The Unknown War

by Harrison E. Salisbury

Book by Harrison E. Salisbury

Genres: History, Military Fiction, World War II, War, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Harrison E. Salisbury was a long time reporter and editor at The New York Times. Earlier in his career he had worked for the United Press, which he joined after earning a B.A. at the University of Minnesota in 1930. He began his career in journalism as a part-time reporter for the Minneapolis Journal during 1928-29. Although he served in many different positions and places during his long career at the Times, Mr. Salisbury is perhaps most famous for his work as Moscow correspondent, covering the U.S.S.R. during the early years of the Cold War. After serving as the Times' Moscow Bureau Chief from 1949 to 1954, he returned to the U.S. and wrote a series of articles for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1955. He spent a great deal of time concentrating on Asia during his later years at the Times, covering the Vietnam War as well as many different issues and events having to do with China.

Reviews

[Michael Dorosh]

Despite the date on this book (1978), a pretty entertainingl volume if you can find it. Decent overall precis of the Soviet Union's involvement in the war against Germany. Minor coverage of the war against Japan in 1945 (a couple of pages). Large draw of this book is the number of rare photos used to illustrate the text; despite the opening of the former Soviet archives after the fall of Communism, few photos seem to be making their way into English language texts even today. Photographic coverage in this book is excellent. Maps are also quite good, though not as comprehensive as a purpose-written campaign history, which this book is not. Expect a social history with a few pertinent facts and figures and you won't be disappointed. This is not a deep historical study, but never claims to be. Written at a fairly high level - strategic and operational, as opposed to tactical/first person accounts. In other words, many references to Stalin and grand planning, not a lot on what the soldiers on the ground were experiencing. Not a criticism, just an explanation of what to find. Well written, but obviously doesn't benefit from research and material obtained after the opening of the Soviet archives. More for entertainment than research.

[William Razavi · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, this is a companion book to the eponymous documentary series and I’m fascinated by how different they are. It’s strange to me how often these companion books bear little resemblance to the films they are tied to.
The series (about which I have plenty to say elsewhere) is sanitized and propagandistic whereas this book provides a decent short history of the Soviet involvement in the Second World War.
There are some hedges in the text and some omissions and of course our understanding of the war has become more sophisticated since 1978, but in many ways this volume is still a good starting point and the author had the benefit of being a first hand witness to some of it so that this account deserves a look. For more depth you might look at Salisbury’s 900 Days which covers the Siege of Leningrad.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a companion piece to the 1978 TV series. The book does fine job of providing a high level context (interaction between Stalin and his senior generals) to the TV series. Since this came out before the opening of the Russian archives, some of the material is aged. However, the photographs are excellent.

The book raised a question that I'm going to be looking at later content to answer. Why didn't the Russians push on to Berlin in February 1944? If they had, cold war politics may have played out differently. Something to ponder.

[Dale Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great overview of Operation Barbarossa and the whole war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

HS Lite, but those photos!

[Noebonaerense90 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sucito resumen de las batallas más importantes libradas en la URSS durante la II Guerra Mundial. También se hace hincapié en las luchas de poder internas.