Hilary Earl

Sort of disappointing

As far as I know, this book is the only detailed description in print of the trial of the leaders of the Einsatzgruppen who murdered around a million Soviet noncombatants during World War II. For this reason--that there is a lack of competing histories--this book is worth a read. And it certainly is the work of a competent historian who apparently did an awful lot of archival work.

Nevertheless, as my rating signifies, my feelings about the book are mixed. It was the author's dissertation at the University of Toronto, and it betrays some evidence of greenness on her part. There are lots of errors in punctuation and word choice, and it seems as if Cambridge University Press didn't have anyone proofread it carefully (and they certainly didn't put much care into the production of the paperback edition, which looks like a cheap, faded-out photocopy in places). At times, I felt that the exposition was lacking in seriousness and sophistication and that the author was insufficiently detached, too opinionated, bordering on glib. Other times, there was too much assertion and not enough presentation of facts that would allow the reader to draw the same conclusions him/herself. I wish there had been more analysis of how these mass murders could possibly have come about and less attention paid to the colorful life of the presiding judge. His escapades may make for a good yarn, but that's not the sort of thing most people buy books like this for.… (más)