Deathride

Hitler vs. Stalin: The Eastern Front, 1941-1945

By: John Mosier

Narrated by: Michael Prichard

Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

John Mosier presents a revisionist retelling of the war on the Eastern Front. Although the Eastern Front was the biggest and most important theater in World War II, it is not well known in the United States, as no American troops participated in the fighting. Yet historians agree that this is where the decisive battles of the war were fought.

The conventional wisdom about the Eastern Front is that Hitler was mad to think he could defeat the USSR, because of its vast size and population, and that the Battle of Stalingrad marked the turning point of the war. Neither statement is accurate, says Mosier; Hitler came very close to winning outright.

Mosier's history of the Eastern Front will generate considerable controversy, both because of his unconventional arguments and because he criticizes historians who have accepted Soviet facts and interpretations. Mosier argues that Soviet accounts are utterly untrustworthy and that accounts relying on them are fantasies. Deathride argues that the war in the East was Hitler's to lose, that Stalin was in grave jeopardy from the outset of the war, and that it was the Allied victories in North Africa and consequent threat to Italy that forced Hitler to change his plans and saved Stalin from near-certain defeat. Stalin's only real triumph was in creating a legend of victory.

©2010 John Mosier (P)2010 Tantor

Might be a terrific book; I'll never know

I've listened to scores of books (not all from Audible), and this has to be the worst narration I've come across. The flat monotone and irritating timbre of the reader--not to speak of the jarring patches that intermittently change the volume--make it impossible for me to get through the book. The narrator projects some life into the reading only when quoting from this or that Russian, French, or German military figure. The quotes are delivered in English, but with an accent that's vaguely reminiscent of the quotee's native language. It's bizarre and awful, but at least there's some intonation in these quotes. The rest of the reading sounds as if it were generated by computer. My advice to anyone interested in the topic is to skip this audio and read the book instead.

No new insight

An interesting book although the info provided is not new. Some of the conclusions presented by the author are overstreched and not supported by evidence in the book. In addition due to many numbers used in the book (casualties, troop strength etc) sometimes somewhat difficult to follow in the audio format.