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Showing posts from July 8, 2007

A Writer at War: Vasily Grossman with the Red Army 1941–1945

A Writer at War: Vasily Grossman with the Red Army 1941–1945, Anthony Beevor and Luba Vinogradova. Soviet novelist Vasily Grossman (1905-64) worked as a journalist and kept notebooks throughout both the German invasion of Soviet territory, and the subsequent Soviet liberation and race to Berlin. Such practices were strictly forbidden (not to mention highly dangerous) under Stalin, and Grossman's jottings about the events he bore witness to thus represent a extraordinary testimony of the attitudes and conditions experienced by both the Red Army soldier and Soviet citizens more generally. Writing for Красной Звезды ( Krasnaya Zvezda , ‘The Red Star’), the Red Army's official newspaper, Grossman’s honest and frank character observations of both military and civilian life during both the disastrous retreat of 1941, the fierce battle for Stalingrad and the genocide the subsequent Soviet advances revealed. Antony Beevor – for mine the foremost writer of ‘humanist’ military histories

20/20 Squad

Australia have named their preliminary squad of 30 players for this year's inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa in September. Australia's preliminary Twenty20 squad: Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam Gilchrist, George Bailey, Nathan Bracken, Luke Butterworth, Stuart Clark, Michael Clarke, Dan Cullen, Brendan Drew, Brad Haddin, Shane Harwood, Matthew Hayden, Ben Hilfenhaus, Brad Hodge, Brad Hogg, James Hopes, David Hussey, Mike Hussey, Phil Jaques, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Andrew McDonald, Ashley Noffke, Marcus North, Luke Ronchi, Andrew Symonds, Shaun Tait, Adam Voges, Shane Watson, Cameron White. With only Ponting, Bailey, Butterworth, Drew and Hilfenhaus named in the squad, there are clearly not enough Tasmanians. I've long maintained that at least 10 Tasmanians is crucial to international success. When will we ever learn?