BERLIN The Downfall of 1945

With lean military precision, the author describes the Russian rape of the Nazi capital in all its gory detail. Drawing on eye-witness accounts, official documents, and new additions to the historical record released after the Soviet breakup, he analyzes the whys, wherefores, and ramifications of events that ended the Third Reich and ushered in the Cold War. Sean Barrett does a fine job presenting this material, smoothly nailing the numerous foreign words and phrases with seeming effortlessness. While the author’s style is journalistically unemotional, the narrator’s is unremittingly grim. One listens with perverse fascination. Y.R. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/ MAY 06]