Rating: 
Summary: The "real" mother of all battles
Review: The Battle for Stalingrad was a brutal grudge match that threw both sides into a meat grinder of attrition warfare. Beever book accurately portrays one of the most horrendous battles of World War II. The author successfully switches from strategic and operational descriptions of the battle to small tactical stories of personnel fortitude. The book is not for the faint of heart; many of the paragraphs graphically depict the battle, and lives of the men and women who suffered through it. There was nothing romantic or sentimental about the battle of Stalingrad.
Rating: 
Summary: Strange book
Review: I gave two stars only because of the subject - I am sure it takes a lot of effort and guts to research and write about Stalingrad. Otherwise I feel it deserves only one star if any at all. I was bored and I rarely get bored reading these kinds of books. I had the impression the author didn't really care much about the subject, as if his heart was somewhere else. Also I thought his open cynicism about Soviet Union and its leadership went a little bit too far. It looks to me like Mr. Beevor is still fighting the 'Cold War'.
Alan Clark's "Barbarossa" offers a stark contact to Mr. Beevor book. May be "Barbarossa" is a little bit dated and not as focused on Stalingrad, but Alan Clark (another well-informed Brit) writes about the subject with wit, insight, and passion. Mr. Beevor is cynical and methodical, but he writes without spark, and, most importantly, with remarkable lack of insight. He had written about what happened, but not why it happened. In the book technicalities had dimmed the bigger picture of the German onslaught and encirclement. To his credit Mr. Beevor had shown realistically and in detail everyday life, fighting, and suffering of the German (and allied) soldiers in Stalingrad. He has also shown the fate of the Germans from the unusual humanitarian point of view. But as far as the fate of Russian soldiers, it is hard to tell because he is reticent about their everyday life. The author offers no more than physical description of the Russian commanders. For example, Vasilii Chuikov had 'gold-crowned teeth' (page 89). Unfortunately there is very little about his qualities as General and personal qualities of this key Russian defender of Stalingrad. The civilians in Stalingrad suffered a lot, beginning August 1942 when the German 'super'-bombing of the city took place. 40,000 of them had died, but the author had only a cursory mentioning of their struggle to survive during the bombing and five-month long fighting. I think the American author William Craig in his "Enemy at the Gates" did better job in brining the human drama of Stalingrad to life. To my opinion, this book is a strange and unsuccessful attempt to recreate the famous battle. I think that truly balanced and complete account about 'Verdun on Volga' is still waiting to be written.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent account of Stalingrad
Review: This book not only covers the overall situation on the Russian front from a strategic view but also gets down to the level of what it must have been like for the average soldier. Beevor writes of the main players of the battle and also uses first hand accounts and letters of soldiers (both Russian and German) in way which almost makes them like characters in a novel. The overall effect is like stepping back in time and reliving the horrors of this gruesome battle. One thing to come from the book is an appreciation of the human ability to endure such sufferring and the tenacity of the human spirit. The book is well researched (using Russian and German sources) and and gives a reality check on what the Russian, German and Romanian forces were capable or incapable of at the time and under the prevailing conditions. In a way some myths may have been debunked especially the relief attempt by Mainstein as the Sixth Army was in no condition to attempt a breakout as it both lacked the physical strength (through starvation) and resources. This is essential and compelling reading.
Rating:
Summary: Superb, immersive read
Review: I picked up the British paperback version of this book and read the whole thing, cover to cover, on the 10+ hour flight home. Beginning with the Nazi steamroller of Operation Barbarossa, Beevor weaves a narrative tapestry that captures the huge scope of battles leading upto and through the cauldron of Stalingrad. And he also focusses on the individual sacrifices, tragedies, and outrages of the antagonists on both sides, as well as the innocents caught in the middle. As the mauled, lice-ridden remnants of the German Sixth Army capitulate and march into further misery in Soviet captivity, the stage is set for the Soviet advance into German and for the inevitable showdown for Berlin that Beevor documents in a follow-up.
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Summary: Total war, total terror, total death, total ruin
Review: Reading this book can give you an appreciation for the mindset of a Russian, raised with the knowledge that tens of millions of his or her countryfolk died in the era of Stalin and the most memorable, pivotal period can be traced to this horrible battle beginning in late summer 1942 and ending in January 1943. Most likely it was here, not at Normandy, where the tides of war turned on the Germans. The Germans pushed too far, Hitler staked victory to his ego, and they found themselves surrounded and cut off. The Russians were willing to pay a horrible price to gain the upper hand in the dead of winter. Beevor has done an admirable job of research. To start, the language and culture of the opposing forces are foreign in every respect. And then there is the matter of fair, objective, reliable data: Given what happened here, there is no such thing as an objective view or a fair telling of the story, at least not one that will satisfy all readers. Allegiances are muddied. Allies of the Germans and Russians change sides during the battle, some more than once. Death soon becomes a welcome escape. The unraveling of humanity is unrelenting. Beevor is not squeamish or graphic. To me he has no favorites. Few candidates surface. A German priest who is also a doctor and an artist, who dies later in prison camp, is one of mine. The capacity of the Germans to march to Hitler's tune is matched only by the ruthless, unforgiving Russian system. Advance or be shot by your own men. Say a bad word about the party -- and you're asking for a quick bullet to the head. Allow some of your men to surrender, and your fate may be sealed. It is impossible to find a happy story here. Simple men and well-trained officers found themselves in unspeakable cold, hunger and filfth, trying to make some sense of life amidst such madness. But it is a story worth reading and remembering, if only to be thankful that you were not there. This was no "Band of Brothers", at least not as most Americans would view it. If you prefer the video form, the recent film, "Enemy at the Gates" is a very good, if fictionalized treatment of a small part of this battle, the stand off between snipers from both sides. It shows the perilous river crossings, the brutal discipline.
Rating:
Summary: Precise History of Great Man-Man Disaster
Review: Antony Beevor's Stalingrad is a clear, consice book written with an enviable objectivity about events almost too horrendous for us to contemplate. Beevor's dispassionate voice tells of the miscalculation of two pscyhopaths and how this led to deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, some innocent, and some not. Most readers will come to this book for a story of war and battle, but the heart of this work is detailed recounting of the immense bad faith involved in the German and Russian armies, the dictatorial leadership, and the mixture of compassion and brutality each army had. Our sympathies are for the Russians, mine are, since Hitler had no legal right to invade Russian, nor legal cause, but Beevor makes plain the wreck of the Sixth Army as Hitler's planning goes awry. Although I am NOT for any humans suffering as these people did, the idea that Wehrmacht and SS Troops lived in conditions as horrendous as those transported to Death Camps pervades Stalingrad with a sense of cosmic justice. Beevor writes so well, I'm reading all his other work. For history fans, military buffs, or those who like a well-told tales, Beevor's Stalingrad is worth your while.
Rating:
Summary: A well written account of a phenomenal battle
Review: STALINGRAD is a good read. It describes the battle and many of the lesser known facts about both the Russian and the German mind set during the seige. The ruthless Russian military that executed over 13,000 of its own soldiers for everything from desertion to not being in a particular place (such as the field hospital)when sought out!
The arduous winter and the initial German jubilation which soon soured and turned to defeat is also explored.
The book is really quite hard to put down once you get going and it is a good addition to any WWII collection. Also the price of ther book is very reasonable.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling
Review: Bevor's work is a fascinating one-volume description of one of the greatest and most heroic battles of all times. The author takes us to both sides, weaving tactical and strategic planning material with personal documents, allowing the reader to experience both the German and Soviet sides.
I think the strength of the book is its focus on the interplay between politics and the battle: Hitler's obsession with defeatign the Soviets in his arch-enemy's namesake, and Stalin's obsession with defeating Hitler at any cost. And the cost in human lives was beyond belief. Life was cheap to both sides.
I think that good history is more exciting than any novel, and this is a page-turner.
You won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty darn good
Review: This is a good popular account of the Stalingrad battle. The writing is clear, many individuals are given their chance to say their piece, and the maps are pretty good. I fault it for giving Hitler too much blame (e.g. isn't the Luftwaffe responsible for winterizing the airplanes?), misrepresenting Zhukov's massive Operation Mars, and giving the battles in Southern Russia outside of the kessel short shrift. It's a 4-star book.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best on the Topic
Review: This is just a harrowing account of this, one of the fiercest and most deadly battles on the eastern front for the German's during World War Two. The author describes the battle of Stalingrad primarily through the view and actions of the German Army. The details he adds from the lice infestations to the battles with the cold are worth the purchase price of the book alone. He really has a knack for telling of the hardships that make you understand the mind set of the soldier, sense the emotions they are feeling and paint a picture of the environment that almost sends chills up your spine. As the book progresses you have to wonder if Hitler or any members of the General Staff had any clue as to what their own forces were going through. It also highlights how even the own troops of both armies were treated as so much firewood to be thrown in the blase. It is no wonder that these two armies killed each other and their own troops so casually and in such large numbers. Overall, this is a very good book with an armload of details, a great section of pictures and maps, and just a easy to get engrossed style of writing that will cause you to cancel appointments and stay at home reading.
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