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A review by andrew_russell
All Hell Let Loose: The World at War, 1939-1945 by Max Hastings
4.0
Max Hasting's book is a hell of an ambitious effort. And to the man's credit, it is one that he largely succeeds in pulling off. I mean to say, a comprehensive account of a six year conflict? Well....yes.
The power of this book lies firstly in it's success in covering most of the main aspects of the war. The Pacific, the Middle East, Normandy, Arnhem, Pearl Harbour, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, the atomic bombs, the Battle of Britain, The Holocaust, Leningrad, The Battle of The Atlantic...do I need to carry on? Not only that but Hastings rounds all of these off with some objective context. It isn't just 'so many died, blah blah blah. General X attacked General Y with so many tanks, so many troops, blah, blah,blah'. No siree. It provides the reasoning behind the actions of the main belligerents, rather than a dry narrative that would leave you asking, 'Why?'
This really is one of the most authoritative single-volume works on The Second World War that I have read. I've still got Anthony Beevor's volume to read and it will be interesting to see if that matches up to Hastings' work.
The power of this book lies firstly in it's success in covering most of the main aspects of the war. The Pacific, the Middle East, Normandy, Arnhem, Pearl Harbour, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, the atomic bombs, the Battle of Britain, The Holocaust, Leningrad, The Battle of The Atlantic...do I need to carry on? Not only that but Hastings rounds all of these off with some objective context. It isn't just 'so many died, blah blah blah. General X attacked General Y with so many tanks, so many troops, blah, blah,blah'. No siree. It provides the reasoning behind the actions of the main belligerents, rather than a dry narrative that would leave you asking, 'Why?'
This really is one of the most authoritative single-volume works on The Second World War that I have read. I've still got Anthony Beevor's volume to read and it will be interesting to see if that matches up to Hastings' work.