nonsuch
31st December 2007, 09:55 AM
I remember as a boy seeing the movie The Battle of Stalingrad. I must have gone with an adult,for it was chop-full of horrors and the kind of film you never forget. Heroic, too, no doubt, about war.
Before Christmas I completed reading Antony Beevor's Stalingrad. Not an easy read from at least two perspectives: the book's complexity;the horrific details of starving frozen men, German and Russian, trapped in a hopeless battle.
If you want an anti-war book, I strongly recommend it. Ditto, if you are curious about what made the leaders indulge in this mass-slaughter for a cause that was so futile. Beevor has, I presume, been meticulous in his research. He never preaches. The book's action is enough, more than enough for those with weak stomachs. There are heroes here, as there always will be - sometimes one is amazed at the spirit of man in extremis - but the book as a whole is definitely non-heroic.
Before Christmas I completed reading Antony Beevor's Stalingrad. Not an easy read from at least two perspectives: the book's complexity;the horrific details of starving frozen men, German and Russian, trapped in a hopeless battle.
If you want an anti-war book, I strongly recommend it. Ditto, if you are curious about what made the leaders indulge in this mass-slaughter for a cause that was so futile. Beevor has, I presume, been meticulous in his research. He never preaches. The book's action is enough, more than enough for those with weak stomachs. There are heroes here, as there always will be - sometimes one is amazed at the spirit of man in extremis - but the book as a whole is definitely non-heroic.