Stalingrad

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In the previous year (1941), the Germans had been stopped before Moscow and they had to struggle to survive the brutal Russian winter. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. In the summer of 1942, the German blitzkrieg of panzers (tanks) and Stuka dive bombers drove across Russia to reach the mighty Volga River--and Stalingrad, the city named for the Soviet dictator on the west side of the river.

John Keegan, Daily Telegraph “Antony Beevor’s account of this historic turning-point is truly powerful, written with a compelling narrative drive. Beevor combines a soldier’s understanding of war’s realities with the narrative technique of a novelist. Beevor takes the first 100 pages to give an account of the war in the east up to arriving at the outskirts of Stalingrad.Still, it's a gripping, absorbing and important book, showing just how close Russia came to full Nazi occupation and the terrible consequences of two evil men in Hitler and Stalin coming to blows. A story of civilian bravery, obsession, carnage and the nature of war itself, Stalingrad remembers the vital role of the soviet war effort. Go to William Craig's Enemy at the Gates for that, then ease into ostensibly more detailed accounts like Beevor's. Litt from the University of Bath, awarded in 2010, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Kent, awarded in 2004.

Richard Overy, author of Why the Allies Won and Russia’s War “Beevor’s Stalingrad represents the triumph of the written word: no news report, no documentary however powerful, could communicate the totality of the cruelty imposed on both sides. I found this to be the weakest part of the book, and it actually made me pause and consider continuing. As darkness intensified, the huge flames silhouetted the shells of tall buildings on the bank high above them and cast grotesque shadows.Slavic peasant" phrasing is uncomfortably common, and it makes you question the author's intentions.