What an excellent book! I can't top Zahir's review of The Last of the Doughboys--his review is quite eloquent, and in my opinion, accurate.I will say, however, that I thought I knew about WWI, but as it turns out, I didn't. When I think of this war, the images in my head are literally in black and white. It is so far removed from my existence, that I can only see it the way that I see images of it in books and on film. That was until I read this book.
These centenarians put this war into color for me--made it seem real, and modern, and just as terrifying as any war that I imagine. I found the interview of George Briant to be particularly poignant, and I sort of wished that the book had ended at the end of his story.
The Last of the Doughboys is long. Like fairly close to War and Peace felt inclined to fill the spaces between the interviews with relevant (but sometimes long-winded) information and observations.
Overall, this was a very well done, interesting book, and I'd even go so far as to say that it's probably one that Americans should read at some point in their lives.