The End of War - Softcover
Berlin, January 1945.
The war draws to a close, but the fight for a vanquished city -- and for history -- is just beginning.
In the final months of the war in Europe, the last act of a five-year conflagration is about to be played out. As Allied generals surround the mortally wounded Nazi military machine, strategies are being formed on a greater scale than even generals can imagine.
While Churchill fumes helplessly, Roosevelt makes crucial decisions that will cede Berlin to Stalin and the Russians. The stakes are no less critical for ordinary men and women, fighting to live another day....
From the chaos of the eastern front, to the desperation of a single Jewish man hidden in a Berlin basement, to the burning ambition of an American photojournalist, Robbins animates the giants who shaped history and breathes life into the heartbreaking struggles of those who merely lived it.
The war draws to a close, but the fight for a vanquished city -- and for history -- is just beginning.
In the final months of the war in Europe, the last act of a five-year conflagration is about to be played out. As Allied generals surround the mortally wounded Nazi military machine, strategies are being formed on a greater scale than even generals can imagine.
While Churchill fumes helplessly, Roosevelt makes crucial decisions that will cede Berlin to Stalin and the Russians. The stakes are no less critical for ordinary men and women, fighting to live another day....
From the chaos of the eastern front, to the desperation of a single Jewish man hidden in a Berlin basement, to the burning ambition of an American photojournalist, Robbins animates the giants who shaped history and breathes life into the heartbreaking struggles of those who merely lived it.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review:
Henry James called the novel a "loose, baggy monster," and the challenges of the genre are evident in David L. Robbins's The End of War. Robbins won acclaim in 1999 for War of the Rats, a knockdown-dragout retelling of the bloody Russian defense of Stalingrad against Nazi assault. Here, in The End of War, he weaves together six points of view as the final months of World War II march inexorably toward a familiar conclusion. The great strength of Robbins's novel is also its chief fault: the plot simply can't sustain the splintering effect of so many points of view. Ultimately, the star of this novel is war itself, not the novel's three representative civilians or its "Olympian gods," Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill. Particularly in the last chapters, World War II images flicker before our eyes like fragments of vintage newsreels. Robbins draws explicitly from those eerie images when Life magazine photojournalist Charley Bandy visits a death camp heaped with barely alive bodies.
From the Back Cover:
Robbins demonstrates a mastery of his subject that should enthrall World War II buffs, and splendid moments are scattered liberally throughout the book, as when German cellist Lottie escapes a burning death by crawling through a narrow tunnel into the next bomb shelter, only to discover she's left behind her cherished, circa-1750 cello. Another is certainly when Roosevelt dreams of sledding in the moment before he is wheeled before Congress in his first public appearance in his wheelchair. Though the Churchill chapters routinely downplay that statesman's wit and shrewdness, gratifying moments of intense character study abound in Robbins's book.
By the time the Allied forces finally converge in Berlin, Robbins has given us enough information to appreciate both the extraordinary diplomatic maneuvers and their effects on ordinary citizens' lives. Robbins deliberately constructed The End of War along the lines of a Greek tragedy: "the gods discuss the affairs of man, then their Olympian intents are played out at human level." As a rule, the ordinary folks are more compelling and believable than the real historical figures. Perhaps this is because those figures are over-determined in the public imagination, whereas Lottie, the Russian soldier Ilya, and the American photographer Charley are rooted and credible--the sources of suspense in the novel.
Although the plot of The End of War converges neatly in Berlin, that unity of time and place does not tighten the loose macramé that knits Robbins's story together. Lottie and Ilya change in surprising ways during the ravages of war, however, and that character development gives the novel an epic feel. Fans of World War II will enjoy Robbins's fully realized world; fans of less specialized thrillers might enjoy the warmth and acuity of the assorted players. --Kathi Inman Berens
"Gripping ... breathtaking."
-- New York Post
"Robbins renders his real people superbly ... a notable accomplishment. ... Brilliant storytelling by an author ... in absolute control of his material."
-- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Don't miss David L. Robbins's first stunning novel of WWII:
War of the Rats
Available now from Bantam Books
-- New York Post
"Robbins renders his real people superbly ... a notable accomplishment. ... Brilliant storytelling by an author ... in absolute control of his material."
-- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Don't miss David L. Robbins's first stunning novel of WWII:
War of the Rats
Available now from Bantam Books
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherOrion
- Publication date2000
- ISBN 10 0752840959
- ISBN 13 9780752840956
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages416
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The End Of War
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The End of War : A Novel of the Race for Berlin
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Book Description Condition: Good. Ships from the UK. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # 48974734-75
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: Acceptable. Bumped edges and book is warped Creased Spine Second Hand,cover is considerably worn and torn,has been well read and used,pages are sun damaged but contents are complete Next day dispatch. International delivery available. 1000's of satisfied customers! Please contact us with any enquiries. Seller Inventory # mon0000294489
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: Fine. First UK paperback edition. Fine condition.Orion,2000.First UK paperback edition.Paperback(a couple of creases and nicks on the edges of the cover and spine) in fine condition.Illustrated with b/w maps.The book is new with light shelf wear on the outer edges of the pages,very small tear and a couple of nicks on the edges of the pages.404pp including Bibliography. This is another paragraph Product Description: In the final months of the Second World War, one strategic question above all occupies the Allies: which liberating army will be the first to march into Berlin. On the western front, Montgomery lobbies for the honour, while Eisenhower becomes more and more determined to thwart him and put an American general -- Bradley or Patton -- in charge of the final thrust; in the east, Stalin's armies advance steadily and ruthlessly towards the apotheosis of their vengeance. David L. Robbins orchestrates the story of the final months of war through the eyes of a gallery of characters both invented and real. We see the western front through the eyes of an American war photographer; Berlin through a mother and daughter hiding a Jewish refugee in the cellar of their house; the eastern advance through soldiers in a punishment battalion, whose fate is to lead every assault. This is another brilliantly authentic and compulsively readable war novel, a worthy successor to WAR OF THE RATS. Seller Inventory # 2468
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