Raleigh Trevelyan
The Fall of Rome
The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943–1944
By Rick Atkinson
Little, Brown 816pp £25
Rick Atkinson’s An Army at Dawn, which covered the Allied victories in North Africa, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2003. This, its sequel, which takes us to the fall of Rome, ought to win another. Vivid and humane, it is deeply researched, using many primary sources based on diaries and letters home. Atkinson was an editor on the Washington Post, so understandably the slant is on American achievements, personalities, and tragedies (the book is full of grim as well as heroic stories), but the British side is by no means ignored, and this includes Canadians, New Zealanders, Indians and Poles in the Eighth Army. Atkinson excels also in character portraits of the leaders, from Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Churchill to Patton, Montgomery, Alexander and Mark Clark, hate-figure for most British historians writing about that war.
Gela, in south Sicily, where the American Fifth Army (commanded by Patton) landed, was the first town or village to be decimated, as the Allies moved inexorably north. In spite of recent major archaeological discoveries, the place to this day still appears not to have recovered. Bad weather caused confusion
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Are iPhones ruining children's lives? A prominent American psychologist thinks so.
@tiffanyjenkins is not so sure:
Tiffany Jenkins - The Smartphone Pandemic
Tiffany Jenkins: The Smartphone Pandemic - The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an...
literaryreview.co.uk
India's 'festival of democracy', or general election, begins next month. Like every good festival, it looks likely to have its fair share of murders and arrests.
@OwenBennettJon probes the state of democracy in India:
Owen Bennett-Jones - New Delhi Confidential
Owen Bennett-Jones: New Delhi Confidential - The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the Search for Democracy in India by Alpa Shah
literaryreview.co.uk
Where is the world's newest narcostate and why is it thriving?
@AdamBrookesWord investigates Asia's meth mecca.
Adam Brookes - Meth Comes to Myanmar
Adam Brookes: Meth Comes to Myanmar - Narcotopia: In Search of the Asian Drug Cartel That Outwitted the CIA by Patrick Winn
literaryreview.co.uk