Instruct: Classify a given review as either positive or negative.
Query: Compelling story, pedestrian writing, poor editing.

Anthony Beevor's compelling narrative of the Battle of Stalingrad is the chronicle of a self-inflicted debacle of unsurpassed horror. Evidently meticulously researched, is suffers from a pedestrian writing style and often inexplicable editorial lapses (e.g., "Willis" throughout for "Willys", manufacturer of the celebrated Jeep vehicle, and flags flying at "half-mast" rather than at "half-staff"). These and similar irritations aside, the story is intrinsically so horrific and extraordinary that one cannot put it down, long after the awfulness has become almost intolerable. Its chronicle of blind stupidity, extraordinary heroism and appalling brutality surely encompasses the best and the worst of the human experience. Recommended, but not on a par with, for example, Bruce Catton's historical narrative.