This French-language book is the first to propose a scientific approach to the Aga Khan's religious thought; placing it in its proper perspective by revealing how the Aga Khan responded to contemporary challenges. It will be of interest to both students and scholars of history; orientalism and Islamic thought and cultures; and to anyone interested in South Asia or in the fundamental issues of religion and modernity.
#1340791 in Books 2014-04-18Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.02 x 2.06 x 5.98l; 3.07 #File Name: 0700619569848 pages
Review
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful. Detailed; informative and clarifyingBy F. Carol SabinAs expected; this book; based on a wide range and rarely available Soviet and rediscovered German operational documents; contains the archival supplemental documentary evidence for the volume III - Endgame at Stalingrad; thus achieving an unprecedented degree of precision and clarification in describing the historical reality of this major battle. No doubt; this last tome of GlantzHouse “Trilogy†can be used as a reference manual for searchers; as well as a guide for those who want to know the basics of this titanic battle.At the heart of the book are; in my mind; 20 appendices. The term appendix is somehow deceiving; actually these are genuine chapters of operational history; combining archival documents with skillful analysis; ranging between 12-81 pages. All appendices and other documentary materials support the narrative books of the third volume and authors’ conclusions and judgments. I’ll try a brief analysis of all appendices below.Appendix (App.) 1 (81 pages) focuses on “Opposing Orders of Battle†at six key dates throughout period 19.11.1942-01.02.1943.App. 2 (23 pages) is a nice detailing of the Soviet strategic planning and the genesis of plan Uranus. Based on eight extensive excerpts from Stavka’s directives; reports or orders; the authors revealed the chronology of Soviet decision making.“The Uranus Force and Plan†and “The balance of opposing forces†are presented in the next two appendices (3 with 21 pages and 4 with 12 pages). App. 3 contains eight Stavka combat directives or orders. In my opinion; app.4 is one of the most interesting. No less than 9 tables are showing the evolution of “The Soviet view on the Correlation of Opposing Forces in Operation Uranusâ€; at different moments between 1956 and 2008. This speaks a lot about Soviet-style in history-manufacturing!These are followed by app. 5 (50 pages); which is dedicated to “The Penetration battle and Encirclement; 19-23 Nov. 1942â€. “Reducing the Stalingrad Pocket and Forming the Outer Encirclement Frontâ€; 24-27.11.1942 and “Reducing the Stalingrad Pocket and Forming the Outer Encirclement Frontâ€; 28-30.11.1942; are detailed in Appendix 6 and 7.App. 8 speaks about “Competing German and Soviet Dilemmas†(28 pages); while app. 9 is detailing “The Southwestern Front’s battles along Krivaia and Chir rivers; 1-15 Dec 1942†(20 pages).App. 10 is devoted to “The Stalingrad’s Front’s Defense against Operation Wintergewitter; 1-19 December 1942†(44 pages); while the next one speaks about “The Don and Stalingrad’s Fronts’ battle for the Stalingrad Pocket; 1-15 Dec. 1942†(36 pages).“Operation Little Saturn and the Soviet Tormosin Offensive†are both detailed in the next 38 pages of app. 12; while app. 13 provides interesting details about “The end of Wintergewitter and Donnerschlag and the Stalingrad Front’s Kotelnikovo Offensive; 16-31 Dec. 1942†(45 pages).The situation in “The Stalingrad Pocket; 16-31 Dec 1942†is the subject of app. 14 (29 pages); while “Sixth’s Army’s Situation; preliminaries and the Don’s Front’s Plan; 1-9 Jan. 1943†is debated in app. 15 (13 pages).The destruction of the Sixth Army is fully detailed in the next 3 appendices (113 pages) and; finally; app.19 speaks about “62nd Army’s Struggle in Stalingrad City; 19.11.1942-2.02.1943â€; no doubt; inspired completely from combat journal of this army. This chapter maintains a continuity with volume’s two account of the fighting in Stalingrad.The “Conclusions†is the last appendix containing just 14 pages. Inside you can discover a chronology of significant actions between 28 June 1942 and 2 February 1943; Red Army’s operations conducted within the context of operation Ring (8 offensives); plus 5 tables with both sides’ losses and German operational tanks at key moments.Compared with previous books; this one has a very different dedication: “To my lord and savior; Jesus Christ...â€Companion has 54 tactical/operational-level situation maps/sketches; concerning the quality; some are difficult to read; some are sketchy; simple; but few are good (8-10).Another major pillar of this book is represented by its 50 tables. They provide useful statistical info about casualty rates in selected divisions; Soviet assessments; reports; losses; tonnage delivered in the aerial supply of Sixth Army; reorganizations; etc.A pleasant surprise it was to see; apart the classic part dedicated to Soviet commanders (8 photos); a very nice collection of 33 bw photos taken by Stephen Duncan in Stalingrad (Volgograd today); showing current state of different locations/places of the battle (grain elevator; Pavlov’s house; Railroad Station no.1; the entrance to Paulus’s HQs in the basement of the Univermag; etc).The book concludes with an Index to orders of battle; documents and tables.Finally; don’t bother about the book’s missing jacket: it’s just a minor minus of a grand masterpiece that you won’t see soon in the near future. The book is recommended mainly for serious students who want more details; careful analysis or clarifications about this titanic battle and are accustomed with authors’ style.5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Purely for researchBy Thomas ReiterThis volume is obviously intended for research purposes and I strongly recommend not to buy this work for your reading pleasure--you'll be sorely disappointed!I'm OK with the absence of a dust-jacket; which I consider purely cosmetic; but was very disappointed to find that there is not a complete; detailed; listing of the contents of this volume. The book consists of 20 appendices; which are listed in the table of contents; each appendix covers a specific topic (eg; Appendix 3: The Uranus Force and Plan; Appendix 4: the Balance of Opposing Forces; Appendix 10: The Stalingrad Front's Defense againast Operation Wintergewitter; etc.). The problem is that each appendix includes many; generally dozens; of individual documents; reports; orders; etc.; and there is no complete listing of these specific documents. While there is an index at the back of the book which provides such a detailed list; it only continues through the first few documents in Appendix 13; so almost 8 (out of 20) appendices are not covered.Presumably this was some sort of printing error; I'd be rather disappointed if the publishers simply decided that the page count was already too high...This kind of volume is very welcome and useful; but its utility is much reduced by the lack of a complete document index; so I would hope that the publisher and/or author would at least provide a link to a complete index for readers' use.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. I am glad I purchased this final volume of the Stalingrad seriesBy Mr. T.This volume is not needed to understand what happened at Stalingrad but for someone who wants to be a true student of the battle; this book is invaluable. Additionally; the book show the depth of Glantz's research. The only way to get any closer to the documents shown would be to travel to Russia .and look at the originals! I am glad I purchased this final volume of the Stalingrad series; it helps to truly understand the battle
