PositiveThe Wall Street Journal... fascinating and immensely readable ... Mr. Hastings writes in understandable awe ... [Hasting] is a supremely good writer, has a journalist’s nose for drama and has always been forthright and highly opinionated ... Mr. Hastings’s emotional allegiance is firmly with the latter, which is why his sympathy here for both the aircrew downed in the raid and those killed on the ground in Germany is so clear, and why his descriptions of the aftermath are so moving. His revulsion—and anger—at the destructive power of the floods unleashed by the breach in the dams is strikingly evident; his details of the carnage that ensued are among the most compelling and upsetting descriptions in the book ... This emphasis on the officers at the very top and the masses at the bottom means Mr. Hastings’s focus lies firmly at the strategic and tactical levels of war. There is, however, a third, operational, level. At its crudest, operations is the nuts and bolts of warfare, an explanation of how and why nations fight in the ways they do. It’s a level in which the author is less interested, and because of his sympathy for those at the tactical level, his judgment about the low value of the dams raid is a little impaired. He sees the battered and drowned faces of the 1,500 killed in the raid and not the wider operational context ... a fine account, rich in human drama and tragedy, told by a historian whose new books are always to be welcomed.
David Eimar
RaveThe Times (UK)...[a] thought-provoking book ... A Savage Dreamland follows [Eimar\'s] journeys and is threaded with a cast of wonderful characters who guide him ... Throughout, Eimer deftly observes those he meets, recounting conversations and making sure that the people and the country are the stars. It is not his story, but theirs ... The result of Eimer’s intrepid endeavours is a revelatory and moving book, enriched by vivid descriptive colour and an incredible cast of characters. But it is the deep, frustrating sadness at Burma’s terrible tragedy that lingers.
