Historians and reviewers worldwide have hailed Antony Beevor's magisterial Stalingrad as the definitive account of World War II"s most harrowing ba...
read full description
reviews
Nov 23, 2010
So, I'm watching a movie in German about the siege of Stalingrad last night while I'm knitting and my first thought was 'but I won't have a clue what is going on' and my second is 'fair enough....why should I have an unfair advantage over the poor fuckers who were there in the thick of it.' Just because I'm watching the movie, it shouldn't give me an edge.
Afterwards, explaining this to my mother, she asked, so did you get it? And I'm like 'nope, but neither did they.' Bunches of peop More...
Afterwards, explaining this to my mother, she asked, so did you get it? And I'm like 'nope, but neither did they.' Bunches of peop More...
Mar 13, 2011
Sarah
rated it: 
This book was more from the 6th Army/German perspective, which wasn’t what I was expecting. But seeing as my background on this event comes more from the Russian perspective, so it was an interesting read. This book covers a lot of ground, starting with Operation Barbarossa (well, really even a little bit before that) and follows through some prison camps that extended into the 1950s! There is a part in this book that describes a German officer who gets flown out of the 6th Army encirclement (la
More...
0 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Jun 26, 2008
John
rated it: 
This book is an astounding piece of work. Beevor does not have the moral resonance of a Martin Gilbert or the sparkling language of a Dan Van Der Vat, but in his own stolid way he tells a damn good story. Painstakingly researched and grippingly told, the book begins with Operation Barbarossa, Hitler's ill-conceived and treacherous plan to invade the Soviet Union. As we all know, this attempt foundered after the Soviet counter-attacks around Stalingrad in the Northern winter of 1942-43. Beevor at
More...
0 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
May 19, 2011
Speedy
rated it:
Con estos relatos pormenorizados uno se da cuenta de la increible estupidez de los altos mandos que provocan daños inimaginables para los soldados en el frente de batalla. Nadie se salva, desde los ineptos comandantes rusos hasta los rastreros alemanes; unos paranoicos por causa de Stalin o derechamente incompetentes, otros acobardados o hipnotizados por Hitler, rehusándose a ver lo evidente.
Las pequeñas historias de heroísmo e incluso de humanidad contrastan con el desprecio total a More...
Las pequeñas historias de heroísmo e incluso de humanidad contrastan con el desprecio total a More...
Jul 29, 2010
James
rated it: 
Battle-scarred and shell shocked: how else to describe my condition after 460 pages of blood, sweat and tanks? Antony Beevor’s book documenting the siege of Stalingrad is not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach. What with bombing raids, grenade attacks, hand-to-hand combat — to say nothing of frostbite, typhoid and malnutrition — I’m lucky to have escaped with my life.
It’s received a crouching ovation from critics and sold half million in the UK alone. But although there’s More...
It’s received a crouching ovation from critics and sold half million in the UK alone. But although there’s More...
0 comments
like
(5 people liked it)
Feb 15, 2009
Roger
rated it:
Stalingrad was the battle that turned the tide in the struggle against the German forces in WWII. This battle cost over 1 million lives with both sides refusing to lose. The fierce fight over a ruined city is fully explored along with the in human conditions both sides struggled with. The cost to the civilian population was staggering and this was a true battle of total war. Both sides showed little mercy to their own soldiers with executions and inhuman cruelity to prisoners. The egos of S
More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Apr 07, 2009
P.
rated it:
This is certainly a popular history, but it is well sourced. It felt a bit like a Cornelius Ryan book in terms of the number of personal anecdotes included in the narrative. The first several chapters are probably unnecessary if you already know the general outlines of World War Two and Operation Barbarossa history, but they read quickly regardless. The misery described in the last third of the book (from the formation of the Kessel through the post war fate of the few surviving prisoners) is
More...
Nov 12, 2011
Ryan
rated it:
The story of the war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union on the Ostfront is itself so incredible and full of extremes of human experience on a scale that most modern people can't comprehend, that even a dry historic account will still hit you in the gut. Beevor's writing certainly is a bit dry (as is the audiobook narration), but he conveys the triumphant hubris of the the German war machine as it grinds through an ill-prepared Soviet Army hampered by its own paranoid leader, the desperate
More...
Feb 18, 2010
Matt
rated it:
"You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders - The most famous of which is 'never get involved in a land war in Asia' - but only slightly less well-known is this: 'Never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line'"!
-- Wallace Shawn as Vizzini in The Princess Bride
Never get involved in a land war in Asia. Or the European portion of Russia.
That's good advice.
For whatever reason, though, the lure of Russia - its vast steppes, i More...
-- Wallace Shawn as Vizzini in The Princess Bride
Never get involved in a land war in Asia. Or the European portion of Russia.
That's good advice.
For whatever reason, though, the lure of Russia - its vast steppes, i More...
3 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Aug 02, 2011
Ian
rated it:
A comprehensive account of the turning point of WW2 in Europe. It's the human stories of this new and ghastly form of conflict which make it a great read. After exposure to the relentless, dislocating existance in the ruins of Stalingrad, the reader can almost feel the exultation on hearing the opening salvo of the great encirclement which led to the isolation of the German 6th army and ultimately the defeat of Nazi germany.
As a child growing up in Western Europe I had often seen footage of the More...
As a child growing up in Western Europe I had often seen footage of the More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Sep 11, 2009
Dr.
rated it:
The best book outlining a single battle that I have ever come across, ever. Beevor is a part of a new generation of WW2 historians who is rapidly and earnestly breaking down the western view of the war for the sake of something more objective. Read it and it will haunt you. Be careful, seriously impactful gave me fucking nightmares, not shitting you. Few authors have ever been able to put forth the true horrors of war in a way that really hit home and even begin to hint at the unspeakable things
More...
2 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Jan 21, 2012
The harrowing story of the Nazi invasion of Soviet Russia and the seige of Stalingrad. The Soviets, wallowing in their own misery, tenaciously held the burned out ruins of the city, forcing the Nazis into a winter seige, during which the Soviets turned the tables by encircling the Nazis, letting guns, bitter cold, and starvation take its toll. Deprivations on both sides were horrendous, with the Germans getting the worst of it. One can understand why some believe that hell is a cold place.[re
More...
Dec 19, 2011
Sandra
rated it:
I'm presently on a WWII kick, and this certainly fills in some blanks. The author is to be commended for the prodigious amount of research he did, even if the swarm of figures, dates, events, people make this book vert difficult to read. I felt completely overwhelmed a good part of the time. There is detail piled on detail, and a fair amount of going back and forward, and redundancy suggesting the need for better editing. But then the scale of this offensive is almost beyond belief, so I suppos
More...
Feb 23, 2010
Greg
rated it:
I enjoy this type of book. It wasn't what I'd call a 'page turner', and it wasn't a 'thriller', but I did like to story telling even though the story is hard to stomach.
I came to understand why Solviets have a 'warm spot' for Red October which was a bombed out factory in Stalingrad that was used as a rally cry much like 'Remember the Alamo' was a rally cry for Texans.
It is hard to fathom that the Solviet army had 9 million casualaties and 18 million wounded in the campaign. This do More...
I came to understand why Solviets have a 'warm spot' for Red October which was a bombed out factory in Stalingrad that was used as a rally cry much like 'Remember the Alamo' was a rally cry for Texans.
It is hard to fathom that the Solviet army had 9 million casualaties and 18 million wounded in the campaign. This do More...
Aug 11, 2011
I can see why this book is so well-thought-of; it's thoroughly researched, both through primary references and a surprisingly large number of interviews of participants (there was evidently a prime moment for researching the Great Patriotic War in the 1990s, when old Soviet archives opened up and yet there were still a considerable number of participants still living to talk with). It's also superbly well-written, with a you-are-there experience that is not easily shaken. This also proves to
More...
Oct 27, 2011
Huw
rated it:
The battle of Stlingrad has been written about by historians and fictioneers alike. The mind numbing inensity of the battle has created as many myths as facts. It has been glorified as the turning point of the Second World War in Europe, the point at which Stalin got his act together and started to reverse Hitler's domination of the war to that point. It was a nasty, brutal, house to house, face to face conflict that destroyed a city and its inhabitants. How anybody survived is little short
More...
Sep 02, 2009
Todd
rated it:
One of the best non-fiction books i have ever read. In regards to the authors authority and complex research i feel this book is pretty accurate in explaining the intense turning point of world war 2.
Viewed from both German and Russian perspectives with many references and historical letters to lend to the mood, Beevor pretty much covers it all.
From the invasion and mobilization of the German army, through the winters and back out to the surrounding of the Sixth army at the en More...
Viewed from both German and Russian perspectives with many references and historical letters to lend to the mood, Beevor pretty much covers it all.
From the invasion and mobilization of the German army, through the winters and back out to the surrounding of the Sixth army at the en More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Dec 17, 2007
Annie
rated it:
One thing I do know, and that is this is a very good read. I'm not a history buff, I don't study it, and I'm not a bloke (if that makes sense). What I do like are good human stories and there's plenty here. A very accessible, well written book.
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 11, 2012
Ted
rated it:
This is surely one of the best, if not the best, books written on the siege of Stalingrad. The description of the siege, from both the German and Soviet perspectives, is quite unforgettable. The battle was joined on 23 August 1942 and concluded over five months later with the encirclement of the assaulting German Sixth Army by Russian reinforcements. Casualty estimates are always difficult for a battle of this size, but most agree that over a million lives were lost on both sides. Many civil
More...
Jan 27, 2011
Dan
rated it:
Stalingrad was home to one of the most horrific and influential battles of the 20th century, let alone WWII. Beevor describes in great detail the antecedents, the hideous battle itself, and the enormous consequences for Germany, the USSR, and all of Post-War Europe. Throughout this epic literary recreation the most striking theme is that the level of devastation reached by this pivotal battle was completely unnecessary, and only occurred because it ultimately became a war by proxy between two in
More...
Apr 07, 2011
Will
rated it:
The rie of the WW2 history over the last few years has not always been a welcome thing, too often reflecting the regurgitation one associates so much with certain cable channels. Beevor, though, has been an exception, arising from two elements. Firstly, he writes well, marshalling his facts and conclusions in a non-acadmic style,s econdly his adroit uses of recently revealed archives, collections and libraries particularly across the former Soviet bloc. "Stalingrad" dispalys all of the
More...
Oct 22, 2009
Toby
rated it:
War doesn't have to be made dramatic, it's the stuff of ultimate drama. Beevor told me this a couple of writer's festivals ago and I can only add that the writer also needs a narrative ear to stop it reading like a train-spotters guide to battle, and a heart, to include the kind of soldier observations and social history that never used to make it into 'war books'. Beevor has both. To see how large military fuck-ups can get read this one. Then to see how large the repercussions can be read 'Berl
More...
Jan 02, 2010
Andrew
rated it:
It's difficult really to choose who the most worst tyrant is when faced with Stalin and Hitler,We have to give Hitler the nod as the worst as Stalin was on our sides but the story of the Gulags(which have a backdrop to this tale) are similar to treatments under the Hitler regime.
It seems Stalin would have allowed Hitler's empire building and was early on happy to give some ground away such was his cowardice however the war started between the two men and two nations bouyed by the Fatherlan More...
It seems Stalin would have allowed Hitler's empire building and was early on happy to give some ground away such was his cowardice however the war started between the two men and two nations bouyed by the Fatherlan More...
Nov 25, 2011
Tami
rated it:
Seldom do you find a book that simultaneously encompasses enormous human tragedy and detailed accounts of loss of life but remains one that you are still unable to put down.[return][return]Here we are taken through the terror, the horror and every aspect of this bloody and futile loss of life in the Second World War with precision by Beevor's excellent knowledge and writing style. [return][return]He spares no side in his brazen quest for the truth from survivors; prisoners and generals alike. A
More...
Nov 30, 2008
Pablo
rated it:
De lo mejor que se ha escrito sobre la segunda guerra mundial, y de lectura muy placentera. Beevor no es un historiador, sino un narrador de historia (como Lytton Strachey, por ejemplo), y como tal evita todos los riesgos del género: simplificaciones, juicios morales o exceso de datos estériles. Como ocurre con los buenos relatos históricos por momentos toca las notas de la literatura. Y como ocurre suele ocurrir con la historia, hay episodios tan inverosímiles que pocos escritores de literatura
More...
Feb 04, 2011
Matt
rated it:
This is not an easy book, or topic to write about in glowing terms. This is an excellent book that gives the reader a keen sense of the madness, horror, desperation, and futility that was the WWII eastern front around Stalingrad.
I am not a war junkie, I don't tend to read "survey" books, and when I read about war, I prefer the human stories that illustrate the idiocy of war. This book is very much about the people and personalities that fought. It is also about the tacti More...
I am not a war junkie, I don't tend to read "survey" books, and when I read about war, I prefer the human stories that illustrate the idiocy of war. This book is very much about the people and personalities that fought. It is also about the tacti More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 22, 2011
Robert
rated it:
An excellent history of one of the greatest battles in humanity. Not only does it detail the high level strategic and tactical decisions that were made but it also draws the reader into the personalities involved in the battle. From the leaders to the foot soldier, their experiences and thoughts are exposed.
The book is well written and easy to read. It follows the chronological order of the battle all the way through to its aftermath many years later. The narrative also reveals many More...
The book is well written and easy to read. It follows the chronological order of the battle all the way through to its aftermath many years later. The narrative also reveals many More...
Aug 28, 2008
Simon
rated it:
Stalingrad is peppered with the lessons of history. What I especially appreciate about this huge book is that it’s reasonably even-handed. There was brutality, cruelty, betrayal, paranoia, self-serving cowardice, and tyranny; but there was also courage, selflessness, sacrifice, and humanity—on both sides. The megalomania of Hitler and Stalin knew almost no bounds. The lunatic cruelty of the SS and the NKVD was the visible expression of their respective leaders’ paranoia. What they did was largel
More...
Jun 17, 2008
Luke
rated it:
Although I believe Beevor wrote this book after "The Fall of Berlin," it actually comes earlier in time, and you might want to read this one first. It details the German campaign in Russia generally and the assualt on Stalingrad specifically. This was an atrocious battle, particularly in the winter months as conditions were horrific on either side. When one keeps in mind the brutality exhibited by the Germans towards the population of Stalingrad and the Russian soldiers there, it may
More...
Jan 20, 2008
Ian
rated it:
The beginning of the end for Hitler and the Wermacht, the greatest and most awsome force of elite warriors in the history of the human race. The Wermacht was stopped in its tracks when its vital goal of the Caucasas Oil Fields, lay tantaliseingly close. Because first Field Marshall Paulas and his Sixth Army of around 900 000 highly trained fighting men, were required to take Stalingrad the city that ran along the West Bank of the River Volga. And also annhiliatte its defenders. But they were
More...
