The Second World War by Antony Beevor (Audible)

[LeGeneral]

I have kind of soured on "popular" histories and one volume histories that try to cover everything recently. That said Beevors book was phenomenal. I shouldn't say was I am only up to Barbarossa, but so far I am very impressed. Now I am by no means an expert, but I have read a lot on WW2, as have many people. Yet there were 4 or 5 things that I learned so far in this book. For one Beevor really makes the point that Hitler invaded Russia in part to bring Britain to the negotiating table. We all know he hated communism and wanted "living space", but Beevor makes the point pretty well that Hitler didn't think the US would join for at least a year and a half. He thought that Britain was hanging around and hoping that Stalin would do the job for him. Not unreasonable either since the British are famous for getting other countries to fight their enemies.

It's a long book which I love. I actually bought it years ago at B&N but got it for free on audio format and have been listening to it. I highly recommend this book.