dan Carlin1 mention
- Doris Kearns Goodwin1 mention
- Jared Kushner1 mention
- Lex Fridman1 mention
- Michael Lester1 mention
- Robert Evans1 mention
Saagar Enjeti1 mention- Steve Jermy1 mention
Why people recommend it
Why people recommend it: Detailing the catastrophic miscalculations and diplomatic failures that plunged the world into global conflict, The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman is a masterclass in military history. Lloyd Blankfein strongly recommended the book on My First Million as an influential, non-biographical examination of the origins of World War I. Dario Amodei similarly recommended the book on The Ezra Klein Show as an essential study of how rapidly political crises can spiral out of control due to human error. Bill Burr shared on the Monday Morning Podcast that receiving the book on the road was a phenomenal surprise, while Admiral James Stavridis recommended it on The Realignment as a supreme example of historical writing for military aficionados. Beyond direct praise, Steve Jermy discussed Tuchman's thesis on The Tucker Carlson Show to illustrate how nations can accidentally stumble into devastating wars. Todd Rose used the book on The Jordan Harbinger Show to argue that technological changes frequently outpace traditional mindsets, Saagar Enjeti referenced early financial assumptions about the war on Breaking Points, and Michael Lester cited the work on The Shawn Ryan Show to demonstrate the unstoppable momentum of military mobilization.
Every mention
Bill Burr somebody got me a gave me this book uh the guns of august and it's about world war one and it's phenomenal 2
Recommended
“somebody got me a gave me this book uh the guns of august and it's about world war one and it's phenomenal”
Discussed
“and uh as far as i've gotten into that book the guns of august basically the reason why germany started the first one”
Admiral James Stavridis if you're a world war one affectionato would be of course the guns of august by barbara tuchman possibly th… 1
Recommended
“if you're a world war one affectionato would be of course the guns of august by barbara tuchman possibly the best pure writer”
Dario Amodei and then uh my my third recommendation would be actually The Guns of August which is basically history of h… 1
Recommended
“and then uh my my third recommendation would be actually The Guns of August which is basically history of how World War I started”
Lloyd Blankfein But she wrote Guns of August about the origins of World War One. A great book. Not a biography, but a fanta… 1
Recommended
“But she wrote Guns of August about the origins of World War One. A great book. Not a biography, but a fantastic book. And by the way, very influential book.”
Dan Carlin and Kennedy was famous for having given The Guns of August, the book that's about the lead into World War I… 1
Discussed
“and Kennedy was famous for having given The Guns of August, the book that's about the lead into World War I and how nations were kind of sucked into something they didn't want to do based on an assassination of a world leader sitting in an open car next to his wife.”
Doris Kearns Goodwin I mean I do believe I remember Barbara Tuckman was a great heroine when I read her book Guns of August when… 1
Discussed
“I mean I do believe I remember Barbara Tuckman was a great heroine when I read her book Guns of August when I was in college and she said that even when you're a narrative historian you have to pretend to yourself you do not know how a war ended”
Jared Kushner one of the central lessons I took with me when I went to Washington was I remember I read a book called gun… 1
Discussed
“one of the central lessons I took with me when I went to Washington was I remember I read a book called guns of August about World War I and it talked about how World War I basically started”
Lex Fridman You told me about "The Guns of August" by Barbara Tuckman. It's a book on World War I, and I went down a wh… 1
Discussed
“You told me about "The Guns of August" by Barbara Tuckman. It's a book on World War I, and I went down a whole rabbit hole there.”
Michael Lester Wrote a book called The Guns of August. 1
Discussed
“Wrote a book called The Guns of August.”
Robert Evans It also kind of makes me think I mean it it it it brought me to thinking about uh Barbara Tuckman who is a… 1
Discussed
“It also kind of makes me think I mean it it it it brought me to thinking about uh Barbara Tuckman who is a historian who wrote a book called The Guns of August that's a history of World War I.”
Saagar Enjeti And actually there was a theory in the opening days of the Guns of August where they were like, 'Guys, the… 1
Discussed
“And actually there was a theory in the opening days of the Guns of August where they were like, 'Guys, the war will be over soon cuz we're all going to go broke. There's no way that we could sustain this.'”
Steve Jermy You know, the run, the famous Barbara Tuckman's famous book, you know, The Guns of August, where we almost,… 1
Discussed
“You know, the run, the famous Barbara Tuckman's famous book, you know, The Guns of August, where we almost, we fell into the First World War.”
Todd Rose You know, there's a not to be too wonky, but there's a book about World War I called Guns of August. Oh, I'… 1
Discussed
“You know, there's a not to be too wonky, but there's a book about World War I called Guns of August. Oh, I've heard of this. Yeah, yeah. So good. Uh so Barbara Tuchman, she uh an historian, her thesis was I'll butcher it a little bit, but basically that the reason that war was so bloody and awful was”
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
Passing
“and you know with books like this the comparison in my head is with Barbara tuckman's The Guns of August which is another book I love and that's really about the the Western Front in Europe in World War I”