I began reading this book, at first, out of curiosity for the imagination of its author. Now, who wouldn’t be intrigued enough to read these messages--social, political, and personal--put together as tweets, in the same style as today’s social media such as Twitter about the events of the last months of World War II?

The idea of the book brings an inimitable outlook to history. I thought I knew all about the subject when I began reading the book, but then, I saw that this style brought out into light the human element more deeply than any dry historical account, together with more valuable context such as political stupidity, refusal of reality, and the horrors of war.

In the book, some of the statements are written from the viewpoints of the characters, and others are entered as tweets from their actual statements at the time. Some of the characters tweeting in the book are: Hitler, Stalin, Churchill, Truman, Eisenhower, Zhukov, Borman, Goebbels, Himmler, Patton, Bradley, Wilhelm Bittrich, Eva Braun, Magda Goebbels, German Generals, Russian Generals, NY Times, Pravda, Reuters, and Richard Dimbleby.

As an example, here is a tweet by Trudl Junge, a German editor who worked as Adolf Hitler's last private secretary.
“Trudl Junge@TJunge-- Fraulein Braun has today joined us in the Fuhrerbunker. I do so hope this will lighten the fuhrer's mood which has become so dark of late.”

The tweets, by the Axis and the Allies, run from some time in 1945 during the ending of the war with the battles raging day and night until Berlin fell. The ending wasn’t pretty with Magda Goebbels poisoning her six children and Hitler and Eva’s suicides and the aides burning their bodies before they could be mishandled in the Allies hands.

This type of historical account doesn’t mean that we should skip over our history books. I think we should value them both. History books give us the dry facts; this book gave me a unique perspective into the events and mostly into the characters.

I think the idea behind the style of this book is innovative and astute, and it can only help increase any reader’s interest and enjoyment in the subject.

the style of delving into history via tweets.

Philip Gibson is a teacher and author of over thirty books on ESL and historical fiction

It is an original and not too long, and especially if you know the basics of the history in it before you begin reading, you'll find you'll enjoy it greatly.

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Created Sep 26, 2020 at 4:16pm • Submit your own review...