Antony Beevor graduated from Sandhurst in Great Britain and served 5 years in the British army, so he knows army life from the inside. His description of the enormous waste of human and military capital during the battle for Stalingrad is full of authoritative detail as well as poignant sketches of the human face of all-out war. The megalomania of Hitler and Stalin was astounding and contrasted by the bravery and resourcefulness of the troops on the ground and the civilians in the war zone. Millions of soldiers, airmen, peasants and city dwellers were killed or wounded. One of the most disgusting details is that many of Hitler's troops died of malnutrition or just plain hunger. The German army could not keep its own army fed! If hunger didn't kill them the weather did-the Germans were not prepared for the Russian winters. This book is depressing but well-written. Sometimes the reader is overwhelmed by the level of detail, including what seems like an endless list of military units' names, numbers and movements. There is, however, a good movement back and forth between narrative, quotations from the battle's participants, and vignettes of human wartime character-both good and bad-plus analysis of strategy and tactics. Several pages of compelling photographs are also included. "A fantastic and sobering story . . ." the book jacket proclaims-I agree.

Tags: military_history

Frank Delaney has written a story of one man, the captain of a commercial freighter, who in 1951 single-handedly attempted to save his ship from sinking on the high seas. It is a story from a simpler time, presented as a portrait of one man who did what he did because it was, in his mind, the right thing to do, despite significant personal risk. Doing his job was the captain's main motivation. Doing it well was his modus operandi. Doing it without angling for personal gain or fame was assumed. In short, a tale of heroism by an ordinary man in a battle against Nature doing what he was trained and employed to do, albeit in extraordinary circumstances.

The writing style of this book leaves a little to be desired. There are discontinuities in the narrative which I found irritating. The author also, almost embarrassingly so, inserts part of his own story into the story of the protagonist. Delaney's childhood was not a happy one, apparently, and he connects his fascination with the sea captain's tale to his own father's failure to connect his with son the author. It just seems out of place.

Nonetheless, despite these faults, I recommend the book, especially if one has an interest in seafarers and the struggles between the elemental forces of water, weather, and human determination.