Leningrad: The Epic Siege of World War II, 1941-1944

by Anna Reid

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“This was the longest and most devastating siege in the history of World War II. Hitler was determined to take over the Russian city for symbolic reasons, and during the two-and-a-half-year siege 750,000 civilians were deliberately starved to death…with excellent research in archives which weren’t available before, Reid shows how totally cynical Stalin’s attitude was to Leningrad. Indeed it was a major factor in the appalling loss of life and suffering.” Read more...

The best books on World War II

Antony Beevor, Military Historians & Veteran

The book, according to the author

“The typical siege time household is a working age woman with elderly parents to support and children. Her husband is at the front, so she’s trying to support people all on her own. As the siege progresses, one by one members of her family will fall ill and she is often presented with this appalling dilemma of how to distribute the resources…she has the choice about whether to to give more food to the weakest and keep them alive or to distribute it equally or to write off the weakest.”

Anna Reid on YouTube, September 11th, 2011