There’s an expression in French where we describe a relatively small but thick and dense book as a “pavé”, a word that could be translated to “paving stone” or “slab”. That was exactly the word my wife used when she saw me reading this. It’s quite a massive book, but it’s absolutely worth it if you’re even remotely interested in the second World War. Any attempt to encompass the deadliest conflict in human history in a single volume is remarkable. Since it’s a relatively modern event, the quantity of information available is astronomical. There are so many angles to take into account when covering such a massive event.

Still, the author, a well-known military historian, has managed to do just that. He takes the reader around the world to all the major theatres to cover the political actions and military operations. We get acquainted with quite a few military leaders from many different countries and can appreciate their exact roles in precise circumstances. It’s extensively detailed, as you would expect from an expert on the subject.

Well behind the frontlines, we get a deep look at what was required from the civilian population to support the war effort. The manufacture of weapons, tanks and planes. The sacrifices made by many to allow resources to make it to the frontlines. The life in cities bombarded by air raids.

Then we follow the lives of the soldiers during this ordeal. Here, I believe, is where we get to the real meaning of the book’s title. Here, it’s accurate to say that hell was indeed let loose. We could talk about the downright inhuman living conditions millions of young men were fighting in, or the depths of human suffering that was laid in their path. Instances of mass murder, pillaging and rape were omnipresent throughout the war, whether the actual fighting was over or not. Here is where humanity sank to its lowest of lows. It was honestly kind of hard to read, but it’s important that we know about those things.

It’s too easy to boil down a war to statistics of deaths and injuries, battles won and lost, losses of territory and military equipment and every quantifiable loss. Reading numerous accounts of people who lived through it gives the war a deeply human quality, a look that we rarely get to experience so viscerally decades later. It’s impossible to even imagine the sheer suffering of millions of people, each story as distressing as the other.

All Hell Let Loose opened the curtains slightly, offered a glimpse into the lives of those involved and affected by the war. While it’s impossible for someone born forty years later to ever feel a fraction of what they felt like, it’s at least a way to connect with our fellow humans at a time where hell was as close as ever.

The amount of research such a book must have required is simple breath-taking. In the end, even if I haven’t read that many books on the subject, it’s hard to argue with the praise printed just below the title on the cover. I’m sure it’s possible to write an ever more detailed account of what happened in the war, spanning thousands upon thousands of pages. I doubt it would be more effective, though. Max Hastings struck the perfect balance between facts and humanity.