Customer Reviews (2)

Definitive History of an Enduring Hero
Of the ten or so serious biographies on Stauffenberg, this will stand as the text to refer to for comprehensiveness and objectivity. The prose is clear, the questions of enduring interest are all answered, and the reader meets the man. Unreservedly recommended.

The ultimate Stauffenberg biography.
Peter Hoffmann's biography of Stauffenberg is the best anyone is likely to write on the subject. The book comprehensively assesses all primary sources hitherto used by Stauffenberg's previous biographers, plus many additional sources which the author himself found. Hoffmann's previous books, among them 'THE HISTORY OF THE GERMAN RESISTANCE, 1933-1945', and 'HITLER'S PERSONAL SECURITY' serve as a foundation to this work which, all told, spans 30 years of scholarly research. As the depth and breadth of this study eclipses any other attempt to date, its conclusions are unassailably judicious. Thus, Hoffmann's 'STAUFFENBERG' has made perhaps the most definitive contribution to the historical field of resistance to the Third Reich. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Anti-Nazi movement   2. Biography   3. Biography / Autobiography   4. Europe - General   5. Europe - Germany   6. General   7. Germany   8. Germany - History   9. History: World   10. Revolutionaries   11. 20th century   12. Anti-Nazi movement--Germany--Biography   13. Assassination attempt, 1944 (July 20)   14. Biography: historical   15. European history: from c 1900 -   16. Family   17. History / Europe / General   18. Hitler, Adolf   19. Hitler, Adolf,--1889-1945--Assassination attempt, 1944 (July 20)   20. Revolutionaries--Germany--Biography   21. Schenk von Stauffenberg, Klaus Philipp   22. Schenk von Stauffenberg, Klaus Philipp,--Graf,--1907-1944   23. Schenk von Stauffenberg, Klaus Philipp,--Graf,--1907-1944--Family   

Subjects:  1. Earth Sciences - Meteorology & Climatology   2. Earth Sciences - Oceanography   3. Environmental Science   4. Environmental Studies   5. Science   6. Science/Mathematics   

Subjects:  1. Life Sciences - Ecology - Forest Ecology   2. Science   3. Science/Mathematics   

Customer Reviews (3)

Coetzee's View of This Book
Readers of this book should be interested by the rather harsh comments about it made by the main character of J.M. Coetzee's novel Elizabeth Costello.

the very rich hours of count von stauffenberg
Having read both this book(several times) and Hoffman's definitive biography, I believe that full appreciation of the novel requires considerable factual background of the type provided by Hoffman. That said, though spectacularly difficult to read owing to the horrors of Nazism explored in brilliant imagery, as well as to just the pyrotechnics of the language, the book is ultimately extraordinarily moving. Stauffenberg is presented as a man as self-doubting as Hamlet in his way. At the end, though, willing to risk everything for his beliefs. The last paragraph of the book is unforgettable.

Damning with faint praise...
To say that the most intriguing aspect of Paul West's novels are the titles might be damning with faint praise. But the titles are great - "Bela Lugosi's White Christmas", "Lord Byron's Doctor", and, of course, "The Very Rich Hours of Count Von Stauffenberg". These all do what a title ought - tease you into interest. What about Lord Byron's doctor? And why the doctor and not Lord Byron? I think of Bing and white, not Bela and white.

Knowing that Von Stauffenberg was the man who carried the bomb into the meeting to try to assassinate Adolf Hitler, I was drawn to this book by the title. So it was not only the title, but also the subject matter. West chooses interesting subjects. The bomb plot to kill Hitler, the Jack the Ripper murders, Lord Byron (who, according to Caroline Lamb, was mad, bad and dangerous to know).

So, drawn by the subject matter, intrigued by the title (what was it that made Von Stauffenberg's hours rich?), I picked up the book. LOVED the cover.

I find it hard to describe Paul West's style. The closest I can come is to say it is a densely written book. There are a lot of words, and not all the words carry one forward into the tale. Indeed, in some instances one feels like one has stepped into a small eddy of words and only after whirlling about a bit does one spin out of the eddy and move on to the next. When not half way through the book I recognized we were coming upon the moment of Von Stauffenberg's demise, and given that the narrator of the book was Von Stauffenberg himself, I was curious to see how West was going to approach the second half of the book. I underestimated the man. The death of the narrator did not phase him for one moment. Nor did it cause a change in the voice of the book. Goodness. I hadn't expect that.

I have also read The Women Of Whitechapel - drawn again by subject, title and cover. But I give. As curious as I am about Bela and his white Christmas, about Lord Byron and his doctor, I'm gonna give it a pass ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1907-1944   2. Attempted assassination   3. Fiction   4. Fiction - General   5. General   6. Graf,   7. Hitler, Adolf,   8. Schenk von Stauffenberg, Klaus   9. World War, 1939-1945   

Customer Reviews (1)

Review from catman
General Fedor von Bock is the German field marshal (from 1940), who participated in the German occupation of Austria and the invasions of Poland, France, and Russia during WWII.He was one of the generals whom Adolf Hitler created field marshals of the Reich in July,1940.F.von Bock became Commander-in-Chief of Army Group Cente then.He was relieved of his command when he complained of the strategic impracticality of operating massive German offensives against Stalingrad.F.von Bock was killed along in an air raid. His life is not smooth although he is capable. This is the F.von Bock memoirs, which appear here for the first time, allow the reader to see the entire drama of the WWII through the eyes of one of Germany's most important military commanders. This book allows us to reassess F. von Bock, whose complex personality is revealed by his diary entries, and by the biographical sketches by editor Klaus Gerbet.If you know nothing about this great general,you will have a clear picture after reading this book.I strongly recommend this book to you if you interests in the history,and especially,German history in the inter-war and WWII period. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. General   2. History - Military / War   3. History: World   4. Military - General   5. Bock, Fedor von   6. Diaries   

Subjects:  1. Binomial distribution   2. Group Theory   3. Mathematical Statistics   4. Mathematics   5. Probability & Statistics - General   6. Science/Mathematics   

Subjects:  1. Assassination attempt, 1944 (July 20)   2. Hitler, Adolf   3. Schenk von Stauffenberg, Klaus Philipp   

Subjects:  1. 1749-1832   2. Antisemitism   3. Congresses   4. European - German   5. Germanic Literature   6. Germany   7. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von,   8. Jewish   9. Jewish - General   10. Jews   11. Literary Criticism   12. Literature - Classics / Criticism   13. Political and social views   14. Views on Jews   15. Cultural studies   16. German   17. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von   18. Jewish studies   19. Literary Criticism & Collections / German   20. Literary studies: 16th to 18th centuries   21. Literary studies: 19th century   22. Literature: History & Criticism   23. Poetry & poets: 16th to 18th centuries   

Subjects:  1. Biography   2. Conducting   3. Conductors (Music)   4. General   5. Music   6. Reference   7. Karajan, Herbert von   

Subjects:  1. Agriculture - Forestry   2. Computer Simulation   3. Forest Management   4. Forests & Forestry   5. Forests and forestry   6. General   7. Growth   8. Life Sciences - Ecology   9. Nature   10. Nature/Ecology   11. Simulation methods   12. Technology & Industrial Arts   13. Trees   

Subjects:  1. 1907-1944   2. Children's 12-Up - History - Military / War   3. Graf,   4. History - Holocaust   5. History - Military & Wars   6. History - United States/20th Century   7. Hitler, Adolf,   8. Juvenile literature   9. Schenk von Stauffenberg, Klaus   10. Assassination attempt, 1944 (July 20)   11. Hitler, Adolf   12. Schenk von Stauffenberg, Klaus Philipp   

Subjects:  1. Agriculture - Forestry   2. Continuous cover forestry   3. Forest Ecology   4. Forest Management   5. Forests & Forestry   6. General   7. Nature   8. Nature/Ecology   9. Science   

Subjects:  1. Criticism   2. Philosophy   

Subjects:  1. Ancient - General   2. Asia - General   3. History - General History   

Subjects:  1. Artificial Intelligence - General   2. Language   3. Language Arts & Disciplines   4. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy   5. Linguistics   

Subjects:  1. 1851-1914   2. 1851-1926   3. Austria   4. Biography   5. Bohm-Bawerk, Eugen von,   6. Business & Economics   7. Business / Economics / Finance   8. Business/Economics   9. Correspondence   10. Economic Theory   11. Economics   12. Economics - Theory   13. Economists   14. Europe   15. History   16. Letters And Correspondence   17. Reference - General   18. Wicksell, Knut,   19. Böhm-Bawerk, Eugen von   20. Wicksell, Knut   

Subjects:  1. Anselm   

Subjects:  1. Language   2. Language Arts & Disciplines   3. Linguistics