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4.35 AVERAGE
4.35 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
All Hell Let Loose is an exhaustive and exhausting epic, but one that is very worthwhile. World War II is well-trod ground to say the least, but Max Hastings set out to tell the experiences and stories of people who haven't had much attention, especially in the west. Their stories and experiences, like the stories and experiences of their entire generation, deserve and need to be heard.
Hastings tells the stories as well as they can be told, and masterfully weaves in information from various primary sources to form narrative blocks, each set around a particular group of people. What was the Eastern Front experience like for the Italian troops who served there? What challenges and dangers did the men of the British Merchant Navy face? What was life like for Soviet, German, Chinese or Finnish civilians during the war? The women who served in various branches and services during the war?
The stories make for harrowing reading (or listening, as the case may be) and this definitely isn't entertaining stuff in the traditional sense. It's hard to get much entertainment from the final letter an 18 year old Soviet conscript wrote to his parents shortly before his death, or the diary of an Italian lieutenant who is basically starving to death in the African desert, but we owe it to these people to hear their stories, and remember, so we don't repeat the mistakes that led to their pain and suffering 80 years ago.
I listened to the Audible version (which is currently included for free in their subscription), and the narrator does a wonderful job. The narration is clear and pleasant to listen to, and has plenty of emotion without going overboard or becoming cheesy.
In all, it's hard to imagine a much better or thorough exploration of such a worthwhile topic, so All Hell Let Loose is extremely highly recommended.
Hastings tells the stories as well as they can be told, and masterfully weaves in information from various primary sources to form narrative blocks, each set around a particular group of people. What was the Eastern Front experience like for the Italian troops who served there? What challenges and dangers did the men of the British Merchant Navy face? What was life like for Soviet, German, Chinese or Finnish civilians during the war? The women who served in various branches and services during the war?
The stories make for harrowing reading (or listening, as the case may be) and this definitely isn't entertaining stuff in the traditional sense. It's hard to get much entertainment from the final letter an 18 year old Soviet conscript wrote to his parents shortly before his death, or the diary of an Italian lieutenant who is basically starving to death in the African desert, but we owe it to these people to hear their stories, and remember, so we don't repeat the mistakes that led to their pain and suffering 80 years ago.
I listened to the Audible version (which is currently included for free in their subscription), and the narrator does a wonderful job. The narration is clear and pleasant to listen to, and has plenty of emotion without going overboard or becoming cheesy.
In all, it's hard to imagine a much better or thorough exploration of such a worthwhile topic, so All Hell Let Loose is extremely highly recommended.
Its hard to review this book. 1. It has lots of information. 2. It is very informative. 3. It is chock full o' facts. 4. Informationinformationinformation.
This book was a great book if you are a history buff. If you like dates. If you like numbers. If you like your chapters broken down by campaign and battle and country. It has personal tidbits here and there. And those are the only things that kept me going to finish it. But not enough for me to suggest this book to anyone I know. If you need to write a paper for your history class. This is the book for you!
This book was a great book if you are a history buff. If you like dates. If you like numbers. If you like your chapters broken down by campaign and battle and country. It has personal tidbits here and there. And those are the only things that kept me going to finish it. But not enough for me to suggest this book to anyone I know. If you need to write a paper for your history class. This is the book for you!
I've read a handful of WWII histories, but this is the most exhaustive, balanced, and interesting of any of them. I won't go into all of the details, but these are a few of the reasons why:
--The author uses primary sources (letters, diaries, interviews, etc.) to great effect. Not just the generals or the politicians, but the ordinary soldiers, seamen, civilians, and victims. All nationalities are included. Nothing brings home the horror of the war better than these first-hand reports.
--This book conveys the truly global scope of WWII. The elements that most Americans think of as WWII (western Europe after D-day, the Pacific war against Japan, and maybe north Africa) are only a portion of the whole picture. The contribution of the USSR in particular is set out in great detail, but never romanticized.
--The author notes the irony of England, in particular, fighting for freedom while hoping to return, after the war, to its "rightful" position as the colonial master of India, Burma, and other soon-to-be-free colonies.
--The author argues (convincingly, to me) that some aspects of the war, such as the US re-invasion of the Philipines, were driven not by military necessity but by the internal logic of waging war: once a fighting force is assembled, it will be used. He does allow, at the same time, that these instances are certainly clearer in retrospect than they were at the time.
--Finally, while he accepts that WWII was "the good war", he notes that the brutality with which it was waged (particularly on the USSR-German front) as well as the results (Eastern Europe being within the Soviet sphere of influence, as one notable example) make facile moral judgments not only impossible but dangerous.
Highly recommended.
--The author uses primary sources (letters, diaries, interviews, etc.) to great effect. Not just the generals or the politicians, but the ordinary soldiers, seamen, civilians, and victims. All nationalities are included. Nothing brings home the horror of the war better than these first-hand reports.
--This book conveys the truly global scope of WWII. The elements that most Americans think of as WWII (western Europe after D-day, the Pacific war against Japan, and maybe north Africa) are only a portion of the whole picture. The contribution of the USSR in particular is set out in great detail, but never romanticized.
--The author notes the irony of England, in particular, fighting for freedom while hoping to return, after the war, to its "rightful" position as the colonial master of India, Burma, and other soon-to-be-free colonies.
--The author argues (convincingly, to me) that some aspects of the war, such as the US re-invasion of the Philipines, were driven not by military necessity but by the internal logic of waging war: once a fighting force is assembled, it will be used. He does allow, at the same time, that these instances are certainly clearer in retrospect than they were at the time.
--Finally, while he accepts that WWII was "the good war", he notes that the brutality with which it was waged (particularly on the USSR-German front) as well as the results (Eastern Europe being within the Soviet sphere of influence, as one notable example) make facile moral judgments not only impossible but dangerous.
Highly recommended.
dark
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
I have to admit, I skimmed some of the more military-ish parts of this military history. But overall it was an excellent read, horrifying, but excellent. Whereas Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin made me think it sucked to be Russian/Polish/Ukranian, this book made me think it sucked to be pretty much anyone. Good War, what Good War?
One-volume histories of something as widespread and impactful as World War II can be difficult to read and, I imagine, write. Although Hastings' look at WW II has its moments and never fails to deliver interesting stories, it's approach from the British side of the war isn't perfectly suited toward someone more interested in reading about the U.S. involvement in the great war.
So American participation in such important events as D-Day, Pearl Harbor, and the end game in Japan, including dropping of the atomic weapons in August, 1945 are barely given mention in this massive work, which I found surprising.
This isn't a bad addition to a library for World War II buffs; it just might not be the first book you want to add.
So American participation in such important events as D-Day, Pearl Harbor, and the end game in Japan, including dropping of the atomic weapons in August, 1945 are barely given mention in this massive work, which I found surprising.
This isn't a bad addition to a library for World War II buffs; it just might not be the first book you want to add.
Exactly what I was looking for in a sweeping history of World War II: an unflinching view of the great war from start to finish that focused principally on the perspectives of the "little people."
Probably the most significant thing I drew from it was the actual nature of the war. In hindsight, history often treats major decisions and campaigns as deliberate, precise and calculated. In fact, they are usually operated in a bumbling, haphazard fashion that costs thousands of people their lives.
As an American, I also noted interesting parallels to modern times that we are not often told. Most notably, that the American public was even then extraordinarily impatient and intolerant of casualties. Hawks in Iraq and Afghanistan often bemoan the American peoples' impatience with war as though it's a product of Walter Cronkite during the Vietnam War. Hastings conveys the fact that western democracies have always been that way.
It also dovetails into the way Hastings says we fought the war -- which is principally with the use of total air superiority and with a ridiculous overindulgence in artillery. Even with those deficiencies, the United States still made a significant contribution to the Allied victory by virtue of its industrial might.
It makes one wonder, though, with our greatly diminished manufacturing capacity, how we would wage a real war today? American fighting doctrine relies almost completely on advantages we've had on the battlefield since 1943. If our war machine sputtered and we lost control of the skies, the prospects for the American military would not be fantastic.
Such flights of intellectual fancy are why I read works like Hastings'. Fantastic stuff.
Probably the most significant thing I drew from it was the actual nature of the war. In hindsight, history often treats major decisions and campaigns as deliberate, precise and calculated. In fact, they are usually operated in a bumbling, haphazard fashion that costs thousands of people their lives.
As an American, I also noted interesting parallels to modern times that we are not often told. Most notably, that the American public was even then extraordinarily impatient and intolerant of casualties. Hawks in Iraq and Afghanistan often bemoan the American peoples' impatience with war as though it's a product of Walter Cronkite during the Vietnam War. Hastings conveys the fact that western democracies have always been that way.
It also dovetails into the way Hastings says we fought the war -- which is principally with the use of total air superiority and with a ridiculous overindulgence in artillery. Even with those deficiencies, the United States still made a significant contribution to the Allied victory by virtue of its industrial might.
It makes one wonder, though, with our greatly diminished manufacturing capacity, how we would wage a real war today? American fighting doctrine relies almost completely on advantages we've had on the battlefield since 1943. If our war machine sputtered and we lost control of the skies, the prospects for the American military would not be fantastic.
Such flights of intellectual fancy are why I read works like Hastings'. Fantastic stuff.
challenging
informative
tense
medium-paced