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Leningrad: State Of Siege (2008)

by Michael Jones(Favorite Author)

4.08 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0465011535 (ISBN13: 9780465011537)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Basic Books

review 1: The 1941-44 Nazi siege of Leningrad was even more awful than I had thought. Nearly one million people died, mostly of starvation in the first winter, when the food ration was 125 grams (about 2 slices) of bread a day, and even that was adulterated or unavailable! Between Nazi cruelty and Soviet callousness and mismanagement, the Leningraders suffered unnecessarily for many months. There were many examples of self-sacrifice and heroism too. The US lost 1/2 million soldiers in WW II; a little more than half the civilian deaths in Leningrad alone. Today, St. Petersburg is beautiful and a delight to visit; it's hard to imagine it in conditions of constant shellfire, cold, and starvation. Michael Jones frankly deals with the horrors of the siege, unlike the official Soviet view... more for many years, unflinchingly telling of crime and even cannibalism.
review 2: It seems hard to believe, but this book makes the Siege of Leningrad and the stories of the victims and survivors dull. While the prose is largely workmanlike (although there are a few howlers, like describing someone under threat as being "surrounded by prey"), the prose does not draw one in. Neither the personal stories of the survivors and the diaries of the death, nor the overall description of the battle are ever more than flat. The story told is a great story, but this book is not the story to tell it. It's not awful, it's just unworthy. less

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