Weintraub writes that this is not "a detailed military history", instead it is "a look at eleven days on a frozen World War II battlefront through the lens of Christmas"; and at just 12 chapters (an allusion to the 12 days of Christmas?) and at under 181 pages of text before the 'sources', the reader could little expect the book to even scratch the surface of a campaign, that within hours of it's opening on December 16th, 1944, lacked a homogeneous front, with battles being fought at the company and platoon level. A battle that opened with the Germans holding the initiative.

So the enormity of Weintraub's task is made immediately clear - provide a short and concise history that conveys a sense of the campaign, while focusing on the theme of Christmas. Unfortunately, the very nature of the campaign, as detailed above, is reflected in this book - the story jumps from place to place (like a Greatest Hits collection) without any well defined organisation, and a plethora of detail adds little to the reader's overall appreciation of the greater story. The author also fails to engender any real empathy with the soldiers and the accounts feel dry as a consequence, while space given to Niven, Hemingway and Marlene Dietrich feel almost gratuitous and add little to his thesis.

However, there are nuggets to be found, and the author is on stronger ground in the second half of the book as the focus shifts more toward the Christmas theme. Anyone with a genuine interest in the Battle of the Ardennes (as the US Army officially termed it) may find this work of mild interest; for those looking for a quick introduction, it may leave you more confused than enlightened. ( )

I would disagree with the quote on the back of the book which says "well written." I suspect this book was quickly cobbled from work being done on a much larger history of the European theater of operations during WWII in order to fulfill a request or publishing contract. This book needed organization, more and better maps, a timeline, and a list of officers from both sides with their divisions included in order to help the average reader. Weintraub would give the full name of a general once, and thereafter only refer to him my last name (or nickname). For Eisenhower, Patton, and Montgomery, Hitler, Jodl, that's perhaps acceptable. But for most of the others it just leaves the reader confused. This was a mercifully short book, but even so there were pages of material included which, though perhaps interesting, had nothing to do with the Battle of the Bulge. It was merely padding. I woundn't recommend either this book or this writer. ( )