Product Description

"Ivan's War" is the first book to put the experience of the ordinary Russian soldier at the heart of a narrative of the war on the Eastern Front, displacing the dictators and their generals who have dominated books on the subject for the past sixty years. Ivan, the archetypal Russian infantryman, emerges at last as a human figure in Catherine Merridale's magnificent and hugely acclaimed new work.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #91408 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review
"'Essential reading, not just for those interested in the Eastern Front, but for anyone who wants to understand Russia.' Antony Beevor, Sunday Times 'Outstanding.' Simon Sebag Montefiore 'A harrowing but unforgettable report on the chaos and tragedy that brought this Europe to birth... Magnificent.' Boyd Tonkin, Independent"

Publishing News
Ivan's War throws an illuminating light on the experience of war. It is an important and revealing book.

Tony Judt
A marvellous book. ... Catherine Merridale is a superb historian, among the very best of her generation.

Customer Reviews

If you want to know about Russia
then look no further than this book. So many books about the second world war focus on the technical capabilities of the hardware and the movements of divisions. This book concentrates on the people who fought the battles and suffered the anguish of loss. I found it extremely moving and wonderfully written. I read a lot of this kind of book and this is certainly a cut above. Absolutely as good if not better than Beevor, Keegan, Hastings et al. Highly recommended.

Some interesting new material
There is a lot to be admired in this book. Using oral history and lots of new archival material, Merridale has woven together a compelling overview of the war from the viewpoint of the 'ordinary soldier.' There are lots of new angles - women at the front, the absence of 'war trauma' as a recognized phenomenon (even among veterans), the criminality, the sheer complexity of what made people fight. But all this should really lend itself to a more detailed thematic analysis. And the problem with this book is that it tries to weave all this into a narrative along the lines of Beevor and other military historians, who simply do that job better. There are some embarrassingly bad passages of 'lyrical writing' in these pagaes where Merridale attempts to set the scene for her battle narratives. It would have been much better to have an analytical book on the interesting themes which she has covered here. This is two different books squeezed into one - but it does not work on both levels.

Well worth the effort.
My background has always been one of the military side of the Eastern Conflict and this book made a refreshing change.
I can inderstand some of the critical reviews comments as this is definately not an indepth analysis of the Russian Front Campaign rather one that attempts to look beyond the fighting and see into the hearts and minds of the people who had to live through,and in so many cases,die,in this terrible chapter in our history,and I believe that in this the author is pretty successfull.
I for one found it hard to put down at times,just one more paragraph mentality!!!
So to sum up a very readable account with a different perspective on events.