Liaquat Ahamed

2009

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A biography-led treatment of the Great Depression, differing substantially from the more traditional histories led by events.

The biographies are indeed fascinating, both those of the four protagonists (central bankers in the US, Germany, France, and the UK), but also of some of the bit-players. Of the main characters, I was only previously aware of Hjalmar Schact, and then only of his involvement with the Nazis: his pivotal role in the Depression really sets the scene for his later mischief-making.

I think it probably helps that the author is a former banker: he locks-in on the financially significant events whose importance might elude a less specialised historian. This wouldn't be my first choice as a financial history, but it certainly complements other better-known versions like JK Galbraith's The Great Crash of 1929.

4/5. Finished 09 August 2014.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)

Timur Vermes

2012

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A man wakes up in the centre of Berlin, with no recollection of how he got there. He stumbles around looking for clues, and eventually falls in with the proprietor of a newspaper kiosk.

So far so ordinary. Except that the man is Adolf Hitler.

Sounds a bit precious, but it works remarkably well. Hitler finds himself in Berlin wearing his uniform (a bit scuffed) and a coat smelling strongly of petrol (a nice touch, that). He's still the same man he ever was, with the result that everyone takes him to be a Hitler impersonator. Over the course of the book he becomes a novelty television comedy act before being given his own show; gets beaten up by neo-Nazis for not being sufficiently respectful of their cause; and is courted by politicians and media personalities keen to be associated with the new phenomenon.

This a satire of quite epic proportions, working on different levels. On the one level it's a confident portrayal of modern Germany where Hitler can express the same views as ever and be taken ironically, his words misunderstood and misinterpreted by everyone in a variety of ways. On another level it's a critique of celebrity and the tendency of some people to want to be associated with anyone who happens to have caught mass attention, no matter how strange or distasteful his views.

What makes the book work is that Vermes writes in away that really does capture Hitler's style. Anyone who's ever read Mein Kampf can easily imagine Hitler writing a line like: "How can the poor reader, who during the years - nay, decades - of my absence has been drowning in the Marxist broth of history from the soup kettle of democracy, be capable of peering over the edge of his own bowl?". The irony flows thick and fast, many of the misinterpretations that happen along the way are sheer genius and do indeed lead to lines one can imagine a comedian using to great effect.

4/5. Finished 03 August 2014.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)

Charles Baudelaire

1857

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The best known of the decadent poets and a delight to generations of self-obsessed undergraduates, Baudelaire still has plenty of power.

Reviewing a book of poetry is different to reviewing prose or non-fiction, I think, in the sense that there's much more sense of reviewing whether the poetry speaks to you in that particular moment. There was a time when I would have given Baudelaire five stars without question, for poems like "Meditation" or "Autumn song" alone - and those are still two of my favourites. Or perhaps he has to be read by candlelight or an open fire, and not on a sunny summer day. Nonetheless, as a poet of melancholy he still has no equal: an antidote to the constant pressure to be happy.

3/5. Finished 01 August 2014.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)

Jeremy Bowen

2003

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A rounded, balanced, and well-paced description of the lead-up, conduct, and aftermath of what was probably the most significant conflict between the end of the Second World War and the Second Gulf War.

Jeremy Bowen brings a journalist's eye to his history, sprinkling the writing with interviews and comments from those who were there without getting distracted from the main flow of the narrative. Each day of the war gets a chapter -- something that must surely be unique in military histories -- with ample attention being given both to the military and civilian aspects of the conflict.

"America fell in love with its tough young friend," Bowen comments, and while it's not hard to see why, it's hard not to be infuriated by the consequences. No-one comes out of the story well. The Israelis fail to capitalise on the size of their victory to use magnanimity to gain a lasting peace. The Arab countries lie to themselves in the run-up and then try to hide from the fall-out by blaming others. The US and Britain fail to push for a just resolution, when they could have demanded a similar outcome to that which followed the Suez crisis. I'd certainly recommend this as a one-volume overview of the medium-term causes of the Middle-East situation, as well as a warning from history for future conflicts.

5/5. Finished 03 July 2014.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)

Lloyd Clark

2011

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An excellent example of military history, this book deals with one of the most formative, but least known, battles of the Second World War, that raged for weeks around Kursk in Ukraine. Churchill said that, if Stalingrad was the end of the beginning, then Kursk marked the beginning of the end, and it's easy to see why.

Clark wisely spend the first half of the book on prequel: the build-up to the battle, the progress of the war in Russia, and the rationale for the battle choices on both sides. He peppers the story with quotes, both from survivors' accounts and from his own interviews -- one of which results in two old soldiers from opposite sides coming together for coffee and reminiscences after a slightly tense start. He manages to cover the broad structure of the battle while being exceptionally vivid on the detail experienced by individual soldiers.

I have to say that books like this are the best argument I've ever seen for interactive e-books. The order of battle, the changing front lines, and the ebb and flow of battle would really benefit from some interactive mapping that could show the impact of topography alongside the text. Clark manages not to get too lost in the names of units and their movements, but it's sometimes hard to keep them straight.

4/5. Finished 29 June 2014.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)