After the Reich: The Brutal History of the Allied Occupation

After the Reich: The Brutal History of the Allied Occupation. By Giles MacDonogh. New York: Basic Books, 2007. ISBN 978-0-465-00337-2. Maps. Photographs. Notes. Index. Pp. xviii, 618. $32.00.

In After the Reich, Giles MacDonogh intends to "reframe" the history of World War II and its aftermath. Drawing on what he calls "records of brutality" that he believes other historians have either overlooked or simply ignored, MacDonogh writes that his book gives a "shocking account" of the sufferings of tens of millions of Germans and Austrians who barely survived a massive and brutal occupation. In the title MacDonogh promises readers a "brutal history." He keeps that promise in more ways than one.

MacDonogh divides his book into four parts, Chaos, Allied Zones, Crime and Punishment, and the Road to Freedom. They are further subdivided into twenty chapters; each dealing with a separate topic, ranging from the fall of Vienna,...