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trails's review
4.0
I read this at the same time I was reading The Guns of August. The parallels between these books and the battles they examine are obvious and have been drawn to the point of exhaustion. What I will say is that while The Guns of August is a truly amazing book. Battle does a better job in conveying the humanity of the people it tells the story of. Often the figure in Guns feel like the characateurs that history portrays them as, meanwhile battle forces the reader to acknowledge that even someone as detestable as an SS officer is a human with real virtues in addition to their sins.
lisalark's review against another edition
4.0
Listened to this one - overall very good, and the Battle of the Bulge is always fascinating. I found the narrator's tone off when he was reading some of the atrocities; he sounded sort of overly into it or aggressive or something, which was weird. But I don't think I would have felt that way reading the same words, it was a just a delivery issue. I did appreciate that the author recounted stories of war crimes and of human kindness on all sides - I don't like when an author overly villifies one nationality or side. As in, yes, Nazism is awful, but the individual German soldiers were people, some good, some bad, mostly sometimes good or bad.
Well worth the listen/read!
Well worth the listen/read!
ssindc's review against another edition
4.0
A grisly story of a brutal battle, told well. A well-researched, carefully constructed chronicle of one of the most famous/infamous battles and, in many way, one of the final turning points in WWII in Europe. An impressive piece of military history told in the most human of terms.
Much of the author's art is the ability to present the big (and I mean big) picture - from Hitler to Eisenhower - while presenting a broad range of perspectives - both axis and allied, from individual soldiers (and civilians) to sergeants, junior officers, and commanders of all types. (Granted, the reader's lens can blur, periodically, as you rush/flit/jump from squad, platoon, and company actions to foxholes and tank turrets and field hospitals and private homes and church cellars and airplanes and forests to table-top maps where battalions and divisions and armies are manipulated like board game pieces, and, well, you get the idea....)
This isn't a new book, but I'm glad it finally made it to the top of my reading stack. It's an impressive example of what history can be, when a lot of hard work is pieced together into a coherent and digestible story that, while presenting an extraordinary amount of factual information, not only informs and enlightens but entertains.
Military history geek note: At many points in the book, I was reminded of the iconic historical pieces from similar times/places by Cornelius Ryan, and so I was amused when Ryan actually made a cameo appearance late in the book. That was a fun bonus that I didn't see coming....
Much of the author's art is the ability to present the big (and I mean big) picture - from Hitler to Eisenhower - while presenting a broad range of perspectives - both axis and allied, from individual soldiers (and civilians) to sergeants, junior officers, and commanders of all types. (Granted, the reader's lens can blur, periodically, as you rush/flit/jump from squad, platoon, and company actions to foxholes and tank turrets and field hospitals and private homes and church cellars and airplanes and forests to table-top maps where battalions and divisions and armies are manipulated like board game pieces, and, well, you get the idea....)
This isn't a new book, but I'm glad it finally made it to the top of my reading stack. It's an impressive example of what history can be, when a lot of hard work is pieced together into a coherent and digestible story that, while presenting an extraordinary amount of factual information, not only informs and enlightens but entertains.
Military history geek note: At many points in the book, I was reminded of the iconic historical pieces from similar times/places by Cornelius Ryan, and so I was amused when Ryan actually made a cameo appearance late in the book. That was a fun bonus that I didn't see coming....
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