very big but it moves very swiftly. Kennedy sets the stage with a chilling portrait of four power-hungry young man in very different situations at the hour of the armistice ending the First World War: Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin, and Hitler. It is a gripping opening salvo, and the narrative never touches ground after that. This is history writing at its best. (less) Wow! That was long. It was a battle to get through this book. That said, it was an enjoyable battle. What amazes me is how much I didn't learn about American History. The old saying about history repeating was echoed as I read the first half. The political arguments could have been lifted from today's news. I think the biggest difficulty was that the timeline reset often from chapter to chapter. Kennedy seemed to go back and rehash certain points, in order to make new points, had to go back in t ...more Wow! That was long. It was a battle to get through this book. That said, it was an enjoyable battle. What amazes me is how much I didn't learn about American History. The old saying about history repeating was echoed as I read the first half. The political arguments could have been lifted from today's news. I think the biggest difficulty was that the timeline reset often from chapter to chapter. Kennedy seemed to go back and rehash certain points, in order to make new points, had to go back in time to set the