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View Full Version : Books on World war two? - Recommendations..


Sammi
18th October 2002, 22:10
What are some books on world war two that have details on the USSR's role ?
Maaja
19th October 2002, 09:09
'The Young Guard' by Alexander Fadeyev is very good.
Mahdavikia
19th October 2002, 21:06
Have you seen the movie "Stalingrad"? It's a very good movie about the WW2 in Stalingrad.
Sammi
20th October 2002, 08:45
No I haven' seen it, but a friend was just mentioning it to me yesterday.

Ty Maaja and Mahdavikia.
Wenty
20th October 2002, 16:37
HITLER AND STALIN:PARALLEL LIVES BY ALAN BULLOCK
hardcore baby.
bill evans
2nd February 2003, 19:48
Try: 'The Meaning of the Second World War' by Ernest Mandel for a convincing Marxist account of all aspects of the war, showing how even tactics and weapons were the product of the political and economic interests of the ruling classes in the conflict. (as they will be in the imminent attack on Iraq) Plenty on the USSR's role. Mandel does get too clever by half in his interpretation of the Holocaust in economic terms (!) but otherwise this book will enlighten.

For real length and detail, try 'Russia at War' by Alexander Werth, published in the 1960s. Werth was a bi-lingual Western journalist who was in the USSR throughout the war. He seems to have spoken to everyone apart from Stalin and has put together an amazing narrative from Soviet and first hand sources.

I believe the standard Western military history is by Prof. John Erickson in two volumes: 'The Road to Stalingrad' and 'The Road to Berlin'.

I hope these are useful.
bill evans
2nd February 2003, 19:57
I forgot a fantastic book that I was going to recommend in the literature section but it would fit your request. Try 'Babi Yar' by Anatoly Kuznetsov. The author was a boy of 11 when the Nazis occupied his home city of Kiev. This is a recollection of his experience, including glimpses of the massacre of tens of thousands of Jewish Ukrainians in the city's untamed beauty spot called Babi Yar. Mixed in are some wonderful mature reflections on what happened when he was a kid. One of the all-time great books of the last century, believe me. If the writer hadn't been a Soviet citizen, it would be far better known. It deserves to be.

Love and peace, citizens of the world!