Fortress Dark and Stern: The Soviet Homefront during World War II by Wendy Z. Goldman and Donald Filtzer

In Fortress Dark and Stern, two distinguished historians join forces to tell what they call the “epic tale” of the Soviet homefront during World War II (1). Goldman and Filtzer, who have written important books on Soviet industry, family policy, the purges, and urban life, and who co-edited a volume about hunger during World War II, are uniquely qualified guides to this vital moment in Soviet history. Drawing on a wide range of state and party archives as well as memoirs and testimonies, the authors focus on the state’s efforts to mobilize civilians and civilians’ responses to state initiatives. Although they acknowledge the reality of both coercion and anti-Soviet resistance, they argue that “the vast majority of people participated willingly in the war effort” (9). Dedicated to “all those who fought against fascism,” including the authors’ fathers, the book explains the victory as the result of the extraordinary efforts...