Synopses & Reviews
La memoria colectiva que es la historia se nos aparece hoy mucho menos como el mero relato de lo ocurrido en el pasado que como un instrumento de analisis del presente. Al termino de un siglo de expectativas fallidas, y ante un futuro incierto, necesitamos revisar criticamente esta memoria y asentaria sobre nuevas bases de conocimiento. Mas reciente aun que Contrastes, Memoria/Critica se propone publicar estudios sobre los grandes problemas del pasado inmediato y sobre acontecimientos que siguen pesando sobre nuestras vidas. Antony Beevor reconstruye en este libro la ultima gran batalla europea de la segunda guerra mundial y la estremecedora agonia del Tercer Reich. Con riguorsas tecnicas documentales semejantes a las empleadas en Stalingrado pero con mayor aliento epico y mas densidad politica, Beevor describe tanto la complejidad de las grandes operaciones militares y la logica de las decisiones de sus mandos como los sentimientos de la gente comun atrapada en un torbellino de fuego y metralla.
Synopsis
THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER ON THE LAST DAYS OF THE THIRD REICH
'Recounts, in harrowing detail and with formidable skill, the brutal death-throes of Hitler's Reich at the hands of the rampaging Red Army' Boyd Tonkin, Independent
'An irresistibly compelling narrative, of events so terrible that they still have the power to provoke wonder and awe' Adam Sisman, Observer
The Red Army had much to avenge when it finally reached the frontiers of the Reich in January 1945. Political instructors rammed home the message of Wehrmacht and SS brutality. The result was the most terrifying example of fire and sword ever known, with tanks crushing refugee columns under their tracks, mass rape, pillage and destruction. Hundreds of thousands of women and children froze to death or were massacred because Nazi Party chiefs, refusing to face defeat, had forbidden the evacuation of civilians. Over seven million fled westwards from the terror of the Red Army.
Antony Beevor reconstructs the experiences of those millions caught up in the nightmare of the Third Reich's final collapse, telling a terrible story of pride, stupidity, fanaticism, revenge and savagery -- but also one of astonishing endurance, self-sacrifice and survival against all odds.
'Makes us feel the chaos and the fear as if every drop of blood was our own . . . compellingly readable, deeply researched, and beautifully written' Simon Sebag Montefiore, Spectator
'Brilliant. Combines a soldier's understanding of war's realities with a novelist's eye for detail' Orlando Figes, Sunday Times
'Startling, chilling, compelling. Beevor's writing burns like a torch at night in a landscape of ruins'Literary Review
'Powerful, diligently researched and beautifully written . . . even better than Stalingrad' Andrew Roberts, Mail on Sunday