Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege, 1942-1943

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: One of the most human-oriented accounts of a major battle I have ever read. And let's face it, military history which describes battles in terms of movements of units on a map can be incredibly tedious. This is not such an account, and it does an excellent job of illustrating what it was like to be there. I recommend it highly.

Rating:
Summary: A great account of this terrible battle
Review: This is an excellent account of the battle of Stalingrad, I'd place it next to 'Enemy at the Gates'. The author gives you an overview of the military situation on the Eastern Front prior to the German Offensive towards Stalingrad on the Volga. The author tells the story of this terrible battle through the accounts of those soldiers who endured this inferno and survived as well as using letters and diaries of those who didn't! This is a story of the fighting, not of the strategy and tactics behind the Armies. It's a good account of the battle and well worth the time to read. You'll feel for those common soldiers, both German & their Allies and the Russians. A great book.

Rating:
Summary: More of the same.
Review: This book will disappoint if you're looking for something new on the subject matter.Futhermore, the author's prose is dull and noticeably disconnected,in my opinion.This book is probably suitable as part of a ' Barbarossa Starter Kit' or for those who have a general interest in human tragedy stories.

Rating:
Summary: very well researched and presented but dry
Review: Stalingrad is a fine piece of work. Mr. Beevor exhaustively researched this book and the perspectives of both sides are well represented,especially the common foot soldier. My only criticism would be that Mr. Beevor's style is a bit dry and without much color.

Rating:
Summary: Life-affirming the indomitable spirit of man!
Review: Despite the prodigious detail involving orders of battle, place and proper names, the reader does not need to be an afficionado of historical or military genre to appreciate this well-paced, well written description of, arguably, one of the most important battles in history, certainly the bloodiest as over one and one-half million people ultimately died. Stalingrad was a turning point in WW II and the author familiar with his subject. Unlike many military histories, this book is not ponderous and can easily be absorbed by the average or occasional reader with a variety of interests and background. I highly reccomend it.

Rating:
Summary: Just Great
Review: This is a wonderful book on the atrocious war in the Stalingrad area. The author goes into great detail on all aspects of this theater on the Eastern Front. He also delves into the mindset of Adolph Hitler and his generals with the key decisions they made in this time of crisis. Again a wonderful work of art

Rating:
Summary: clinical reviw of the Stalingrad campaign.
Review: Passionless and too detailed. Needed more personalities and flavor to interest me.

Rating:
Summary: A detailed description of the suffering in Stalingrad
Review: "Stalingrad" is a detailed analysis of the horror experienced by the German 6th army. Beevor gives a description of the events which led to the encirclement but the majority of the book concentrates on the battle itself. I like the way of writing - the author describes the overall developments extensively but also covers the details from soldiers' point of view. The book is not for strategists who want a detailed analysis of military operations. It is for those who want to know how it felt to be one of the 300 000 soldiers in the emptiness of Russian steppe 2000 miles from home. A few more maps would make the book more readable and less confusing. Nevertheless, a good book for people interested in military history.

Rating:
Summary: The Russian Front Revisited
Review: In the past several years I have built an extensive library of books on the Russian front. When reading this book others like myself notice that the book reads like all of the other books we have accumulated on this subject. If your looking for a completely fresh narritive on Stalingrad then look elsewhere, Too many other authors have covered this subject in much better detail. However ...and this is a BIG However, if you are new to the field than this is an excellent read. You will gain a respectable knowledge of the horror that was Stalingrad. In other words if you have the 200+ volume library on WWII then avoid this one, its like re-reading everything you've read already.

Rating:
Summary: Disjointed
Review: A best-seller in the UK (according to the Economist), but 100 pages in I find that the narrative doesn't flow. The paragraph marks seem to be completely arbitrary; few thoughts hang together. The big picture frequently gets lost in the details. Antony Beevor is no Shelby Foote (but who is?). Hope it gets better when the main battle finally starts!