Customer Reviews

When Hell Froze Over

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was a very enjoyable read. It tells a story that has been, unfortunately, left out of most of our history books. The author tells the story very well. He writes in a very compelling manner.

Unfortunately, there are no maps in the book so you are forced to rely on the authors descriptive powers (great, but not the same as a decent map) to set the scene and understand the movements & placement of units. The author also leaves out those unit designations that allow us military history nuts to track which squad belonged to which platoon, etc. (no offense to the other reviewer, I'd just like to see a bit of balance).

This story could stand the sort of film treatment that "The Lost Battalion" received from A&E.

Now, someone needs to write a book about the other American troops on the other side of the USSR. Also a book about the Czech army fighting it's way across the length of the Soviet Union during, and after, WWI.

I'm a History major, however I am not a military person. I have found after years of reading military history books that much emphasis is placed on this squad attached to that platoon related to the other battalion, and on a litany of troop movements. This book thankfully downplays that. The troop movements are covered in this book but not to the point of numbing the reader. This is an excellent read and extremely informative and entertaining. U.S. Troops ingaged in pitched battles with regular Russian troops on Russian soil, AMAZING!!! Why isn't this covered in school, why don't we hear more about this. Because we pulled out before completing many of the stated goals. I can not praise this book enough, it is a fantastic book it's 4+ stars. I held off giving it 5 because I like to reserve that for the truly tremendous books. Anyone interested in some of the more obscure aspects of our nations history should read this book. EXCELLENT WORK MR. HALLIDAY!!!!

This is an interesting little known war and the book treats it competently. Although a few more maps would have been useful I found those that are there sufficient to follow the action. Perhaps some more info about the other fronts were the revolutionaries were engaged would have been interesting to put things in context.

The story of the "Polar Bear" expedition--American troops (as well as British and French) into Russia--is told with such skill and artistry that even someone who had no interest in the subject would be drawn into the narrative of these true events. This well-researched account will give the reader a new insight into these tragic days of World War I which have been kept secret for many years.

'When Hell Froze Over' is an excellent book to start the study of the Allied intervention in Northern Russia towards the end of WWI. The book reads easily and quickly, has a good bibliography for further reference and provides a good balance (although not thorough) between politics surrounding the intervention and actions on the ground. This is an excellent book if you are interested in getting the quick and dirty of the expedition or if you are starting an in depth study.

never knew of anhy armed combat between US and Russia in the 20th century until this book--fascinating!