Pg. 99: John Marsh's "The Emotional Life of the Great Depression"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Emotional Life of the Great Depression by John Marsh.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Emotional Life of the Great Depression documents how Americans responded emotionally to the crisis of the Great Depression. Unlike most books about the 1930s, which focus almost exclusively on the despair of the American people during the decade, this volume explores the 1930s through other, equally essential emotions: righteousness, panic, fear, awe, love, and hope.

In expanding the canon of Great Depression emotions, the book draws on an eclectic archive of sources, including the ravings of a would-be presidential assassin, stock market investment handbooks, a Cleveland serial murder case, Jesse Owens's record-setting long jump at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, King Edward VIII's abdication from his throne to marry a twice-divorced American woman, and the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous. In concert with these, it offers new readings of the imaginative literature of the period, from obscure Christian apocalyptic novels and H.P. Lovecraft short stories to classics like John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and Richard Wright's Native Son. The result is a new take on the Great Depression, one that emphasizes its major events (the stock market crash, unemployment, the passage of the Social Security Act) but also, and perhaps even more so, its sensibilities, its structures of feeling.

Learn more about The Emotional Life of the Great Depression at the Oxford University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: The Emotional Life of the Great Depression.

--Marshal Zeringue

The top ten noir novels of 2019

One title on the CrimeReads list of the year's best and bleakest hard-boiled reads:

Patrick Coleman, The Churchgoer (Harper Perennial)

Patrick Coleman combines evangelical malpractice, noirish cynicism, and seedy southern California underworlds in this debut novel. When Mark Haines, a former youth pastor who has succumbed to a more hedonistic life, meets a young drifter who seems inauspiciously connected to a failed robbery, he suddenly finds himself captivated by the young woman, following her trail into the depths of California drug trade and straight into the Evangelical megachurch of his past. With a palpable nod to Raymond Chandler, this forceful mystery is an exploration of religion, responsibility, and the inverted forces at play in the modern world.

Read about another entry on the list.

My Book, The Movie: The Churchgoer.

The Page 69 Test: The Churchgoer.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Tori Eldridge's "The Ninja Daughter"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Ninja Daughter by Tori Eldridge.

About the book, from the publisher:

An action-packed thriller about a Chinese-Norwegian modern-day ninja with family issues who fights the Los Angeles Ukrainian mob, sex traffickers, and her own family to save two desperate women and an innocent child.

After her sister is raped and murdered, Lily Wong dedicates her life and ninja skills to the protection of women. But her mission is complicated. Not only does she live above the Chinese restaurant owned by her Norwegian father and inspired by the recipes of her Chinese mother, but she has to hide her true self from her Hong Kong tiger mom is already disappointed at her less than feminine ways, and who would be horrified if she knew what she had become.

But when a woman and her son she escorted safely to an abused women’s shelter return home to dangerous consequences, Lily is forced to not only confront her family and her past, but team up with a mysterious―and very lethal―stranger to rescue them.

Visit Tori Eldridge's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Ninja Daughter.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is L. C. Shaw reading?

Featured at Writers Read: L.C. Shaw, author of The Network: A Novel.

Her entry begins:

I have more books on my nightstand than I can count, but I’m currently reading Save the Cat, which is purported to be the last book on screenwriting you will ever need. It’s actually the first one I’ve read, so I don’t think I’ll abide by that promise. I ordered it because I intend to write a screenplay for The Network, and whenever I...[read on]

About The Network, from the publisher:

A shadowy group is manipulating society—and they've only just begun.

Late one night, investigative journalist Jack Logan receives a surprise visit from U.S. Senator Malcolm Phillips at his New York apartment. Disheveled and in a panic, the senator swears that he's about to be murdered and pleads with Jack to protect his wife Taylor, who happens to be the only woman Jack has ever truly loved.

Days later, Phillips is found dead in a hotel room in Micronesia, the apparent victim of an allergy attack. While the nation mourns, Jack and Taylor race to find the one man who knows the truth. As they're pursued by unknown assailants, their desperate hunt leads them to the Institute, an immense facility shrouded in mystery that has indoctrinated a generation of America's political and media power players. Led by the enigmatic Damon Crosse, the Institute has its tentacles everywhere—but Taylor unknowingly holds the secret to the one thing that Crosse needs to carry out his plan.

Taking readers on a thrill ride from the back halls of Congress to the high-rise offices of Madison Avenue and a remote Greek island, The Network is a provocative, pulse-pounding novel that dares to ask the question: who's really in charge?

Visit L. C. Shaw's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Lynne Constantine & Greyson.

Writers Read: L.C. Shaw.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Benjamin R. Cohen's "Pure Adulteration"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Pure Adulteration: Cheating on Nature in the Age of Manufactured Food by Benjamin R. Cohen.

About the book, from the publisher:

In the latter nineteenth century, extraordinary changes in food and agriculture gave rise to new tensions in the ways people understood, obtained, trusted, and ate their food. This was the Era of Adulteration, and its concerns have carried forward to today: How could you tell the food you bought was the food you thought you bought? Could something manufactured still be pure? Is it okay to manipulate nature far enough to produce new foods but not so far that you question its safety and health? How do you know where the line is? And who decides?

In Pure Adulteration, Benjamin R. Cohen uses the pure food crusades to provide a captivating window onto the origins of manufactured foods and the perceived problems they wrought. Cohen follows farmers, manufacturers, grocers, hucksters, housewives, politicians, and scientific analysts as they struggled to demarcate and patrol the ever-contingent, always contested border between purity and adulteration, and as, at the end of the nineteenth century, the very notion of a pure food changed.

In the end, there is (and was) no natural, prehuman distinction between pure and adulterated to uncover and enforce; we have to decide. Today’s world is different from that of our nineteenth-century forebears in many ways, but the challenge of policing the difference between acceptable and unacceptable practices remains central to daily decisions about the foods we eat, how we produce them, and what choices we make when buying them.

Learn more about Pure Adulteration at the University of Chicago Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Pure Adulteration.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top ten novels about adultery

Douglas Kennedy's new novel is Isabelle in the Afternoon. At the Guardian he tagged his ten favorite "novels on the agonies and ecstasies of the extramarital adventure," including:

The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M Cain

Cain was a seriously great writer working in the genre of crime fiction; a chronicler of small desperate lives in the Great American Nowhere. The Postman … is a straightforward tale of a drifter who ends up at a diner in a dusty corner of California owned by a blob of a guy – who also has a garage and a very young, sultry American wife, bored to despair by her husband. Naturally, the drifter picks up her sexual need. Naturally he fulfils it. Naturally they begin to plot her husband’s death. Written with a spare, dustbowl lyricism it is the best adultery noir ever written.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Postman Always Rings Twice is among Vincent Zandri's top ten doomed and deadly romances in noir fiction and Benjamin Black/John Banville's five top works of noir.

--Marshal Zeringue

Kylie Brant's "Down the Darkest Road," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Down the Darkest Road by Kylie Brant.

The entry begins:

I recently attended a screen-writing workshop in Vancouver where I learned the difference between concepts suited to movies vs TV. Strong female leads flourish in television and series, I was told, so the small screen is where Down the Darkest Road would fit. While I usually have difficulty visualizing actors to play the parts in my books, I looked up actresses with strawberry-blonde hair and there was Cady Maddix. Well, sure, she goes by the name of Rachel McAdams, but she’d be perfect for my formidable, commitment-phobe US Deputy Marshal. Cady has a dark and damaged past, in some ways reminiscent of McAdams’s tough cop, Ani Bezzerides, on True Detective Season 2. Both are survivors, and their personal journey is fascinating.

Fifteen-year-old Dylan Castle is also a main character in the book. He brings to mind...[read on]

Read more about Kylie Brant's work at her website.

The Page 69 Test: Pretty Girls Dancing.

The Page 69 Test: Down the Darkest Road.

My Book, The Movie: Down the Darkest Road.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Eliza Nellums's "All That's Bright and Gone"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: All That's Bright and Gone: A Novel by Eliza Nellums.

About the book, from the publisher:

I know my brother is dead. But sometimes Mama gets confused.

There’s plenty about the grownup world that six-year-old Aoife doesn’t understand. Like what happened to her big brother Theo and why her mama is in the hospital instead of home where she belongs. Uncle Donny says she just needs to be patient, but Aoife’s sure her mama won’t be able to come home until Aoife learns what really happened to her brother. The trouble is no one wants to talk about Theo because he was murdered. But by whom?

With her imaginary friend Teddy by her side and the detecting skills of her nosy next door neighbor, Aoife sets out to uncover the truth about her family. But as her search takes her from the banks of Theo’s secret hideout by the river to the rooftops overlooking Detroit, Aoife will learn that some secrets can’t stay hidden forever and sometimes the pain we bury is the biggest secret of them all.

Driven by Aoife’s childlike sincerity and colored by her vivid imagination, All That’s Bright and Gone illuminates the unshakeable bond between families–and the lengths we’ll go to bring our loved ones home.

Visit Eliza Nellums's website.

The Page 69 Test: All That's Bright and Gone.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Burt Solomon's "The Attempted Murder of Teddy Roosevelt"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Attempted Murder of Teddy Roosevelt by Burt Solomon.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Attempted Murder of Teddy Roosevelt is a historical thriller from award-winning political journalist and Washington insider Burt Solomon, featuring Teddy Roosevelt's near death...accident or assassination attempt?

Theodore Roosevelt had been president for less than a year when on a tour in New England his horse-drawn carriage was broadsided by an electric trolley. TR was thrown clear but his Secret Service bodyguard was killed instantly. The trolley’s motorman pleaded guilty to manslaughter and the matter was quietly put to rest.

But was it an accident or an assassination attempt…and would there be another “accident” soon?

The Attempted Murder of Teddy Roosevelt casts this event in a darker light. John Hay, the Secretary of State, finds himself in pursuit of a would-be assassin, investigating the motives of TR’s many enemies, including political rivals and the industrial trusts. He crosses paths with luminaries of the day, such as best-pal Henry Adams, Emma Goldman, J.P. Morgan, Mark Hanna, and (as an investigatory sidekick) the infamous Nellie Bly, who will help Hay protect the man who wants to transform a nation.

Visit Burt Solomon's website.

The Page 99 Test: The Attempted Murder of Teddy Roosevelt.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven of the scariest science fiction horror books ever written

Jeff Somers is the author of Writing Without Rules, the Avery Cates series, The Ustari Cycle, Lifers, and Chum (among many other books) and numerous short stories.

At the B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog he tagged seven of the scariest science fiction horror novels ever written, including:

The Last Astronaut, by David Wellington

Prolific author David Wellington’s turn to sci-fi is terrifying because the science depicted feels real enough to put you right into the thick of things. In 2034, a manned mission to Mars ends in a disaster so complete, NASA itself shuts down, and the lone survivor, Commander Sally Jansen, goes into retired exile. Two decades later, an object detected in the depths of space changes course and heads directly for Earth orbit, ignoring all attempts to make contact. The remnants of NASA are called back into service—including a reluctant, still-haunted Jansen, who agrees to take charge solely because she’s literally the only person qualified to do so. What Jansen and the crew she assembles discover when they head out to rendezvous with the object is terrifying—and changes the mission goal to simple survival.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Page 69 Test: The Last Astronaut.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Thomas Perry reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Thomas Perry, author of A Small Town.

His entry begins:

For the past few months I've been reading lots of ARCs for fiction that was about to be published. I've found some experienced writers who have new books with a freshness and specialness to them.

One is Tim Maleeny's Boxing the Octopus. Maleeny can write funny when he wants to, and he always does. The book has a complex plot that would take a long time to recount. But it takes place almost entirely on Pier 39 in San Francisco, one of those places one swears he'll never visit again but finds himself there anyway. It features lots of dangerous and disreputable characters, including his series detective, Cape Weathers, and his fetching client Vera, a Russian brother and sister, a tourist-trap pirate, and an evil scientist. My favorite character is...[read on]

About A Small Town, from the publisher:

In A Small Town, twelve conspirators meticulously plan to throw open all the gates to the prison that contains them, so that more than a thousand convicts may escape and pour into the nearby small town. The newly freed prisoners rape, murder, and destroy the town—burning down homes and businesses. An immense search ensues, but the twelve who plotted it all get away.

After two years, all efforts by the local and federal police agencies have been in vain. The mayor and city attorney meet, and Leah Hawkins, a six-foot, two-inch former star basketball player and resident good cop, is placed on sabbatical so that she can tour the country learning advanced police procedures. The sabbatical is merely a ruse, however, as her real job is to track the infamous twelve. And kill them.

Leah’s mission takes her across the country, from Florida to New York, from California to an anti-government settlement deep in the Ozarks. Soon, the surviving fugitives realize what she is up to, and a race to kill or be killed ensues. Full of exhilarating twists and surprisingly resonant, A Small Town will sweep readers along on Leah’s quest for vengeance.

Learn more about the book and author at Thomas Perry's website and Facebook page.

The Page 69 Test: Silence.

The Page 99 Test: Nightlife.

The Page 69/99 Test: Fidelity.

The Page 69/99 Test: Runner.

The Page 69 Test: Strip.

The Page 69 Test: The Informant.

The Page 69 Test: The Boyfriend.

The Page 69 Test: A String of Beads.

The Page 69 Test: Forty Thieves.

The Page 69 Test: The Old Man.

The Page 69 Test: The Bomb Maker.

The Page 69 Test: The Burglar.

The Page 69 Test: A Small Town.

Writers Read: Thomas Perry.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten top mysteries set in isolated or small-town Australia

Sara Foster is the author of Come Back to Me, Beneath the Shadows, Shallow Breath, All That Is Lost between Us, The Hidden Hours, and (releasing in the US in March 2020) You Don’t Know Me. Born and raised in England, Foster moved to Australia in 2004.

At The Strand Magazine she tagged "ten of the best brooding mysteries and thrillers set in isolated or small-town regions of Australia," including:

Bitter Wash Road by Garry Disher

Hirsch is a whistleblower cop, no longer trusted by his peers, sent to police a small town that doesn’t want him. But when the deaths of two women – one a hit-and-run, and the other a suicide – begin to look increasingly suspicious, Hirsch is prepared to take on all-comers to uncover the truth. Disher’s evocative language, great ear for dialogue and precise descriptions of small-town life all add layers of authenticity to this great Aussie outback crime story.

Read about another entry on the list.

Also see Emma Viskic's five top crime novels set in small-town Australia.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Bonnie G. Smith's "Women in World History"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Women in World History: 1450 to the Present by Bonnie G. Smith.

About the book, from the publisher:

Women in World History brings together the most recent scholarship in women's and world history in a single volume covering the period from 1450 to the present, enabling readers to understand women's relationship to world developments over the past five hundred years.

Women have served the world as unfree people, often forced to migrate as slaves, trafficked sex workers, and indentured laborers working off debts. Diseases have migrated through women's bodies and women themselves have deliberately spread religious belief and fervor as well as ideas. They have been global authors, soldiers, and astronauts encircling the globe and moving far beyond it. They have written classics in political and social thought and crafted literary and artistic works alongside others who were revolutionaries and reform-minded activists.

Historical scholarship has shown that there is virtually no part of the world where women's presence is not manifest, whether in archives, oral testimonials, personal papers, the material record, evidence of disease and famine, myth and religious teachings, and myriad other forms of documentation. As these studies mount, the idea of surveying women's past on a global basis becomes daunting. This book aims to redress this situation and offer a synthetic world history of women in modern times.

Learn more about Women in World History at the publisher's website.

The Page 99 Test: Women in World History.

--Marshal Zeringue

The ten best 2019 novels of psychological suspense

Lisa Levy is a columnist and contributing editor at LitHub and CrimeReads.

At CrimeReads she tagged ten of the best psychological suspense novels of 2019, including:

Samantha Downing, My Lovely Wife (Berkley)

Given the popularity of domestic suspense it’s not surprising that writers are starting to subvert expectations of what the genre can do. To wit, we’ve seen a number of domestic suspense novels told from the male point of view, in which the couple is in cahoots or the woman—or wife—is gaslighting her man. My Lovely Wife takes this premise to an extreme, and it’s a fantastic read. Wife is a stunner of a book. Read at your own peril and pleasure.

Read about another entry on the list.

My Lovely Wife is among Margot Hunt's top five villains who have had about enough of domestic life.

The Page 69 Test: My Lovely Wife.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Thomas Perry's "A Small Town"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: A Small Town by Thomas Perry.

About the book, from the publisher:

In A Small Town, twelve conspirators meticulously plan to throw open all the gates to the prison that contains them, so that more than a thousand convicts may escape and pour into the nearby small town. The newly freed prisoners rape, murder, and destroy the town—burning down homes and businesses. An immense search ensues, but the twelve who plotted it all get away.

After two years, all efforts by the local and federal police agencies have been in vain. The mayor and city attorney meet, and Leah Hawkins, a six-foot, two-inch former star basketball player and resident good cop, is placed on sabbatical so that she can tour the country learning advanced police procedures. The sabbatical is merely a ruse, however, as her real job is to track the infamous twelve. And kill them.

Leah’s mission takes her across the country, from Florida to New York, from California to an anti-government settlement deep in the Ozarks. Soon, the surviving fugitives realize what she is up to, and a race to kill or be killed ensues. Full of exhilarating twists and surprisingly resonant, A Small Town will sweep readers along on Leah’s quest for vengeance.

Learn more about the book and author at Thomas Perry's website and Facebook page.

The Page 69 Test: Silence.

The Page 99 Test: Nightlife.

The Page 69/99 Test: Fidelity.

The Page 69/99 Test: Runner.

The Page 69 Test: Strip.

The Page 69 Test: The Informant.

The Page 69 Test: The Boyfriend.

The Page 69 Test: A String of Beads.

The Page 69 Test: Forty Thieves.

The Page 69 Test: The Old Man.

The Page 69 Test: The Bomb Maker.

The Page 69 Test: The Burglar.

The Page 69 Test: A Small Town.

--Marshal Zeringue

Miles Cameron's "Bright Steel," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Bright Steel by Miles Cameron.

The entry begins:

Perhaps I’m an outlier, but I don’t usually imagine movie actors in the roles of my books; I usually picture people I know. For the Masters and Mages series, however, I’m delighted to start casting, the more so as I tried to write the books to be movies in terms of plot movement and action…

The first character I cast (because I saw him in my head as soon as I started writing) is a minor character known only as Harlequin in the first novel. Later, this mercurial, imposing mage turns out to be one of the pivotal characters in the whole over plot. As the character is one of the most powerful mages in my world and hales from my Africa-analog, I always imagined that Lira-Qna as Idris Elba.

Dahlia Tarkos is one of the protagonists; she’s an aristocrat, a swordsperson of exceptional skill, and a potent magos, a woman with natural authority and charisma. My choice for the role is...[read on]

Visit Miles Cameron's website.

My Book, The Movie: Bright Steel.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: John Eric Goff's "The Physics of Krav Maga"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Physics of Krav Maga by John Eric Goff.

About the book, from the publisher:

Krav Maga ("contact combat" in Hebrew) is a hard-hitting and efficient form of self-defense that was popularized by Israeli soldiers. Stressing practical, real-world fighting and a philosophy of self-defense, its popularity has grown worldwide over the past few decades.

In The Physics of Krav Maga, John Eric Goff, a physicist, best-selling author, and martial arts practitioner, explains the science behind dozens of Krav Maga moves, from headlocks to hammer fists. Focusing on Warrior Krav Maga, a fighting style that combines the key elements of Krav Maga with kickboxing, wrestling, karate, and other fighting specialties, this equation-free, conceptual introduction is aimed at martial arts practitioners interested in refining their fighting technique and all fans of the fascinating moment when sports meet science.

With step-by-step descriptions and detailed photos of each critical motion, Goff takes a scientific look at everything from punch speed to power output and reaction time. Armed with this book, readers will understand the physics behind each move. They will also learn how to

• enhance their level of physical fitness
• disrupt an opponent's balance—while keeping theirs
• make use of leverage to defeat a larger, stronger attacker
• become faster and more powerful
• inflict pain up close
• use weapons—and "weapons of opportunity"
• and much more!

Anyone interested in martial arts, in how physics applies to sports and combat, and in how a physicist wins a fight will love The Physics of Krav Maga.

Learn more about the book and author at John Eric Goff's website.

The Page 99 Test: Gold Medal Physics.

The Page 99 Test: The Physics of Krav Maga.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six favorite books recommended by Colm Tóibín

Colm Tóibín's novels include The Blackwater Lightship; The Master, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Brooklyn, winner of the Costa Book Award; The Testament of Mary; and Nora Webster, as well as two story collections, and Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know, a look at three nineteenth-century Irish authors. He is the Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University. Three times shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Tóibín lives in Dublin and New York.

At The Week magazine he recommended six of his favorite books, including:

The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford (1915).

The genius of this novel is in the tone of voice and the structure. The book has a lovely, breathless, natural feel, like someone trying to put a shape on experience that is both deeply sad and almost comic, or at least infused with irony and a sort of dark laughter. It dramatizes the change from a moment when character in England could be trusted to a moment when all truth had to be questioned and when deception itself became an art.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Good Soldier also appears on Stanley Fish's list of six essential reads, Carrie V Mullins's list of eleven of the least reliable narrators in literature, Piers Paul Read's top ten list of novels about unfaithful wives, Jean Hanff Korelitz's top six list of her favorite books about failed marriages, Penelope Lively's six favorite books list, John Mullan's lists of ten of the best spas in literature, ten of the best failed couplings in literature, and ten great novels with terrible original titles, and on the Guardian's list of ten of the best unconsummated passions in fiction and Adam Haslett's list of the five best novelists on grief. One line from the novel appears among Stanley Fish's top five sentences.

The Page 99 Test: The Good Soldier.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Jacqueline Firkins's "Hearts, Strings, and Other Breakable Things"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Hearts, Strings, and Other Breakable Things by Jacqueline Firkins.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this charming debut about first love and second chances, a young girl gets caught between the boy next door and a playboy. Perfect for fans of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before.

Mansfield, Massachusetts, is the last place seventeen-year-old Edie Price wants to spend her final summer before college. It’s the home of wealthy suburban mothers and prima donnas like Edie’s cousins, who are determined to distract her from her mother’s death with cute boys and Cinderella-style makeovers. She’s got her own plans, and they don’t include any prince charming.

But as she dives into schoolwork and getting a scholarship for college, Edie finds herself drawn to two Mansfield boys strumming for her attention: First, there’s Sebastian, Edie’s childhood friend and first love, who’s sweet and smart and ... already has a girlfriend. Then there’s Henry, the local bad boy and all-around player who’s totally off limits—even if his kisses are chemically addictive.

Both boys are trouble. Edie can’t help herself from being caught between them. Now, she just has to make sure it isn’t her heart that breaks in the process.

Visit Jacqueline Firkins's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Jacqueline Firkins & Ffiona.

My Book, The Movie: Hearts, Strings, and Other Breakable Things.

The Page 69 Test: Hearts, Strings, and Other Breakable Things.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: David Stahel's "Retreat from Moscow"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Retreat from Moscow: A New History of Germany's Winter Campaign, 1941-1942 by David Stahel.

About the book, from the publisher:

A gripping and authoritative revisionist account of the German Winter Campaign of 1941–1942

Germany’s winter campaign of 1941–1942 is commonly seen as its first defeat. In Retreat from Moscow, a bold, gripping account of one of the seminal moments of World War II, David Stahel argues that instead it was its first strategic success in the East. The Soviet counteroffensive was in fact a Pyrrhic victory. Despite being pushed back from Moscow, the Wehrmacht lost far fewer men, frustrated its enemy’s strategy, and emerged in the spring unbroken and poised to recapture the initiative.

Hitler’s strategic plan called for holding important Russian industrial cities, and the German army succeeded. The Soviets as of January 1942 aimed for nothing less than the destruction of Army Group Center, yet not a single German unit was ever destroyed. Lacking the professionalism, training, and experience of the Wehrmacht, the Red Army’s offensive attempting to break German lines in countless head-on assaults led to far more tactical defeats than victories.

Using accounts from journals, memoirs, and wartime correspondence, Stahel takes us directly into the Wolf’s Lair to reveal a German command at war with itself as generals on the ground fought to maintain order and save their troops in the face of Hitler’s capricious, increasingly irrational directives. Excerpts from soldiers’ diaries and letters home paint a rich portrait of life and death on the front, where the men of the Ostheer battled frostbite nearly as deadly as Soviet artillery. With this latest installment of his pathbreaking series on the Eastern Front, David Stahel completes a military history of the highest order

Learn more about Retreat from Moscow at the publisher's website.

The Page 99 Test: Retreat from Moscow.

--Marshal Zeringue