Not Quite Another Bulge Book

Caddick-Adams, Peter.  Snow and Steel: The Battle of the Bulge 1944-45.  New York: Oxford
        University Press, 2015.  ISBN: 978-0-19-933514-5

With Snow and Steel,  Peter Caddick-Adams adds another volume to the multitude that have been written on the most recognized battles fought by the U.S. Army in World War II.  However, if you are new to the Battle of the Bulge, do not start with Snow and Steel, rather hunt up and read Battle: The Story of the Bulge by John Toland or A Time for Trumpets by Charles B. MacDonald.  Either of these books do a better job of placing events in context across the battlefield. 

Peter Caddick-Adams provides plenty of proof in the  the first fourteen chapters to convince the reader that Hitler started thinking and planning for a West Front offensive as early as September 1944 during the time of Operation Market-Garden and to set the stage for the battle.  He then proceeds in the next twenty-two chapters to narrate the shifting fortunes of the the Allies and the Germans during the course of the battle.  He then finishes the book with two chapters summarizing the end of World War II on the Western Front, followed by a chapter discussing previous Battle of the Bulge books and finishes with a look at the historical reputations of many of the Battle of the Bulge participants.

Snow and Steel gets high marks for the drawing attention to the planning Hitler and his staff did before the offensive.  The book also gets high marks for the use of German sources and narrators.  However, while the setting is superb, the battle description is disjointed with abrupt switches of locations within chapters with little or no transition and  a disturbing habit in listing all battle participants who were famous or became famous (Jimmy Stewart for one, Henry Kissinger, for another) whether they played a relevant role in the battle or not.  This disconnect and the fact that almost half-the book does not deal with the battle is why this book is recommended for those who feel the need to read every book about the Battle of the Bulge or really want to know what the latest theories are related to the battle.  Novices should look elsewhere!