This memoir with diary excerpts is a concise record of General Pershing’s experiences in his role in WWI, providing insight into the war told from the American perspective. It tells of his early life as a soldier, and events leading up to this war while the world sleepwalked its way into a catastrophe of indescribable proportions. No doubt, Pershing’s insights after this war helped shape the thinking of future American generals.

"MY primary purpose in writing this story of the American Expeditionary Forces in France is to render what I conceive to be an important service to my country. In that adventure there were many lessons useful to the American people, should they ever again be called to arms, and I felt it a duty to record them as I saw them."
J.J. Pershing