A very readable but somewhat “light” version of WWII history. The author covers a lot of ground but does not get absorbed with vast detail. This makes the book flow and helps prevent the reader from getting bogged down. Enjoyable. ( )

I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway. This was an excellent read. I was concerned that I might get bored reading a book that was just history but those concerns were unfounded. The writer kept my interest with wonderful bits of information that I had never known before. This book is definitely a learning experience. I found the book enjoyable and informative. Anyone with an interest for WWll history should read this book. Highly recommend. ( )

Not a whole lot new here but the fashion of telling is different. Whether Groom intends to do it or not, he clearly indicates the patrician views of Churchill and FDR towards Stalin -- he clearly comes from a different class. Groom also totally ignores the reports of what came to be known as the Hollowcast while giving details of the Kaitlan Forest massacre by the USSR. In writing about three such over-powering figures of the century, one is faced with a choice. Groom tries to be impartial but by the end, he has given us his choice, and I don't disagree with his choice. ( )

Disappointing. A compendium of information from secondary sources (which omits "Roosevelt's Road to Russia"). ( )


Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin walk into a bar...
I'm kidding. This won't be that kind of review. Still, though, when reading The Allies, I did have a little bit of little kid, star struck silliness happening. I grew up in a family heavily saturated in military and global history. I have three granddads in the Navy and shelves upon shelves of history books at my disposal even before I could walk.
Groom does the end-of-war complexities to the table in a way that would definitely make all three of my patriarchs proud. His familiarity with both the human and tactical elements of the time period made the entire book feel like I was sitting at the table, eves dropping.
Through a flurry of letters and corresponding actions and communications, the alliance between the three men (and some smaller players, of course) Groom manages to bring his skill as a historian and his magical novelist powers together to create an astoundingly brilliant historical compilation of one of my personal favorite time periods.
Thank you to TLC Book tours for the chance to be on this leg of the tour.
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