The Prize Celebrates 25th Anniversary With Winner of Winners Award
19 January 2023
Antony Beevor
Stalingrad is an analysis and re-creation of the turning point of World War II. In October 1942, a panzer officer wrote "Stalingrad is no longer a town...Animals flee this hell; the hardest stones cannot bear it for long; only men endure". The battle became the focus of Hitler and Stalin's determination to win the vicious war on the eastern front. The citizens of Stalingrad endured unimaginable hardship; the battle, with fierce hand to hand fighting in each room of each building, was brutally destructive to both armies. But the eventual victory of the Red Army, and the failure of Hitler's Operation Barbarossa was the first defeat of Hitler's territorial ambitions in Europe, and the start of his decline. A story of civilian bravery, obsession, carnage and the nature of war itself, Stalingrad remembers the vital role of the soviet war effort.
What the judges said“Stalingrad is stunning history. It is meticulous and original. Above all it speaks directly to its readers with force and a luminous humanity”
Antony Beevor is a British historian, educated at Winchester College and Sandhurst. He studied under the famous military historian John Keegan. Beevor has published several popular histories on World War II and the 20th century in general. He holds an Honorary D.Litt from the University of Bath, awarded in 2010, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Kent, awarded in 2004. He is also a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
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