Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour

Armistice Day, 1918 World War I and Its Violent Climax

By: Joseph E. Persico

Narrated by: Jonathan Marosz

November 11, 1918. The final hours pulsate with tension as every man in the trenches hopes to escape the melancholy distinction of being the last to die in World War I. The Allied generals knew the fighting would end precisely at 11:00 A.M, yet in the final hours they flung men against an already beaten Germany. The result? Eleven thousand casualties suffered–more than during the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Why? Allied commanders wanted to punish the enemy to the very last moment and career officers saw a fast-fading chance for glory and promotion.

Joseph E. Persico puts the reader in the trenches with the forgotten and the famous–among the latter, Corporal Adolf Hitler, Captain Harry Truman, and Colonels Douglas MacArthur and George Patton. Mainly, he follows ordinary soldiers’ lives, illuminating their fate as the end approaches. Persico sets the last day of the war in historic context with a gripping reprise of all that led up to it, from the 1914 assassination of the Austrian archduke, Franz Ferdinand, which ignited the war, to the raw racism black doughboys endured except when ordered to advance and die in the war’s last hour. Persico recounts the war’s bloody climax in a cinematic style that evokes All Quiet on the Western Front, Grand Illusion, and Paths of Glory.

The pointless fighting on the last day of the war is the perfect metaphor for the four years that preceded it, years of senseless slaughter for hollow purposes. This book is sure to become the definitive history of the end of a conflict Winston Churchill called “the hardest, cruelest, and least-rewarded of all the wars that have been fought.”
©2004 Joseph E. Persico; (P)2004 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

Praise for Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour

“The days preceding November 11, 1918, featured a deadly minuet involving exhausted armies conditioned to fight, yet desperate to avoid still more futile bloodshed. Joe Persico recreates this twilight struggle with heartbreaking intimacy. His pointillist portrait is at once harrowing and heroic. Written with a narrative elegance and factual command reminiscent of David McCullough or William Manchester, this is much more than a poignant account of the road to armistice. It is the single finest work I have read on the Great War.”
–RICHARD NORTON SMITH, executive director, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

“Once again Joe Persico has brought us an unforgettable moment in history. At a time when our own world is changing, Americans are increasingly understanding how we are still affected by World War I, and Persico takes us into the experience of how that war ended–the violence, sacrifice, frustration, and hope.”
–MICHAEL BESCHLOSS

“Joe Persico has done the impossible–he has written an original book on World War I. By starting with the last day, he has found a way to see the nightmare as a separate world, something that became for all the participants a totally consuming passion.”
–THOMAS FLEMING, author of The Illusion of Victory: America in World War I

“A compelling account of the dramatic final moments of World War I that not only captures the tragedy that marked the final hours of the Great War but brings to life the remarkable stories of its participants. This is a splendid book by a born storyteller and a superb historian.”
–CARLO D’ESTE, author of Eisenhower: A Soldier’s Life and Patton: A Genius for War

Probably a better read than listen

The cinematic style of the narrative, cutting between multiple storylines, didn't really lend itself to an audiobook. Without some sort of strong cue (page breaks, long pauses, etc.) it becomes a little disorienting. But the material is excellent and it's definitely worth the listen.

If You Want Understand WWI

Where does Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Excellent and well written

What does Jonathan Marosz bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Individual experiences and the horror of WWI

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It is very thought-provoking parts of it are difficult to listen to.

Any additional comments?

This is an excellent book for those who want to understand the events be

Up close and personal

I enjoyed this book especially the author's strategy to start each chapter from the last day of the war. It is indeed horrifying to learn of the thousands of soldiers on all sides that lost their lives on 11-11-18. I do agree with other reviewers that there is some repetition and the first couple of chapters are a summary of how the war started -- if you know WWI then that aspect might not help - but if you don't - the detail is a chilling reminder of what went on for the day-to-day soldier, the senseless major battles and in some sense why there was a WWII.

All quiet on the western front, not really:(

Having heard lot's of horrendous stories from my grandparents (who's parents fought in WW1) this book is shockingly true and verifyable.

When visiting the US memorial in Oudenaerde, Belgium I was really surprised to read on it that US divisions were put in the line for a big offensive on 10th November 1918. The day before the end of the war?? I bought this book from Audible a few days after my visit as it explained the last idiotic push which was priced at more casualties than D-day.

The author does a good job at describing the atrocities on a personal level, the book is fairly general in the outline as it tries to cover the entire war from a British/US/German perspective. It doesn't cover the East in detail or the fighting in the colonies/submarines of the time.

The going back and forth timewise from 11-11-1918 to earlier in the war and back again is a novel concept but I found it a bit confusing at times. (Especially this being an audiobook).

Finally the Narration is very well but this is not a book that will cheer you up, the voice of the narrator is appropriately mm.. grimmish if that is the correct english word.

Somewhat jumbled

I wanted to love it. I didn't like the way it was arranged. the title implied that the greater War would have been talked about to a certain degree. And I am pleased that it talked more about the last day of the war and some what of the aftermath. But going back and forth between certain days of the war and the last made it hard to know where was where.