Stalingrad, by Antony Beevor (Penguin, £12.99 in UK)

Operation Barbarossa, Hitler's ill-judged invasion of Russia, echoing Napoleon's earlier, equally doomed foray, remains the most complex episode in a complex conflict. Beevor's magnificent, balanced and humane account of the events leading up to the Battle of Stalingrad, which changed the course of the second World War, triumphs as meticulously researched and exciting military history while also chronicling the madness, courage and brutality of the major players on both sides. Many Russians would prefer to forget that more than 50,000 Soviet citizens fought with the German Sixth Army. Many more Germans would rather forget the entire invasion in which an admittedly ill-prepared military power again proved no match for the Russian winter. Above all, this dramatic narrative is an awesome portrait of the sacrifice of the ordinary Russians, whose hatred of Stalin was ultimately overshadowed by their love of Russia.