The Americans in the Great War, Vol. 1: The Second Battle of the Marne

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.4

Word count: 169K words
Chapters: 17

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Americans in the Great War; v 1. The Second Battle of the MarneAuthor: ,Language: English, Class: D501: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: World War I (1914-1918), Release Date: Nov 6, 2015

Editor's review

This Project Gutenberg free eBook focuses on the Second Battle of the Marne in World War I and is a compilation of primary historical documents for understanding the American forces' combat experience. Its strength lies in its rawness and thematic focus: the content centers on the course of the battle and the American role, making it suitable for readers studying WWI military history, American participation in the war, or wartime documents to read alongside maps and other campaign histories. As a public-domain electronic text, it is easy to search, excerpt, and use for classroom reading, but its format leans toward a document compilation, with limited narrative continuity. Read it as an entry point to historical sources rather than a popular campaign history; begin with the table of contents and the battle's phase divisions, then read specific chapters of interest closely to appreciate its documentary value.

Who it's for

A good fit for

College students and researchers studying World War I military history and the American military experience
Teachers who need public-domain English historical sources for classroom reading or paper citations
Military history enthusiasts with a special interest in the Second Battle of the Marne
Advanced readers accustomed to reading primary documents and able to sort out the background themselves

Not a good fit for

Readers new to World War I who expect a coherent narrative and popular storytelling
General readers who are not used to English primary documents and need a Chinese translation
People who want complete battle maps and detailed tactical diagrams

Reading tips

Read the table of contents and chapter titles first to clarify the battle phases and the timeline of American involvement, then decide which parts to read closely.
Read alongside maps of the World War I European theater and background materials on the Second Battle of the Marne to lower the barrier to understanding.
Excerpt passages on troop movements and combat situations and build your own source notes for later comparison with other military histories.
If using it for class or writing, prioritize chapters directly related to the American role and cite the electronic text source.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a complete campaign history or a document compilation?

Judging from the nature of a public-domain eBook, it is thematic material centered on the Second Battle of the Marne and American participation, leaning toward a document compilation and primary accounts rather than a fully structured popular history. Before reading, it is best to learn the basic background of the battle and then use it as a historical source.

Can readers with average English skills read it?

The text is an English historical document with fairly formal sentence patterns and wording, so readers with average English skills will find it difficult. They can first use background materials and maps to become familiar with the campaign's outline, then read shorter, more focused chapters rather than reading the whole book straight through.

Is it suitable for citation in a paper?

As a public-domain electronic text, it can be used to understand primary narratives and documentary leads, but before citing, verify the edition information and original page numbers and cross-check against authoritative campaign histories. It is better suited as an entry point to historical sources than as the sole basis.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Project Gutenberg Author

Project Gutenberg is not a single author but a nonprofit digital library founded by Michael Hart in 1971 and one of the world's earliest free ebook platforms. It relies on volunteers to digitize, proofread, and freely distribute public-domain works and is now operated by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Its collection contains 2,692 works, mainly religious texts, epics, and story collections, including the King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims volumes, the epic Mahabharata, a literal translation of the Arabian Nights, and Danish editions of the Old and New Testaments. Public information is limited, and its nature is closer to a public-interest compiling and dissemination body; these texts are open to the public, easy to consult and circulate, and have had a profound influence on the spread of ebooks and the preservation of public-domain resources.