Reviews by Ian

OK, so this is not a work with a lively pace, but it has an originality that makes up for this and is certainly worth persevering with. Hitchens tries to build a three-dimensional cast with us seeing into their lives even when they are not obviously advancing the narrative. It's a pity that the first book in this series does not appear to be on Audible, as there are frequent references to it here. Many of the central characters here appear in other volumes of the series, set in time well before this one.

You judge. The full book (of which this is just one of the apprendices) is called a Tramp Abroad and is available on Audible for not much more and with a narration that sounds like Mark Twain!

This could have been a very useful learning tool, but it is rushed through, with some of the worst sound quality I have heard on an Audible product.It sounded like someone gabbling away at the end of a poor telephone connection.

This is not an aspect of the Second World War that many know much about. Largely compiled from verbatim accounts of servicemen and women and civilians, there is much here that fleshes out a more general appreciation of the various campaigns and phases of the war. Special people, but all very much individuals with whom the reader can identify.

Set out in Greece, both the characters and the endless allusions to Classical Greek culture and sites became tiresome. If you've an atlas and a glossary, you may find this easier going. This is a pity because the author can produce wonderful plots.

An interesting series being set up here, though the plot owes much to improbable coincidences. The ending comes as no surprise.

Lots of Goon shows for your pennies, and with some classics in here too. More please.

Excellent early part of the Boney series. Wonderfully evocative of the age, and if you can delay looking things up until AFTER you've heard the book, a fascinating real-life parallel in Australian crime.

There's a wealth of background histrical research behind this book. It's well-read and has touches of levity. It's essentially a string of murder cases, with the "facts" compared/contrasted with contemporary newspaper, theatical and other opinion. The contrast between how things were done "then" and "now is highlighted. I would have welcomed some occasional editing and a little more overview to provide a chronological context for the "set piece" cases. That said, this is a book that will provide fresh material and insights for both the historian and the literary scholar.

An excellent and well-read book. This is never dull and prompts you to consider aspects of Roman life that you are unlikley to have considered before. From the grandest of rituals to the minutiae of daily life, the text jogs along with thoughtful and cautious idea. A lifetime of expertise lies behind this, but the author wears her knowledge lightly, seeking to entertain and illuminate rather than to impress.

So much is written about the rise of Nazism leading to the Second World War that the post-war impact of this is generally overlooked - particularly with the emergence of the Cold War, which distracts attention further east. This is a detailed account with plenty of original sources to support its ideas. The rival agendas of the war-time Allies when de-Nazifying Germany are well contrasted, as are the various visions of post-war Germany that emerged within American political and military circles. There is perhaps slightly too much on 1944-5 and slightly too little on the re-integration of Germany that would lead ultimately to the Common Market, which leaves one feeling that an extra chapter or so would have rounded the book off more satisfactorily. However, for teachers and students of modern Europe this book provides useful additional material to add to the study of the emergence of the Cold War and in particular to the accounts of the Berlin blockade.