THE SECRET LIFE OF J.EDGAR HOOVER - Anthony Summers

 

A man who abused his position like no other public servant in history.  A vile little man.

TRAITOR KING- Andrew Lownie

 

He was not a traitor, his intelligence was way too limited to even comprehend what an act of treason was.

A vile couple of humans. 

This is a light read, borders on the melodramatic at times but the sources are impeccable.  They were both horrible people, the selfishness is truly epic.

THE MAN WHO MADE IRELAND - Tim Pat Coogan

 

I've spent years trying to understand Irish politics and I'm still no closer even after reading this very interesting biography.

Complex would be understating what Collins was, if he hadn't been assassinated who knows how things would have panned out , but reading this I'm suggesting much of the blood shed 50 years later wouldn't have occurred.

A much easier read than Coogan's book on De Valera.

FRENCH AND GERMANS, GERMANS AND FRENCH-Richard Cobb

A strange wee book, not sure if its a memoir with history thrown in or visa versa.  Its premise is the occupation of France during the two World Wars.  World War One, gets 41 pages so it concentrates on WWII.

It's strange in part that parts of the supposed history are taken from novels written about the time.

Cobb apparently rejected that he was a Marxist but its hard to discern this from the text.

The preface is outstanding, the cover photograph is brilliant.  But, a strange wee book.

 

A HISTORY OF WARFARE - John Keegan

 

A detailed history that starts asking and finishes supporting  "On War" by General Carl Von Clausewitz, that war is just an extension of politics'.

From the stone age to modern times we have the history of man killing man,with the various ways they have devised to do this.  Fascinating reading

THE BATTLE FOR HISTORY - John Keegan

 

A short book about books on the World War II with commentary and criticism.

Added immensely to the reading list. 

THE ORDER OF THE DEATH'S HEAD The Story of Hitler's - Heinz Hohne

 

A fantastic book. The Nazi's were monsters and the SS took it to the next level.

Himmler may have been the head of the SS but Heydich was the prime monster of the entire regime.

Published in 1970 this should be compulsory reading in schools

LONDON A Social History- Roy Porter

 

Very interesting, densely packed with amazing facts from start to finish. Highly recommended.

THE HOUSE OF ROTHSCHILD Moneys Prophets 1798-1848 - Niall Ferguson

 

Very detailed, very interesting, the first fifty years of this rather amazing family. You could never say they wouldn’t take a punt. Proved that family is everything, risk was spread coupled with a strong work ethic and a fortune made. Disproves many of the anti Semitic myths that have been around for a couple of centuries

ENLIGHTENMENT - Roy Porter

Get through the first chapter and you find the British enlightenment is a fascinating subject and 18th century Britain was an exciting place to be.

 

HEART OF EUROPE A Short History of Poland - Norman Davies

 

A very detailed history political history of Poland.  It goes backward in history from 1983.  I found it heavy going which is unusual for Davies but its chock full of interesting information

THE FIRST WORLD WAR - John Keegan

 

A very detailed but readable history

LONDON A SHORT HISTORY - A N Wilson

A very short history. There are an immense number of wonderfully entertaining facts packed into 146 pages.
 

THE ROMANOVS - Simon Sebag Montefiore

Another book huge in scope but the author keeps it all manageable and readable.

Fantastic, buy this book 

QUARTERED SAFE OUT HERE - George MacDonald Fraser

 

The author of this memoir is also the author of the " Flashman" series. This is a personal memoir of his time with his section in Burma. It’s very well written, funny , tragic with one of the best introductions to a book I’ve read. My only trouble was trying to understand the Cumbrian accent that its written in, but apart from that worth finding and reading

STALIN AND HIS HANGMEN - Donald Rayfield

 

A very heavy read , the brutality of the regime was relentless.
Well worth finding and reading

WORLD WAR ONE -Norman Stone

 

The entire 1st World War in 190 pages. Some interesting snippets but in reality this would serve better as a series of lectures

MUD SWEETER THAN HONEY - Margo Rejmer

 

Albania obviously doesn't have any oil because no one cared a jot about this hell hole.

This is a collection of oral histories, of course there will be exaggerations but the bottom  line is the people of Albania suffered horrendously for decades under an insane communist regime.

Sadly, the grand children of those that suffered are already disbelieving about what went on, so books like this are important so no one ever forgets.

EUROPE AT WAR 1939-1945 - Noman Davies

Simply brilliant.  This is not a narrative history of battles and individuals , rather a why, who, and how individuals and groups acted the way they did and the why they had to. 

Outstanding.

DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS AND LONDON- George Orwell

 

Hardly uplifting but a very good social document of the times.

NEMESIS -Max Hastings

The best of Hastings I have read. I agree with the thinking, the bombs weren't about saving Japanese lives but saving American lives.  This is rationally laid out and it was the correct decision.

OPERATION BITING- Max Hastings

 

A short book on what would be described as a "minor raid" but very interesting for the fact that this was one of the first parachute assaults by the allies.

Even with the best of plans things still go horribly wrong.  A good read as always with Hastings

HALF-LIFE - Frank Close

 

There is nothing conclusive to suggest that Pontecorvo was a spy, however there are several  dozens interesting tidbits in here.  Again, just how useless were MI5?  The Answer: Staggeringly .

This is very heavy on nuclear physics, all of which went straight over my head, but worth the effort if you are interested in the the Cold War.

AGENT SONYA - Ben MacIntyre

 

A great read about Ursula Kuczynski who spied for Russia for decades, survived Stalin's purges, and died in her 90's.

A remarkable woman, raised three children and ran among many others Klaus Fuchs, the spy who did the most damage to the west, by passing on almost daily updates regarding the wests development of the nuclear bomb to Russia.

MacIntyre is very readable

GUYS AND DOLLS AND OTHER STORIES - Damon Runyon

 

Runyon is wonderful, so very funny, very readable.  A grown up Wodehouse.  Enjoyable at anytime.

OPERATION PAPERCLIP- Annie Jacobsen

 

An interesting read.  The lengths the U.S went to to secure Nazi chemists and rocket scientists was amazing as well as obscene.  A large number of the Nazi's that the U.S gave a new life to should have been hanged, but expediency won the day and they were given the key to a new life.

The most ridiculous thing I noticed was at the same time they were saving these Nazi's they were executing the Rosenbergs for spying.  Politics sure are grand.

DRESDEN Tuesday 13 February 1945 -Frederick Taylor

 

A great read, great history of the city itself before and after the war.

The book buries many myths about the bombing, especially the death toll, while an enormous loss of life, its wasn't extraordinary.

Dresden was not some idyllic city with no involvement in the war.  It was an integral transport hub and this was one of the reasons it was targeted.  Whether the second & thirds waves should have taken place, historians will argue about that until the end of time.

A fantastic book.

THE KOREAN WAR -Max Hastings

 

An absolute brutal war, senseless on so many levels. Luckily, MacArthur was sacked , or we would live in a very different way if we lived at all

TRINITY - Frank Close

 

A book on a spy written by a scientist, I thought it may drag but it was the exact opposite.  The story of Fuchs reads like a thriller.  Find the book and read it, amazing.

My book of the year already

POWER AND GLORY - Adam Nicholson

 

A very interesting read.  Lots of history but how the King James translation came about is the star of the show.

Possibly the only positive achievement of any committee, ever, at anytime.

HOW WARS BEGIN - AJP Taylor

You read essays of this quality and realize just how little you know and how things have never been as they appear to have been taught .

These essays/lectures are available on Youtube

THE ISLAND OF SHEEP - John Buchan

 

THE THREE HOSTAGES - John Buchan

 

MR STANDFAST - John Buchan

 

GREENMANTLE - John Buchan

 

THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS -John Buchan

 

NORTH KOREA JOURNAL - Michael Palin

 

A short journal of a ten day trip to North Korea by Palin and film crew.

It is very light but they were under enormous restrictions and I believe it was kept this way so as not to stop future tours of this type going to the country.

You can literally read this in a decent bath.

THE CLIMATE OF TREASON - Andrew Boyle

The best book I've read on the Cambridge spies even though it was published in 1979 when there was not as much information available as there is today.

The author goes into the social background of Britain at the time the eventual 'five' were recruited.  There was a genuine belief among many young wealthy types and "academics"  ( please spare us from them and for evermore) that communism was the answer to the imbalance in society perhaps a  way to fight the rise of  fascism.

This is a great read, it shows Burgess as a much more productive spy than as the drunken Buffon that he often portrayed.

These five will continue to get written about as more papers are released.  To think there was only five spying is naïve in the extreme.  I suspect there were dozens but as the British intelligence services were so totally incompetent we will never know a number and how many deals were done like in Blunt's case.

This is hard to get in hard back but easy in paperback so get it and read it if this period interests you at all.

 

MEMOIRS OF HECATE COUNTY - Edmund Wilson

This is a collection of short stories, rather then a novel as it is touted, narrated by an anonymous person. The writing is fantastic, very readable, the stories "ramble"  a bit and could have done with some editing.  A good read but not the great read some blurbs have it as.

I'm thinking its fame owes a bit to one story that is quite explicit sexually for the late 1940's rather than great stories. 

THE LOCK UP- John Banville

 

Again, an ordinary mystery but the writing is beautiful.  Not often someone who should become a Nobel laureate "retires" and writes crime full time.  Gorgeous 

EUROPE EAST & WEST- Norman Davis

Possible the most lucid history writing I've come across.  Very accessible for the lay man
 

THE HOUSE OF GETTY -Russell Miller

A genius businessman, exceptionally hard worker, an absolute monster of a human being.

 

BROTHERS IN ARMS- James Holland

 

Fantastic read.  You are more likely to get me into a submarine that a you are a tank.

THE MARQUIS DE SADE - Donald Thomas

A rather dull book about a freak who wrote books.
 

HARD CANDY - Andrew Vachss

 

COMING UP FOR AIR -George Orwell

 

Very funny for Orwell, sad in places but a lovely read -"never go back, it will never replace your memories"

OPERATION PEDESTAL -Max Hastings

Thousands of men thrown into a mincer.  A great read , getting supplies to Malta
 

THE IDIOT - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

 

Astonishing writing , this was very readable, whereas I found Demons unreadable

ASHENDEN - W. Somerset Maugham

 

A good set of spy stories, always worth a re-read

A HANDFUL OF DUST - Evelyn Waugh

The genius that was Waugh