Book Review: “Inferno” by Max Hastings (2011)

Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945 by Max Hastings
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book as touted as telling about WW2 through personal diaries, letters, and other individual accounts, which made me think that was the only thing it would do. But besides providing an engrossing look at the conflict through the eyes and pens of people who were not the military and political leaders involved (which is usually all one hears from), it also provides a very solid account of the conflict from the macro level, along with cogent analysis of how and why different aspects occurred. It stands as a history in its own right, rather than just a recitation of primary sources.

But those primary sources provide their own insight and horror. The bottom line one gets is that the title — “inferno” — was all too accurate for anyone involved. Whether civilian or military, Europe or the Pacific, Eastern Front or Western, Axis or Ally or Neutral, officer or grunt, farmer or clerk, young or old, rich or poor, WW2 was pain and deprivation and terror and loss. There is little glory, no white hats without deep bloody spatters of moral compromise, from atrocities and war crimes by all parties to alliances of convenience and deals with devils for long-term goals (worthy or otherwise) at the cost of short-term defilement. If it can be deemed a “good” war for the winning side, it was only because the alternative of loss would have been far worse for the world.

Excellent and moving history, net improved by Ralph Cosham cultured narration for the audiobook. While at first the dryness and lack of dramatic emotion in Cosham’s voice feels over-restrained, the subtleties eventually come out, and stand as a counterpoint to the butchery, atrocities, and suffering being portrayed.

Good stuff, highly recommended.

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