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All Hell Let Loose

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All Hell Let Loose

By: Max Hastings
Narrated by: Cameron Stewart
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About this listen

The complete magisterial history of the greatest and most terrible event in history, from one of the finest historians of the Second World War. This shows the impact of war upon hundreds of millions of people around the world - soldiers, sailors and airmen; housewives, farm workers and children.

Reflecting Max Hastings' 35 years of research on World War II, All Hell Let Loose describes the course of events but focuses chiefly upon human experience. There are vivid descriptions of the tragedies and triumphs of a host of ordinary people, in uniform and out of it, in an 'everyman's story'.

This is now the entire audiobook, not in two parts.

©2011 Max Hastings (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Military War Imperialism Thought-Provoking Imperial Japan Submarine Holocaust Middle Ages Royalty Russia Africa Interwar Period
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A balanced and unbiased look at the second world war from the perspective of not only the military and political leaders of the time but if the normal everyday people that experienced the horror of war themselves.

This is a book that I can see myself revisiting time and time again.

40 hours long yet still felt too short.

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If you could sum up All Hell Let Loose, Volume 1 in three words, what would they be?

Very well written

What was one of the most memorable moments of All Hell Let Loose, Volume 1?

The attitude of the English towards the locals in the far east.

What does Cameron Stewart bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

A great story teller he puts you right into the book.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes it made me re-think those events at the start of the war which we held as true

Any additional comments?

Max Hastings has again provide a very thought provoking documentary piece by using the thought and recollections of people across the whole spectrum of society and from both sides.

Placing events in context

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Fills in the lesser known facts. Provides a 360° view covering the non Anglo-Saxon viewpoint.

You think you know the WWII history!

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The Second World War left no one clean, and exposed the worst of humanity for all to see; the industrial murder of millions, 60 million dead, the destruction of all we think is good in humanity, the devastating brutality we use to subjugate one another into all kinds of submission and enslavement.
The racist ideal and ideas that europe held about its people and others in the world became exposed like flames to oxygen and nearly burnt all down. The racist ideas and ideals of the east and the genocide they produced in the name of superiority; proving once more that racism is not exclusively held by any one race but an illness we all negate too have, but is indulged by all humans as proof of their superiority.

"Surveys found that most Americans continued to regard the Germans as fundamentally decent and peaceful folk, led astray by their leaders. In May 1945, when newsreels of the concentration camps had been shown around the world, 53.7 per cent of American respondents told pollsters they thought only a small part of the German people were ‘naturally cruel and brutal’."
"So many prominent Nazis spoke openly about their intentions towards the Jews that it remains remarkable that the Allied national leaderships were reluctant to accept their words at face value. Informed citizens in both Britain and America drew appropriate conclusions about what was happening, reinforced by eyewitness testimony from eastern Europe. Mrs." (from "All Hell Let Loose: The World at War 1939-1945" by Max Hastings)

I place this quotes here not because they are representative of the book but because they are representative of how we like to deny the evidence of crimes committed or what a group said, because we think it is crazy, an exaggeration or inconvenient. Some Ideologies scream their intentions but we choose to not listen at our own peril.

I read this book with fascination and reluctance, the scale of the horror is devastating and drowns you with the sheer waste of humanity, the inconprihansable scale of brutality and crimes committed by all participants is brought to life with numbers like the 300,000 soviet soldiers killed by their own army, more soldiers than Britain lost in Europe, or a train full of cats sent to Leningrad to replace the ones eaten or that the same city lost more people than Britain and America together.

No nation or form of government can claim to be without guilt, at the end of this story, all we can conclude is that some bathed with less delight in the blood and suffering of others.
A fantastic work that will put more perspective in the Second World War and how it affected real people in all the theaters of the war, a staggering synopsys of hell as created by mankind. A warning of a future we never want to recreate, a reason to be extremely vigilant of the signs.

We can never forget, the price will be apocalyptic

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Great pace, top notch narration, moving and humbling. Answered so many questions, an awesome book.

Truly enlightening, it will change how you see the world

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