Not a fun read, but my history kick recently took me through Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor. I started off by re-reading Barbara Tuckman's The Guns of August to get into the mood -- Tuckman's remains the premier book in this genre -- and in comparison, I found Stalingrad to be slower and to be missing some of the rich character detail Tuckman managed to include. Still, Stalingrad is a gripping book, thick with the awful story of one of the worst campaigns in modern history. Beevor doesn't spare the reader, and the horror of the struggle, from both sides, is made stunningly clear. It's content makes it a difficult book to read, but no less important for that. 5 out of 5.
posted by Tom Leslie at 8:06 AM | link