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Ratings: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Genre: Military History, World War II, Russian History

Book Review:
''The 900 Days: A Monumental Account of Leningrad's Ordeal''

Harrison Salisbury's ''The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad'' is a classic of military history, a massive and masterful work that matches the magnitude of its subject. It tells the story of one of the most horrible and most heroic episodes in human history: the 900-day siege of Leningrad during the Second World War.

From September 1941 to January 1944, the city of Leningrad was surrounded by three German armies. Nearly three million people were trapped inside, cut off from food, fuel, and supplies. When the siege was finally lifted, just under half of them were dead—killed by German shells, or by their allies ''Generals Hunger, Cold and Terror.'' The statistics are staggering: nearly a million civilians died from starvation alone.

Salisbury, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and former Moscow correspondent for the New York Times, was uniquely qualified to write this history. He interviewed survivors, gained access to Soviet archives, and drew on his deep knowledge of the country to create a vivid and passionate narrative. The result is a book that is both deeply researched and powerfully moving.

Salisbury does not shy away from the full horror of the siege. He describes the starvation, the cannibalism, the relentless shelling, and the unimaginable suffering of the civilian population. But he also captures the extraordinary courage and endurance of the Leningraders, who refused to surrender their city even in the darkest days. He also exposes the chilling cruelties of Stalin's regime, which compounded the tragedy with its own political sadism.

The Sunday Times called it ''a massive book to match the magnitude of the subject ... a vivid and passionate narrative ... a proper monument to the Leningrad epic, true in scale, movingly written, deeply researched, presented in all its heroism, suffering and chilling cruelties.''

''The 900 Days'' is essential reading for anyone interested in World War II, Russian history, or the human capacity for both cruelty and heroism. It is a classic account of one of the great epic dramas of the twentieth century, a book that will stay with you long after you turn the final page. A monumental achievement.