‘Roberts is a superb narrator and negotiates the wartime labyrinth wearing his learning lightly. The central argument is that Hitler lost the war because he let his ideological imperatives overtake his military judgement. The character sketches are pitch perfect, and the historical judgement cool and sound. Roberts has called The Storm of War his first proper bestseller; it may well be his masterpiece.’
Dan Jones, The Times History Books of the Year

‘Andrew Roberts achieves a marvel of concision in producing a splendidly written, comprehensive new history of the greatest conflict in history, The Storm of War – particularly good in its insights into Axis strategy’.
Sir Ian Kershaw, The Guardian Books of the Year

‘Only a highly confident historian would set out to write a one-volume history of the second world war. And only a highly accomplished one could produce a book that manages to be distinctive but not eccentric, comprehensive in scope but not cramped by detail, giving due weight both to the extraordinary personalities and to the blind economic and physical forces involved. Andrew Roberts certainly does not lack confidence and his talents are well suited to the task. His speciality is the bold sweep of narrative history, marshalling hard facts and telling anecdotes to support big judgments. He presents stylish penmanship, gritty research and lucid reasoning, coupled with poignant and haunting detours into private lives ruined and shortened. Mr Roberts shows boyish pleasure and admiration at the great feats of arms he describes. But the underlying tones of this magnificent book are in a minor key: furious sorrow at the waste of it all.’
The Economist

‘In what might be his best book yet, Roberts breaks free from his recent preoccupation with Anglo-American history and gives us the war as seen from the other side of the hill – the German Reich. Roberts has the knack of making complex military operations comprehensible, and of salting the grand strategic sweep with vignettes of how it felt to be a soldier on the battlefield.’
Nigel Jones, The Sunday Telegraph

‘Roberts’s populist approach makes for a rollicking good read and never comes at the expense of accuracy. His mastery of the huge variety of subjects is truly impressive and his ability to marshal these subjects into a single compelling narrative stunning.’
Keith Lowe, The Daily Telegraph

‘In terms of narrative history the book is an undoubted triumph. This, simply, is the best one volume history of the Second World War currently available.’
Laurence Rees, Standpoint

‘This is an exceptional accomplishment. Roberts has produced a readable, absorbing and intelligent history of World War II that switches dexterously between the different theatres as it heads towards its atomic finale. Like the generals he writes about, Roberts seems to be going for broke: wiping out his rivals by producing the definitive single volume history of the war. He is relentlessly even-handed in his criticism and praise of soldiers, generals and politicians on both sides. Essential.’
Peter Watts, Time Out Book of the Week

‘The Storm of War is a great achievement, an immensely readable, nicely paced feat of historical condensation.’
Ian Pindar, The Guardian

‘Andrew Roberts is the James Bond of contemporary historians. Roberts writes historical prose like few others. It’s a gem of compression that swerves round the old stories and furnishes a fresh take on the old campaigns.’
Stephen McGinty, The Scotsman

‘Is there still something of interest to write about WW2? Absolutely. Andrew Roberts does it in “Storm of War”, with courage and a lightness of writing. Only an author with limitless self confidence would dare channel the torrent of information into a cohesive overview.’
Bart Funnekotter, NRC Handelsblad (Holland)

‘The book is long, but it is tightly written, every page packed with terse comment, well-organised facts and, often, telling details. Engrossing to read.’
Paul Johnson, The Spectator

‘When Churchill complained about his generals, the quality he accused them of lacking was grip: the ability to master a situation rather than be mastered by it. Grip is what Roberts has in abundance. Whether he’s describing the vast tank battles on the Russian steppes, the cat-and-mouse struggles between U-boats ands Allied convoys, or political machinations in Berlin or Washington, he never loses sight of the big picture.’
Simon Griffith, Mail on Sunday

‘you could open it at any page and it would not fail to draw you in. Indeed, if you take this with you to the beach this summer, beware of sunburn… an expert retelling of the story of the conflict. Either as a primer for those new to the subject, or as a refreshing synthesis for those revisiting more familiar ground, it is an exceptionally rewarding and enlightening read. Rest assured – very few of the new crop of books on the subject will be as good as this.’
Roger Moorehouse, The Independent on Sunday

‘In seeking to answer the question of why the Axis powers failed to win the Second World War, Andrew Roberts has produced his most spellbinding book thus far.’
Christopher Silvester, The Daily Express

‘Running all the way through The Storm of War is a glowing, though far from uncritical, admiration for Winston Churchill.’
Prof Richard Evans, The Times Literary Supplement

‘Andrew Roberts is the most exciting historian writing in Britain. He always approaches his subjects with a fresh eye, a controversial opinion, and new research.’
Tim Newark, Military Illustrated

‘Roberts is never dull and he has an instinct for getting a small fact or an amusing anecdote to do the work of sustaining the narrative economically and effectively.’
Richard Overy, The Financial Times

‘Following hard on the heels of his account of Allied grand strategy,Masters and Commanders, Andrew Roberts has built his compelling new history of the Second World War around the quality of Axis decision-making. Could the Axis have done anything to avoid losing proves as fascinating a question as Richard Overy’s ‘why the Allies won’? Roberts is at his best in giving a panoramic view of the War’s many far flung theatres. Even for military buffs who think they know all there is to know about battles and personalities, Roberts arrests the reader with the striking detail, like the decision to tap the phone and introduce a psychiatrist to the staff of that old nutcase George Patton. Roberts is especially good on the importance of Allied code-breaking and on the relatively neglected battles between merchantmen, their Royal Navy escorts and German submarines in the unforgiving environment of the North Atlantic.’
Michael Burleigh, Evening Standard

‘In a year that marks the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War we can expect numerous books on the subject. But there is unlikely to be a better one than this magisterial survey of the conflict by Andrew Roberts. Roberts not only succeeds in marshalling the facts about every theatre of the war into a readable narrative, in arguing that Nazi ideology and Hitler’s own deep-seated hatred interfered with Germany’s military, he also provides a thesis that helps explain the war’s outcome.’
Nick Rennison, Waterstone’s Quarterly Review

‘Andrew Roberts’s latest offering is a sparkling addition to the groaning shelves. Roberts offers refreshing judgments on the politicians and commanders in lively prose and his denunciation of the murder of millions of Jews is as measured as it is moving.’
Robert Service, The Observer

‘A tour de force conclusion to yet another epic retelling of the events that started 70 years ago.’
Gavin Bowd, The Scotsman

‘Roberts should be congratulated on producing a memorable and exciting account of the most devastating war in history.’
War Books Review