June 1941

April 15, 2006
Lukacs, a prolific writer whose best seller, "Five Days in London, May 1940", received additional attention after Rudy Giuliani famously turned to it for inspiration after 9/11, has attempted to debunk several myths and perceptions concerning Hitler and Stalin on the eve of Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union. Among the inaccuracies that Lukacs points to is that Hitler's generals had dark forebodings about invading Russia; Lukacs's evidence suggests that it was Hitler himself who was deeply apprehensive. Lukacs also rejects the notion that Hitler invaded the Soviet Union out of hatred for Stalin, finding that Hitler respected Stalin and invaded so that the resulting enlarged Third Reich would be a force to defeat England, led by Churchill, whom Hitler indeed loathed. The writing is somewhat quirky. Lukacs uses the first chapter to impart elementary history with some rather tortured sentence structures, which may now be part of the author's mystique. His short volume is an interesting read that imparts little new to our knowledge of World War II. It is, however, a thought-provoking missive that deserves a look. Recommended for public libraries." -Harry Willems, Southeast Kansas Lib. Syst., Iola"

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