A good account of the fighting in the Ardennes in 1944 - 45. The maps are adequate, and the personal vignettes quite illuminating. ( )

Excellent, basically minute to minute detail book of the Bulge. Excellent narrator (audiobook). I found it kinda hard to follow as an audiobook, in part because I didn't have maps in front of me to look at and the book describes essentially day by day battles in various parts of the Bulge, and in part because it's hard to keep track of the day and time when listening. So... I think it would have been a better book to "read", i.e. paper version, but it was thoroughly enjoyable as an audiobook. I probably didn't learn as much as I would have be reading and reviewing maps at the same time but, since I'm not a historian (wish I had been) it doesn't matter that much. I enjoyed the audiobook as is and didn't worry that I couldn't quite keep track of all the places and times; the author did a great job of re-orienting the action by stating times and places of action. Highly recommend for war buffs... may be a little too detailed for those who like quick(-ish) stories of WWII. ( )

An outstanding piece of research. Brilliantly written, fast paced, riveting prose. I could hardly put it down. ( )

Well-written book, thoroughly researched with interviews of more than a thousand people in ten countries. The author immersed himself in this battle by living close to the same conditions the soldiers had experienced ( i.e. sleeping in a foxhole) and walking the battlefields with those involved in the battles. Toland is able to pull many threads of the battle together and present the ongoing action in a clear and readable fashion. He makes effective use of the interviews by following soldiers of all ranks through their individual experiences giving flesh and bone to the historical review of one of the most famous of WWII battles. ( )