In this narrative, author John Kelly chronicles the turbulent wartime relationship between the great leaders--Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin--and military commanders of America, Britain, and the Soviet Union. Faced with the greatest challenge of the century, the Allied leaders and their war managers struggled against a common enemy--and each other. The story behind how victory was forged is an epic story, rich in drama, passion and larger-than-life personalities. The Allies eventually triumphed, but at what cost?
This well-researched history tracks how the course of World War II influenced Josef Stalin’s standing with his allies, so 'saving' Stalin takes on multiple meanings ... Saving Stalin offers a thoughtful analysis of the compromises leaders made to win a war, the outcome of which would have been uncertain without those difficult choices.
John Kelly, who has previously written narrative histories of the Black Death, the Irish famine, and the early stages of the Second World War, engagingly revisits the turbulent and often strained relationships between the U.S., Britain, and Soviet Russia in their war against Nazi Germany and her Axis partners in his new book Saving Stalin.
Unfortunately, this latest work from Kelly (The Great Mortality) focuses on the war in Europe but doesn’t consider the global implications and includes numerous errors and jarring statements throughout, some more forgivable than others ... Moreover, Kelly writes that slain Nazi soldiers were 'assembled in the snowy fields... summoned to Valhalla,' the mythological Norse hall of warriors killed in battle, thus glorifying men who perpetrated some of the worst atrocities in history. Errors and awkward prose mar a work that could have otherwise been acceptable. Not recommended.
