“Penetrating and compassionate…” – The New York Times
“Masterly … a vivid account”– Robert Service, Independent (London)
“A dramatic and exciting tale … His set-piece descriptions of such visions of Hell as Stalingrad, the 900-day siege of Leningrad and the crucial battle of Kursk are as fascinating as they are horrifying” ― Sunday Times (London)
“Overy is a first-class military historian … He writes concisely and says what he means to say … Now, we have an authoritative British account that understands both sides, without illusions.” — Norman Stone, Spectator (London)
“Excellent … Overy tackles this huge, complex and multifaceted story with the vital gifts of clarity and brevity” — Antony Beevor, Literary Review (London)
List of illustrations
List of Maps and Tables
Preface
Introduction
1. The Darkness Descends: 1917-1937
2. The Hour Before Midnight: 1937-1941
3. The Goths Ride East: Barbarossa, 1941
4. Between Life and Death: Leningrad and Moscow
5. The Fight from Within: Collaboration, Terror and Resistance
6. The Cauldron Boils: Stalingrad, 1942-43
7. The Citadel: Kursk, 1943
8. False Dawn: 1943-44
9. Fall of the Swastika: 1945
10. The Cult of Personality: Stalin and the Legacy of War
Epilogue: Russia’s War: Myth and Reality
References
Bibliography
Index
