Stalingrad
This gripping history is the definitive account of the battle that shifted the tide of World War II, conveying the experience of soldiers on both sides as they fought in inhuman conditions, and of civilians trapped on an urban battlefield.
Stats for nerds
10recommend
16mentions
14people
2017–2023years
63% recommend25% neutral13% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- "Russia: Revolution and Civil War". Antony Beevor is an historian with a knack for good anecdotes. It can be a little hard to follow, but it's worth a read. His books about the battle of Stalingrad and Berlin are much better though.
I'm currently reading "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff". If you need a book to unwind from a brick about the civil war, this is it. It's hilarious.
"Salt Fat Acid Heat" is recommended by everyone for a reason. Unfortunately, I read before bedtime and it makes me want to get out of bed and cook things.
"A very brief introduction to Marx" is exactly what's on the tin. These very brief introductions are a great way to read about something, although the writing quality varies from book to book.
- Agreed, great book. If you haven't read Anthony Beevor's Stalingrad as a 'non-fiction' take I can also highly recommend. I presume he must have been heavily influenced by Grossman.
- +1 for Stalingrad by Beevor
A soul shaking book. It changed my outlook on bureaucracy/society/humanity.
- Two good books to read on this topic are:
- Stalingrad - Berlin: The Downfall 1945
Both by Antony Beevor. After reading these books, it really convinced me how much undue credit the US gets for "winning" WW2 (in Europe) when its pretty clear the Soviets did the large majority of actually doing the costly dirty work in Europe.
People like to point out the obvious propaganda of other countries, but are fairly oblivious to the USA's own very strong propaganda and cultural influence.
- Yes, I spend at least the last hour before bed reading. I alternate every other book fiction and non-fiction. I actually just finished the latest Stormlight book and loved it. Currently re-reading Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor.
- In the UK we only just survived the WW2 blockade, with a highly centrally planned push to expand local agriculture to cover missing imports. Loss of imports forever will kill over 50% of the population, slowly.
The problem with transitioning to draft animals is preventing them getting eaten in the collapse. We'd probably also run out of trees in a few years.
(Collapsists should make more study of WW2, such as Beevor's magnificent, horrifying Stalingrad. Or the siege of Leningrad. Surrounded Soviet civilians died by the millions. And that wasn't a collapse in the collapsist sense, the social, legal and technological order remained somewhat intact)
