Music for the Apocalypse

Symphony for the City of the Dead by M.T. Anderson
Somerville, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2015.
456 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.    

I really loved this book.  If I were writing history for high school students, it's the kind of book I would be really proud of.  Symphony for the City of the Dead sheds light on a major event in history - the 900 day Siege of Leningrad - and does it through a unique lens - that of a world famous composer - Dmitri Shostakovich - who was intimately involved in the event.  M. T. Anderson also is able to handily place the event in the broader historical context of the Russian Revolution, Stalin's Great Terror and the horrors of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union during WWII.

There is so much to like about this book.  The reader experiences the heady artistic days of the early Soviet Union, the chilling and murderous days of the Stalinist purges, the horrors of a modern city under siege, and the triumph of art and inspiration amid such loss and violence.

This is a book I will definitely offer to any student looking for good WWII history or nonfiction about classical music, or history of Russia.  I hope it finds an audience. With nice black and white photos, and a clear and passionate style of writing - it should not be too much of a challenge for students, but I fear it might scare some kids off with it's 400 plus pages and their unfamiliarity with the Siege of Leningrad.

I should also mention that for any interested reader, it pairs nicely with David Benioff's wonderful novel, City of Thieves, which is set in Leningrad during the siege.

The book deserves praise and recommendation, and I see that it is on the long list for the National Book Award.