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Roger R. Reese, Why Stalin's Soldiers Fought: The Red Army's Military Effectiveness in World War II (Modern War Studies), Kansas University Press, April 2011.Publisher's comments:Inept leadership, inefficient campaigning, and enormous losses would  seem to spell military disaster. Yet despite these factors, the Soviet  Union won its war against Nazi Germany thanks to what Roger Reese calls  its “military effectiveness”: its ability to put troops in the field  even after previous forces had been decimated. Reese probes the human dimension of the Red Army in World  War II through a close analysis of soldiers’ experiences and attitudes  concerning mobilization, motivation, and morale. In doing so, he  illuminates the Soviets’ remarkable ability to recruit and retain  soldiers, revealing why so many were willing to fight in the service of a  repressive regime—and how that service was crucial to the army’s  military effectiveness. He examines the various forms of voluntarism and  motivations to serve—including the influences of patriotism and Soviet  ideology—and shows that many fought simply out of loyalty to the idea of  historic Russia and hatred for the invading Germans. He also considers  the role of political officers within the ranks, the importance of  commanders who could inspire their troops, the bonds of allegiance  forged within small units, and persistent fears of Stalin’s secret  police. Brimming with fresh insights, Reese’s study shows how the  Red Army’s effectiveness in the Great Patriotic War was foreshadowed by  its performance in the Winter War against Finland and offers the first  direct comparison between the two, delving into specific issues such as  casualties, tactics, leadership, morale, and surrender. Reese also  presents a new analysis of Soviet troops captured during the early war  years and how those captures tapped into Stalin’s paranoia over his  troops’ loyalties. He provides a distinctive look at the motivations and  experiences of Soviet women soldiers and their impact on the Red Army’s  ability to wage war. Ultimately, Reese puts a human face on the often  anonymous Soviet soldiers to show that their patriotism was real, even  if not a direct endorsement of the Stalinist system, and had much to do  with the Red Army’s ability to defeat the most powerful army the world  had ever seen.  ROGER R. REESE is professor of history at Texas A&#38;M University and author of Stalin’s Reluctant Soldiers: A Social History of the Red Army, 1925–1941; Red Commanders: A Social History of the Soviet Army Officer Corps, 1918–1991; and The Soviet Military Experience: A History of the Soviet Army, 1917–1991. 