Rating:  Summary: Makes the idea of hell look like a five star resort Review: This book is written with a journalistic approach. That is, the author -thank God - is not interest in proving any historical theory or promoting an ideological agenda. He just was the reader to feel and vividly imaging the pandemonium that more than a million persons live in the battle of Stalingrad. This is done not just by means a perfect description of the tactical decision taken by the field commanders and headquarters of both armies, but also by using hundred of first hand accounts of the combatants, with an acute description of their fears, wounds, hate and delusions. No page in this book will left you unshaken. No silly patriotism, or self aggrandizing feast are poured onto the reader, on the contrary it achieves a fantastic balance featuring both sides of the conflict, while showing the folly of war. Maybe the best work about WWII that I have ever read.
Rating:  Summary: Kind of all over the place Review: A collection of stories about different characters in this battle from interviews and research. I found it very annoying that the author obviously knows nothing about weapons, as he would refer to a ".88mm" gun and similar blunders. That's a darn small projectile. The book really jumps around a lot between characters. The film was even more of a disappointment.
Rating:  Summary: You want the Truth? Your getting it. Review: Enemy at the Gates, A Battle for Stalingrad, by William Craig brought out the truth. He described one of the bloodiest battles in World War II through the eyes of the people in it, not ones that looked at it after. This is one of the many books I have read about World War II, among even more about military acts, but it left a deep mark behind, even after the black back cover was seen. It caused such a deep impact on me. It made me feel that these people were role models, they inspired me to courageous and believe that I should have hope, for they did. The book did this because William Craig brought in stories of the people in there, but he didn¡¦t use it as an excerpt, but as part of his words. He brought in what I thought were imagination about war, to be cold hard facts about war. Another reason why I liked this book was that he never grew soft like some of the authors do. When an infantry hops in with this left leg in this hand, he described it well. He never lets you out on any fact or story about this battle. I also like this book because he had touched me like no other book had. Many books left you with hatred on why humans were so stupid on having wars, but he didn¡¦t. After you finished the book, you feel that you want to help those trapped men. You want to help them meet their wives, kiss their kids. He does not create an atmosphere with a feeling you should have, but he tells you the facts about the men, reads you their letters of despair, writes the quotes of worried captains and allow you to feel the way you will feel. He touched me using the words of the people there, not of his, but survivors amongst the thousands of victims. He touched my heart, and after reading this book, I too, feel more proud and feel that even in the worse should I have hope.
Rating:  Summary: A Classic Review: What can I say about William Craig's masterpiece other than that it is an excellent, informative and profound work? Craig is an amazing writer who delivers his story with passion. We go inside the Battle of Stalingrad and take witness to personal accounts of the people who fought an died on its soil with history of the battle woven through. I learned a lot from this book and it has become a classical piece of literature no one is bound to forget.
Rating:  Summary: First book on Stalingrad Review: This was the first book I read on Stalingrad - it held my attention (no easy task!) and I was done in two nights. Much MUCH better than the movie and a heck of a lot more accurate.
Rating:  Summary: very good book Review: If you want to know about the battle of Stalingrad you should read this. It is much better than the movie. The movie changed too much history. If you really want to watch the movie at least you should read the book first.
Rating:  Summary: Good story but how much of it is true? Review: I have read Enemy at the Gates now two times. It is a good book but I'm not so sure about it being true. Battles, people, happenings are real but some of the stories sounded a bit exaggerated. For example you can only wonder how Russians ever came so near of collapse during autumn 1942 when you read about heroic actions of Soviet soldiers. This book was written during early 1970s so any information author received from Soviet Union must have been tightly censored. If you want to read entertaining book about one of the most famous battles of (military) history, go ahead and read this but I would recommend Anthony Beevor's Stalingrand for those who are interested about more historical facts.
Rating:  Summary: Excellent example of scholarly achievement Review: In the height of the Cold War, Craig braved the Iron Curtain to tell the gut wrenching personal accounts of the battle from BOTH sides. Although the work is now criticized for the lack of Russian primary sources cited, it dosen't stop modern authors from conveniently 'borrowing' from this excellent book, in order to sell their own. Despite the collapse of the Iron Curtain, no author has displaced Craig's work from being the best account of the battle on the personal level. For an operational analysis, Erickson and Ziemke/Bauer should be consulted.
Rating:  Summary: Overly popular Review: This book has a terrific story to tell, but I found it deficient in ways. There are no footnotes, and chapter notes merely cite a volume--so if one wanted to check the accuracy of what the book says one would have to check the entire cited source, rather than a page in the source! The author did a lot of interviewing, so the book is full of "war stories," some of which seem exaggerated. The book is clearly written for the non-scholar and while I like "popular" history (Richard Hough's Admirals in Collision was the best book I read in 1971) I thought this book too "popular" and a more scholarly study would have been more worthwhile reading.
Rating:  Summary: Extrodinary Look at Stalingrad from a Macro and Micro View Review: Craig's work still reigns as one of the premier works on the battle of Stalingrad, just as historians like Cornelius Ryan claimed it would back in the early 1970's. Telling the stories of dozens of individuals in the battle, in all the horrific and menacing character that truly plagued the battle, Craig does a commendable job at writing with skill and in very readable fashion about a subject that is by its very nature, difficult to stomach. Few selections do as thorough a job in forcing you to understand the true disaster on the human level that war can be, and few episodes in human conflict have ever paralleled the unquenchable ferocity and barbarism that went hand in hand with this battle. Not only is the demonic nature of the battle presented well, but there is also a commendable military history presented that details the significance of the battle, the major personalities and the battlefield butchery that have made this battle a thing of legend. To truly comprehend the nature and scope of the battle of Stalingrad and to obtain an actual appreciation for the valor and sacrifice that went hand in hand with unimaginable, ghastly inhumanity that seems striaght from the written illustrations of Dante himself, this book is necessary reading. I give it my highest approval ratings without a second thought, though the misery the book presents forces an afterthought that I assure you, will not be forgotten. It cannot be forgotten.
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