The Last Battle - Cornelius Ryan

The Last Battle

By Cornelius Ryan

  • Release Date: 2010-02-16
  • Genre: History
Score: 4
4
From 50 Ratings

Description

The classic account of the final offensive against Hitler's Third Reich.

The Battle for Berlin was the culminating struggle of World War II in the European theater, the last offensive against Hitler's Third Reich, which devastated one of Europe's historic capitals and marked the final defeat of Nazi Germany. It was also one of the war's bloodiest and most pivotal battles, whose outcome would shape international politics for decades to come.

The Last Battle is Cornelius Ryan's compelling account of this final battle, a story of brutal extremes, of stunning military triumph alongside the stark conditions that the civilians of Berlin experienced in the face of the Allied assault. As always, Ryan delves beneath the military and political forces that were dictating events to explore the more immediate imperatives of survival, where, as the author describes it, “to eat had become more important than to love, to burrow more dignified than to fight, to exist more militarily correct than to win.”

The Last Battle is the story of ordinary people, both soldiers and civilians, caught up in the despair, frustration, and terror of defeat. It is history at its best, a masterful illumination of the effects of war on the lives of individuals, and one of the enduring works on World War II.

Reviews

  • Excellent, if a bit long.

    5
    By Sports Nut News
    Extraordinarily detailed account from many points of view. Compelling and readable. However, Simon & Shuster should be ashamed. The digital version is riddled with typos. The layout and general quality of the photos are poor. The book is still very much worth reading for history fans and WWII buffs. An incredibly pivotal moment that clearly marked the end of large-scale conventional war and the start of the Cold War.

Comments