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A review by mbondlamberty
Eight Days at Yalta: How Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin Shaped the Post-War World by Diana Preston
4.0
I am a fan of Diana Preston. She write the history of events with details that I appreciate. Sure not everyone wants to know about bedbugs or menus but I found them to be interesting anecdotes.
I also teach history so love these little anecdotes to give students a sense of a time and place (though probably won't mention specific menus, but rather the incongruity of communist governments eating all the caviar they wanted but not having good water).
I enjoyed this micro-history (like her Boxer Rebellion history) - an up close and not always flattering picture of the players and events. It was supremely readable (to me, again a history teacher) and was even a "break" for me from reading a history of xenophobia in the US (which is a little too close to home these days).
I appreciate that Preston sticks to just the facts, but I would have liked a little more conjecture of what could have happened like she does at the end. Were people not doing their homework for this important meeting? Did Roosevelt have a stronger hand to play and simply didn't take advantage of it to the detriment of millions?
I also teach history so love these little anecdotes to give students a sense of a time and place (though probably won't mention specific menus, but rather the incongruity of communist governments eating all the caviar they wanted but not having good water).
I enjoyed this micro-history (like her Boxer Rebellion history) - an up close and not always flattering picture of the players and events. It was supremely readable (to me, again a history teacher) and was even a "break" for me from reading a history of xenophobia in the US (which is a little too close to home these days).
I appreciate that Preston sticks to just the facts, but I would have liked a little more conjecture of what could have happened like she does at the end. Were people not doing their homework for this important meeting? Did Roosevelt have a stronger hand to play and simply didn't take advantage of it to the detriment of millions?