All hell let loose

Under normal circumstances this would have received 5 stars as it is as good as Liddell Harts one volume tome I read in my youth. The final chapter has covered various opinion of the author, not that I have an issue with that per se, but to mention the present state of Russia under Putin lets the chapter down somewhat as histories such as this should be of the ages and not this age. A minor quibble in the end maybe?

Ultimately though this was a very good read indeed. The mixture of military and oral history gave this a readability that the average reader would have enjoyed. No dry reading at all and Hastings is to be admired for being able to appeal to a vast audience with a fast paced volume that I would recommend to those that would like an overview of what is already a very dense and highly covered subject.