For anyone who has read books which deal with how men react in wartime, this novel is often referred to as a realistic description of military life. In a sense, it could in certain parts, be an English version of Joseph Hellers novel, Catch-22 with better character development and a darker form of humor. Evelyn Waugh is best known for his novel, Brideshead Revisited, but this novel is a semi-biographical account of his war time experiences as well as his relationship with his Catholicism (he converted to Catholicism in 1930 after the failure of his first marriage).

Harrison Salisbury was the first NY Times correspondent stationed in Moscow after World War II and wrote a number of both fiction and non-fiction books about life in the Soviet Union, including a classic on the siege of Leningrad, The 900 Days. Unlike Walter Duranty, the besotted and compromised NY Times reporter who won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Soviet regime, Salisbury was not compromised by the system and was often criticized by the Soviets.

This novel tells a familiar story; a young Soviet citizen who somehow runs afoul of the Soviet system. He is pulled from front line service against the Germans and run through the hands of the Soviet secret police (including at Lubyanka prison, also known as the gates of hell) and the Gulag system. Along the way, his life is destroyed; his wife (at his request), divorces him so she may continue her schooling (being married to an enemy of the State would hinder her), his best friend after serving his time becomes a supporter of the State, his dreams of a better world are destroyed.

Despite it all, the main character survives and becomes a major dissent against the system. With the publication of his main book outside of the Soviet system, and, given the timing of its publication, he manages to salvage his dignity and resurrect his dreams of a better world.

Is this book a thinly covered version of the life of Solzhenitsyn (written in a clearer manner than Solzhenitsyn would have ever done)? More likely it is a composite character of survivors of the Gulag system who were able to maintain their humanity and hope for the future.

If you are not familiar with novels about the Soviet system, this is an easy read and should give you an idea of the brutality and craziness of a system which promised utopia but neglected to remember human nature.

In December 1936, the United Kingdom was rocked by the abdication of King Edward VIII.  Shortly thereafter, he married a twice divorced American woman, Wallis Simpson. For decades, the former King was viewed as a weak-willed man, dominated by a self-centered gold digger who thought she could marry the King and become Queen of England.  The story is much more complex, and Anna Pasternak takes a much different view of the entire episode; fortunately, she provides excellent support to her contention that Wallis Simpson was battled to keep the King, who was weak willed, on the throne.

It has been said that Henry Ford was a genius who expanded the horizons of the average American.  In “Slaughterhouse”, Dr. Pacyga tells the story of the Chicago stock yard and the world that it made.  In fact, the stock yards of Chicago did much more than industrialize the slaughter of cattle, sheep and hogs, they were responsible for increasing the diet of Americans and Europeans by providing meat products in a timely, cost effective manner.  They also were instrumental in the invention and improvements in rail transportation including refrigerated cars, smoother rides, etc. 

Richard Rhodes is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and has written both fiction and non-fiction, on topics as diverse as the Donner Party, the invention of the Atom Bomb and the Audubon Society.  In this work, he traces how the Einsatzgruppen were organized, their scope of activity, their relationship with the Wehrmacht and the impact of mass killings on the individuals within the units.

Originally deployed in Poland at the start of the war, their primary directive was the murder of the leaders of Polish society; lawyers, doctors, educators, political leaders, etc. as the conqueror Poles were destined to be a source of ignorant slave laborers who did not need to count much above 100 in their future live.  The “special action groups” also targeted any Poles who offered any resistance either real or imagined.  At the same time, they went after suspected communists and finally, the Jews of Poland.  As the original plan was to move the Jews out of Europe, the concept of committing mass murder of the Jews was not in their primary list of objectives.  Yet once the killing began, and they were under the protection of SS-Reichsfuehrer Himmler, their murderous campaign quickly expanded.

This book provides case studies of some of the major minds which shaped the modern world. These individuals were driving forces in literature, politics, economics and morals, not by the force of their expertise, but rather by their self belief that they had found secrets about mankind that no one else had found in thousands of years. Their egos were sufficient that they never bothered to ask, like Nietzsche, “if no God, then what?” for their answer was that they had become god, capable of constructing laws and rules for others. Each of them created their own universe at which they were the steady light, and despite their lack of morals, ability to lie outrageously, often lie around in their own filth and not pay back borrowed money, they found followers who hung on their every utterance.

I normally find the author of interest; her book, Paris 1919, was an excellent work; tight, concise, and provided excellent portraits of many of the key players.  This work, however, would be better titled, War 101 for beginners. If you have a high schooler, purchase it for them (or save your money, get it from the library) so that they will have an overview of how strategies have changed due to weapon developments, the changing role of civilians and international law, the reasons, even the evolution of war.  For the individual who does not understand war, for the naïve, this is a good book. 

Grossman is best remembered for his novel, Life and Fate which has been described as the greatest Russian novel since War and Peace. When originally shown to the Soviet censors, they agreed that it was a great novel but that it could not be published for at least two hundred years; its descriptions of the men and women fighting in the Great Patriotic War were too real and did not pay any homage to Stalin.

Finland managed to fight two wars with the Soviet Union during the 20^th century; once it was attacked, and in the second, it was the attacker, an ally of Nazi Germany.  There was never any doubt that Finland could win either war; the best Finland could do was to ride on the coattails of a Germany victory.  In fact, the Finnish offensive action during the second war was limited and basically was aimed at regaining the territory lost during the first war.