Title: read and reflect that war is hell
Review: Hastings has done us a favor by presenting both sides of the story. It is a shame that mankind had to wait for 63 years before a more balanced view of this human holocaust is finally brought to us. Reading about the cruelty of humans to each other, the needless civilian suffering, the summary executions and general barbarity one wonders whether the mid-twentieth century represents mankind's descent into a terminal stage of self-destruction. When we talk about atrocities, a lot of people tend to think of the Middle Ages, conveniently forgetting that the worst atrocities happened in our lifetimes, the 20th century. The Gulags, concentration camps, firebombing of cities, vivisection of human beings, revenge, selling out of governments....the list is long and a reminder that technical advance combined with moral degradation do not necessarily mean that mankind is becoming more civilized.
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