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Sword
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About the author
Max Hastings
119 books1,812 followersSir Max Hugh Macdonald Hastings, FRSL, FRHistS is a British journalist, editor, historian and author. His parents were Macdonald Hastings, a journalist and war correspondent, and Anne Scott-James, sometime editor of Harper's Bazaar.
Hastings was educated at Charterhouse School and University College, Oxford, which he left after a year.After leaving Oxford University, Max Hastings became a foreign correspondent, and reported from more than sixty countries and eleven wars for BBC TV and the London Evening Standard.
Among his bestselling books Bomber Command won the Somerset Maugham Prize, and both Overlord and The Battle for the Falklands won the Yorkshire Post Book of the Year Prize.
After ten years as editor and then editor-in-chief of The Daily Telegraph, he became editor of the Evening Standard in 1996. He has won many awards for his journalism, including Journalist of The Year and What the Papers Say Reporter of the Year for his work in the South Atlantic in 1982, and Editor of the Year in 1988.
He stood down as editor of the Evening Standard in 2001 and was knighted in 2002. His monumental work of military history, Armageddon: The Battle for Germany 1944-1945 was published in 2005.
He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Sir Max Hastings honoured with the $100,000 2012 Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing.
Hastings was educated at Charterhouse School and University College, Oxford, which he left after a year.After leaving Oxford University, Max Hastings became a foreign correspondent, and reported from more than sixty countries and eleven wars for BBC TV and the London Evening Standard.
Among his bestselling books Bomber Command won the Somerset Maugham Prize, and both Overlord and The Battle for the Falklands won the Yorkshire Post Book of the Year Prize.
After ten years as editor and then editor-in-chief of The Daily Telegraph, he became editor of the Evening Standard in 1996. He has won many awards for his journalism, including Journalist of The Year and What the Papers Say Reporter of the Year for his work in the South Atlantic in 1982, and Editor of the Year in 1988.
He stood down as editor of the Evening Standard in 2001 and was knighted in 2002. His monumental work of military history, Armageddon: The Battle for Germany 1944-1945 was published in 2005.
He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Sir Max Hastings honoured with the $100,000 2012 Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 17, 2026
The usual high standard by Max Hastings about WW2, in this case about specifically D-day on Sword Beach.
An enjoyable blend of critical analysis of the performance of those involved ranging from the soldiers carrying out the actual landings, the officers directing operations on the beach and the general staff directing strategy.
Where Max Hastings believes criticism is due, he includes it in the book, but he does balance the criticism against the circumstances and limited knowledge prevailing at the time and tries not to be wise after the event.
I enjoyed the approach of strategic detail balanced against stories of the experiences of individual soldiers.
I do wonder, given the passage of time, release of previously released restricted information and sheer volume of books about WW2 if there is any more significant revision of the conduct of the war left to be published.
An enjoyable blend of critical analysis of the performance of those involved ranging from the soldiers carrying out the actual landings, the officers directing operations on the beach and the general staff directing strategy.
Where Max Hastings believes criticism is due, he includes it in the book, but he does balance the criticism against the circumstances and limited knowledge prevailing at the time and tries not to be wise after the event.
I enjoyed the approach of strategic detail balanced against stories of the experiences of individual soldiers.
I do wonder, given the passage of time, release of previously released restricted information and sheer volume of books about WW2 if there is any more significant revision of the conduct of the war left to be published.
August 13, 2026
An excellent book from Max Hastings.He admits that he published this book when the majority of participants have passed on.This book is very critical of certain individuals and organisations.For example he feels that the creation of the commandos took many able men from where they were most needed.So very thought provoking.
May 25, 2026
Customarily excellently researched, written, paced and engaging work by Hastings. Well rounded and insightful - if you enjoyed his many other books this will neither disappoint nor feel like duplication.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews