Leningrad, Michael Jones
Leningrad, Michael Jones
List: $27.99 | Sale: $19.59
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Leningrad
State of Siege

Author: Michael Jones, Michael Jones

Narrator: Simon Shepherd

Unabridged: 11 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: John Murray

Published: 07/26/2018


Synopsis

In 1941 Hitler's armies blocked the last roads leading into Leningrad. What followed was one of the most horrific sieges in history.

When the German High Command encircled Leningrad it was a deliberate policy to eradicate the city's civilian population by starving them to death. As winter set in and food supplies dwindled, starvation and panic set in.

A specialist in battle psychology and the vital role of morale in desperate circumstances, Michael Jones tells the human story of Leningrad. Drawing on newly available eyewitness accounts and diaries, he shows Leningrad in its every dimension including taboo truths, long-suppressed by the Soviets, such as looting, criminal gangs and cannibalism.

But, for many ordinary citizens, Leningrad marked the triumph of the human spirit. They drew deeply on their inner resources to inspire, comfort and help one another. At the height of the siege an extraordinary live performance of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony profoundly strengthened the city's will to resist. When German troops heard it in their trenches one remarked: 'We began to understand we would never take Leningrad.

Yet, Leningrad's self-defence came at a huge price. When the 900-day siege ended in 1944 almost a million people had died and those who survived would be permanently marked by what they had endured, as this superbly insightful and moving history shows.

(P)2018 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

About Michael Jones

Michael Jones was awarded a history PhD by Bristol University and subsequentlytaught at Glasgow University and Winchester College. He is a fellowof the Royal Historical Society and member of the British Commission forMilitary History, and works now as a writer, media consultant and presenter.Among his historical titles he has written books on the battles of Bosworth,Agincourt, and a biography of the Black Prince. He was TV consultant for Channel 4'sRichard III: Fact or Fiction and National Geographic's Mystery Files: The Princes inthe Tower, and co-author, with Philippa Gregory and David Baldwin, of TheWomen of the Cousins' War.


Reviews

Goodreads review by P.E. on March 19, 2020

'I will talk to you during the artillery fire,' she said, 'lit by its glow . . . What can the enemy do — destroy, kill, that's it . . . but I can love. It is not possible to count the treasures of my soul. I will love and I will live.' Michael Jones tells us about the 872-day siege of Leningrad. Rely......more

Goodreads review by Leftbanker on February 17, 2021

This is my third book in a little over a year that I’ve read about the Siege of Leningrad and in none of them did they have much to say about just how the Germans carried it out and maintained it for so long. This book gives some explanation as it shows just how the Russians cocked it up pretty badl......more

Goodreads review by 'Aussie Rick' on February 05, 2010

This is a decent book covering the World War Two siege of Leningrad. The book is full of first-hand accounts from those caught in the city and besieged by the German Army who had adopted a deliberate policy of starving the city to death. It’s not an in-depth military history, for that you will have......more

Goodreads review by Olethros on August 27, 2013

-Sobre la Ciudad Heroica y más sobre las experiencias de los implicados que puramente bélica.- Género. Historia. Lo que nos cuenta. Relato de los acontecimientos que rodearon los 872 días de asedio de la ciudad de Leningrado durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, desde septiembre de 1941 cuando el Grupo d......more

Goodreads review by Scott on November 27, 2021

Westerners tend to think of their losses, sacrifices, etc., when thinking about WWII, and Americans in particular like to "brag" on how not only did they save the world twice in less than 35 years, but "won" WWII. I'm an American with family who fought in that horrible war, who went in on D-Day and......more