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Inferno

The World at War, 1939–1945
by Max Hastings
Inferno: The World at War, 1939–1945. Knopf. Nov. 2011. c.752p. photogs. maps. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780307273598. $35. HIST
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Former UK journalist Hastings (Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944–45), a popular war historian who has covered World War II from many perspectives, here relates what individuals in the armed forces and the home fronts on all sides experienced. He employs excerpts from mostly contemporary diaries and letters illustrating the shortages, sufferings, destruction, fear, and death that permeated lives violently upended by the all-consuming conflict. There are also passages that bring readers back to the big picture and what various leaders were doing, but it's the stories of what ordinary people experienced at such great cost that make this an engrossing book.
VERDICT This well-written history is recommended for all readers and libraries. (Photos, maps, and index not seen.)
Reviewed by Daniel K. Blewett , Oct 15, 2011
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