RaveThe Times\"Although Hastings deals with the high politics brilliantly, it is his account of the war on the ground that lifts this book above its competitors. Unlike almost all other military historians, he is never boring and never gets bogged down in obscure data. And he has a peerless eye for colourful and revealing details ... Even by Hastings’s own standards, this is a masterful performance: deftly balanced, immaculately researched and written with immense flair.\
