Slight foxing on book ledge Book jacket has tears along edges Book club edition Third printing Simon and Schuster, 1966 - Berlin, Battle of, Berlin, Germany, 1945 - 571 pages The Last Battle is a 1966 book by Cornelius Ryan about the events leading up to the Battle of Berlin in World War II. The book, which was published by Simon & Schuster, is structured as an historical narrative. It is based on interviews with hundreds of persons actually involved, including Americans, British, Germans and Russians. Ryan was granted unique historical access to Soviet archives and Soviet generals involved in the battle, which was rare at the time.