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Book Review By Neil Okrent
Notes of a Sniper by Vassili Zaitsev

Vassili Zaitsev, the Russian hero of Stalingrad, wrote his own biography, which is now in print in English. It was the book that inspired the movie "Enemy At The Gates" and the novel "War of the Rats."

Zaitsev titled the book Notes of a Sniper; For Us There Was No Land Beyond the Volga. Zaitsev details the battle from when he was first sent to Stalingrad, up until he was wounded by shrapnel in January of 1943. He heard the German surrender from his hospital bed in Stalingrad - he heard the captive German army marching past. If you are the sort of person who likes first person accounts by actual participants, this is the book for you - Zaitsev explains how he became a marksman in his youth, and then how he and a small band of Red Army snipers managed to terminate more than 1200 Nazis - mostly officers, sergeants, machine - gunners and artillery spotters.


Plot & Themes
War/Cloak & Dagger story? - Fought as soldier
War/Spying Yes
Period of greatest activity? - 1900+
Which war?

Subject of Biography
Gender - Male
Profession/status:
Ethnicity - White
Nationality - Russian

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 9 ()
Asia/Pacific Yes
Asian country: - Russia
Prairie? Yes
Misc setting - moving train - fort/military installation
Century: - 1930's-1950's

Writing Style
Book makes you feel? - encouraged - like laughing
Pictures/Illustrations? - Some in color 1-5
How much dialogue in bio? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
How much of bio focuses on most famous period of life? - 76%-100% of book
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