'Antony Beevor's Stalingrad is a superb retelling of the saga.
Beevor combines a soldier's understanding of war's realities with the narrative
technique of a novelist. He has made impressive use of the German and Russian
military archives - not just to uncover new evidence on the atrocities committed
by both sides but also to bring out, in all its terrifying aspects, the
human experience of the war by citing soldiers' letters and diaries, personal
accounts and oral testimonies of civilians. This is a book that lets the
reader look into the face of battle. . . Beevor's account of this savage
war is a tour de force.'
Orlando Figes, Sunday Telegraph
'The narrative of Stalingrad is captivating, even for someone
like myself who takes little interest in military matters. At times, it
felt as if I was reading a classical epic drama of the scope of War
and Peace. . . Beevor has skilfully incorporated into the book thousands
of sparkling details. One is tempted to forget that these are not Tolstoyan
literary metaphors, but painstakingly selected facts from eyewitness accounts,
soldiers' letters and other archival documents. . . Jingoistic statues never
pay a proper tribute to the dead, but honest books, like this one, certainly
do.'
Vitali Vitaliev, Guardian
'In this brilliant book, Antony Beevor explains what happened at Stalingrad
from Russian and German sources combined; he has got beyond both sides'
propaganda to write a compelling piece of military history.'
M.R.D. Foot, The Times
'Even for those who already think they know the story well, Antony Beevor
has written a superb new narrative. Stalingrad is a monumental
tale. It deserves to be understood by every literate westerner, because
what happened on the Eastern Front had a decisive impact on the post-war
world. . . But read Beevor first as a compelling tale of human retribution,
rather than as military history.'
Max Hastings, Evening Standard
'What a pleasure it is to welcome a real book by a writer who truly understands
the drama and tragedy of great operations. It is certainly the best narrative
of the battle yet to appear and is not likely to be surpassed in our time.
. . this magnificent book.'
John Keegan, Daily Telegraph
'Antony Beevor's account of this historic turning-point is truly powerful, written with a compelling narrative drive. . . One of the witnesses to Stalingrad was the Russian writer Vassily Grossman, whose epic novel had seemed the last word about the terror loosed there upon the world. Antony Beevor shows that good history is as telling as fiction. This is a fine achievement.' David Pryce-Jones, Daily Mail
'This superlative work. . . is a book to be read with humility, awe and
respect. It has much to teach us, born into the pampered post-war epoch,
about the unfathomable evil of which human beings are capable. But also
of the courage, resilience and guts shown by hundreds of thousands of ordinary
soldiers. Antony Beevor's Stalingrad is a monumental book.'
Peter Oborne, Sunday Express
'A classic. . . Stalingrad is bedtime reading only for those who do not dream. . . It is enormously difficult to write about murder outside the framework of justice, heroes and villains. Both regimes were mechanisms of genocide. Soldiers on either side behaved without the least shred of humanity. However, Stalingrad is a deeply moral book, impassioned and sensitive. Beevor has drawn a mappa mundi of war so terrible, that in that terror lies its beauty.' Amanda Foreman, Independent
'This magisterial account of the battle by Antony Beevor, the foremost military historian of his generation. . . Beevor's brilliance as a military writer lies in putting the sometimes extremely complex tactical situations into their proper context, making them easily understandable to non-military minds, and then investigating the effect on the troops in the field. This perfect blend of politics, strategy and personal reminiscence has been made possible as the vast archives of the former USSR are slowly being opened up to Western scholars. . . The Stalingrad story is biblical in its extremes of barbarism and heroism, and Antony Beevor has told it superbly.' Andrew Roberts, Literary Review
'It is admirably done. One is convinced by his scholarship, and increasingly
moved by the drama. . . he succeeds brilliantly. He has made out of a nightmare
a beautifully paced narrative, which is both a condemnation of folly and
a tribute to men's extraordinary capacity to accept it at the cost of their
lives.'
Nigel Nicolson, Spectator
'I was worried that my taste for military history had run down. . . But
now, at last, something really worth reading has appeared. Indeed so gripping
is Antony Beevor's Stalingrad that I actually found myself reading it walking
along the pavement. . . this brilliant tapestry, which illuminates so pitilessly,
and yet with a reassuring glow of humanity, the bitterest and most cruel
of all 20th-century battles.'
Alan Clark, New Statesman
'In his excellent book, Antony Beevor . . . succeeds triumphantly in reconstructing,
from the chaos of combat and the shards of personal memory, the experience
of the worst single defeat ever suffered (until then) by the German army.'
Piers Brendon, Mail on Sunday
'Antony Beevor's humane and thoroughly researched account of the battle
of Stalingrad, a book which definitively reminds us that modern warfare
is inconceivably terrible.'
Michael Burleigh, Independent on Sunday
'It is not often that tales of battleground strategy and tactics reach
the very top of bestselling lists of non-fiction. But this retelling of
the Battle of Stalingrad has proved to be a surprising runaway hit. It is
no small achievement to have reached such a wide audience with the pity
of this particular war.'
The Economist
'Cool and heartrending, balanced and detailed: the best war history to
appear for many years.'
Robert Conquest, author of Stalin
'Antony Beevor has produced a compelling and extraordinary story, richly
detailed and engrossingly written. Western scholars owe him a very great
debt. We now have the real history of Stalingrad without myth or embellishment.'
Richard Overy, author of Why the Allies Won and
Russia's War
'Beevor's Stalingrad represents the triumph of the written word:
no news report, no documentary however powerful, could communicate the totality
of the cruelty imposed on both sides. The uniqueness of this book, more
even than that classic, All Quiet on the Western Front, seems to
me to lie in the writer's own humanity and infinite literary subtlety.'
Gitta Sereny, author of Albert Speer: His Battle with
Truth
Book of the Year Choices
'Antony Beevor's Stalingrad was as good a
piece of war history as I have ever read.'
Jeremy Paxman Sunday Telegraph Books of the Year
'Antony Beevor's Stalingrad is distinguished
not only for its exhaustive research and sheer narrative drive, but for
its portrayal of the ordinarily human during one of the most atrocious battles
of the century'.
Colin Thubron, Sunday Telegraph
'I have recently read and been hugely impressed by
Stalingrad by Antony Beevor'.
Ben Elton, Sunday Telegraph
'My choice this year is, without any doubt, Antony Beevor's Stalingrad, a magnificent winter tapestry. . . It reads like an accessible novel rather than the superb history which it really is.' Dirk Bogarde, Daily Telegraph Books of the Year
'Antony Beevor's Stalingrad is much more than
a military history. . . Indeed, it is as readable and as captivating as
a Tolstoyan epic drama of the scope of War and Peace. Revealing,
profound and thoroughly unputdownable, Stalingrad is an extraordinary
achievement which transcends its genre.'
Vitali Vitaliev Daily Telegraph
'Antony Beevor tells an epic story superbly',
Keith Baxter Daily Telegraph
'Antony Beevor's Stalingrad is superb: a gripping
and dispassionate account of alternating folly and endurance.'
Nicholas Shakespeare Daily Telegraph
'A good year for military history. Antony Beevor's
Stalingrad is well researched and very readable.'
Orlando Figes The Independent
'Stalingrad by Antony Beevor is the greatest battle
book ever written. I am still having nightmares over it.'
Taki, Spectator
'A brilliantly researched tour de force'
Sarah Bradford, Sunday Times
'First I want to add to the many laurels that have
crowned Stalingrad by Antony Beevor. This superb work of narrative
history (all of human despair, and also of heroism is there) chilled the
marrow of my bones, even though read at high summer.'
Antonia Fraser, Sunday Times
'Stalingrad cannot fail to leave one moved.'
Victoria Mather, Daily Mail
'Stalingrad by Antony Beevor is the best battle
history for many years - balanced, dramatic, dreadful.'
Robert Conquest, Times Literary Supplement
'In spite of having won every prize in sight, Antony
Beevor's Stalingrad really is outstanding, dealing as it does with
perhaps the most horrible and decisive battle in the history of the world
with scholarship, clarity and compassion.'
Michael Howard, Times Literary Supplement
'Antony Beevor met a long-felt need with his
deservedly successful Stalingrad''.
Christian Tyler, Financial Times
