All Hell Let Loose : The World at War 1939-1945
Author(s): Sir Max Hastings
A magisterial history of the greatest and most terrible event in history, from one of the finest historians of the Second World War. A book which shows the impact of war upon hundreds of millions of people around the world- soldiers, sailors and airmen; housewives, farm workers and children. Reflecting Max Hastings's thirty-five years of research on World War II, All Hell Let Loose describes the course of events, but focuses chiefly upon human experience, which varied immensely from campaign to campaign, continent to continent. The author emphasises the Russian front, where more than 90% of all German soldiers who perished met their fate. He argues that, while Hitler's army often fought its battles brilliantly well, the Nazis conducted their war effort with 'stunning incompetence'. He suggests that the Royal Navy and US Navy were their countries' outstanding fighting services, while the industrial contribution of the United States was much more important to allied victory than that of the US Army. The book ranges across a vast canvas, from the agony of Poland amid the September 1939 Nazi invasion, to the 1943 Bengal famine, in which at least a million people died under British rule- and British neglect. Among many vignettes, there are the RAF's legendary raid on the Ruhr dams, the horrors of Arctic convoys, desert tank combat, jungle clashes. Some of Hastings's insights and judgements will surprise students of the conflict, while there are vivid descriptions of the tragedies and triumphs of a host of ordinary people, in uniform and out of it. 'The cliche is profoundly true', he says. 'The world between 1939 and 1945 saw some human beings plumb the depths of baseness, while others scaled the heights of courage and nobility'. This is 'everyman's story', an attempt to answer the question: 'What was the Second World War like ?', and also an overview of the big picture. Max Hastings employs the technique which has made many of his previous books best-sellers, combining top-down analysis and bottom-up testimony to explore the meaning of this vast conflict both for its participants and for posterity.
General Information
- :
- : HarperCollins Publishers
- : HarperPress
- : 1.24
- : 31 August 2011
- : United Kingdom
- : 01 October 2011
- : 01 November 2012
- : books
Other Specifications
- : Sir Max Hastings
- : Hardback
- : 10-Nov
- : 940.54
- : 848
More About The Product
Praise for Finest Years: 'I would choose this account over and above the rest. It is a fabulous book: full of perceptive insight that conveys all the tragedy, triumph, humour and intense drama of Churchill's time as wartime leader; and it is incredibly moving as a result' James Holland, Literary Review 'One of the best books ever written about Churchill!Hastings's efficient, soldierly prose marches along at a brisk pace and carries the reader with it. He has drawn on copious original sources and consulted experts familiar with them, enabling him to cast fresh light on familiar episodes!.a magnificent performance' Piers Brendon, Sunday Times 'The book's portrait of Churchill is scrupulously fair and often deeply moving!.in fact Hastings excels with all his character portraits, especially with Roosevelt and Stalin. Hastings is truly a master of strategy and high command' Antony Beevor, Mail on Sunday 'Hastings's brilliant!remarkable book!At a time when our politicians are mismanaging a foreign war, it has many invaluable lessons!.a timely as well as a judicious and important book' Michael Burliegh, Sunday Telegraph 'Brilliantly executed!this is a superb book, majestic in scope and depth, studded with insights and judgments that brilliantly illuminate great and terrible events' Evening Standard "This is a rich and rewarding book, the fruit of many years of reflection on the conduct of the war. It is enlivened by countless insights on matters great and small, and by a spare, tenchant style which holds the reader's attention throughout its 600 pages" The Spectator "A vivid, moving, warts and all picture of a leader who was determined to be a hero" David Cannadine, TLS, Books of the Year
Max Hastings studied at Charterhouse and Oxford and became a foreign correspondent, reporting from more than sixty countries and eleven wars for BBC TV and the London Evening Standard. He has won many awards for his journalism. Among his best-selling books 'Bomber Command' won the Somerset Maugham Prize, and both 'Overlord' and 'Battle for the Falklands' won the Yorkshire Post Book of the Year Prize. After ten years as editor and then editor-in-chief of the Daily Telegraph, he became editor of the Evening Standard in 1996. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he was knighted in 2002. He now lives in Berkshire.
