My 4 Years in Germany

Just finished 'My 4 years in Germany" by George Gerard, US Ambassador to Germany from 1913-1917.

Very interesting read as to what Germany was like, and most especially Berlin and court life, during the first world war. Surprisingly, there is FAR less American flag-waving than I thought there would be in this book, though Gerard seems to have an almost homoerotic worship of President Wilson. He rightly credits Germany for the military juggernaut it was and cautions the reader (book written in 1917) that the war is not yet won. He also successfully predicts that Germany will start another war (WW2).

He remains pretty un-biased however, in most things, and gives as good an account as any as to the role of the Kaiser, the royal family, and the major civil leaders in Germany. Much time is also spend on the subjects of prisoners of war and submarine warfare.

I happen to have this in a first-edition hard copy, but it is still available new today, and can be downloaded free from Project Gutenburg.

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/7238

Very interesting and a very different point of view there!