I loved this book. McKay's writing is vivid and sometimes even beautiful . . . his own observations and summaries seem always apposite and wise . . . To anyone who knows Berlin a little and is fascinated by it, but would like to understand it better, this is a wonderful aid . . . Sinclair McKay was born to write this book

Remarkable . . . A majestic work of non-fiction

McKay has written a masterful account of a city marked by infamy. Supported by meticulous research, Berlin is by turns terrifying and fascinating. If there is a book that must be read this year, this is it

The book's principal subject is Berliners doomed role in the Second World War. Through their eyes, McKay brilliantly captures Germany's initial successes, and then the reverses and escalating defeats . . . To have uncovered so many previously unknown characters and fascinating anecdotes is especially admirable

I thought I knew everything about Berlin, but then I read this stunning book. It's eye-opening, enlightening and wonderfully told

McKay's powerful imagery and magnetic prose combine to produce an electrifying new account of Berlin. 'You cannot understand the twentieth century without understanding Berlin', claims the author. He makes a compelling case

Powerful. Visceral. Truly revelatory. Beautifully written and utterly compelling. I didn't think Sinclair McKay could top his previous book, Dresden, which was masterful. He has proven me wrong with Berlin

One of my favourite historians

Great subject, well-researched, brilliantly written. Anyone who wants to understand Berlin's incomparable place at the very centre of twentieth century history should begin with Sinclair McKay's remarkable, mesmerising book

Powerful . . . there is rage in his ink. McKay's book grips by its passion and originality

Painstakingly researched and fascinating

Weaving together biography and her personal narrative . . . [this is] an engaging book, with twists, turns, and detours galore'

'[Manera Sambuy's] eloquent and poetic prose enlivens the searching historiography. Original and difficult to classify, [In Search of Amrit Kaur] is a pleasure to read'

Impeccable research gives the bravest of the brave the limelight they deserve

X Troop reads like a page-turning thriller. Cinematic in their scope and rich description, these are the heretofore unknown stories of young European Jewish emigres clawing their way out of Nazi-occupied Europe and finding refuge in the UK, only to be interned as enemy aliens in horrific camps in Canada and Australia, before being recruited by Churchill and Lord Mountbatten for their brains, brawn, languages, and anti-Nazi zeal. In Garrett's brilliant telling, based on original interviews and deep-dive archival research, their return to the continent as elite Allied super-commandos is both heart-stopping and heart-breaking

Thrilling . . . X Troop stands as a fitting testament to a unique band of brothers

Based on declassified military records, wartime diaries, and interviews with commandos and their families, X Troop vividly charts the special unit's missions, from storming Pegasus Bridge on D-Day to successfully liberating a trooper's parents' from the Theresienstadt concentration camp to capturing escaped Nazis after the war

Garrett recounts in this dramatic and deeply researched history the WWII exploits of X Troop, a British commando unit made up of Jewish refugees from Austria, Germany, and Hungary . . . Garrett folds vivid profiles of Lord Mountbatten, Lord Lovat, and other prominent military figures into the story, and skilfully draws from war diaries and interviews with surviving X Troopers. This scrupulous history shines a well-deserved spotlight on its heroic subjects

This dramatic, previously untold story of extraordinary covert valor and victory takes readers all across the European front, culminating in the shock of the Terezin concentration camp. This tale of profoundly motivated and capable men of action on a noble mission, each profiled in condensed biographies, is a rousing and redefining portrait of an, until now, overlooked group of dedicated warriors who played an outsized role in defeating the Third Reich. Garrett has added a crucial chapter to the always relevant and ever-deepening history of WWII and the Holocaust

X Troop is the fiercest British Second World War commando unit you have likely never heard of... The page-turning account is replete with astounding feats that were unknown until now, thanks to the author's success in declassifying long-sealed, top-secret British military records... [Garrett's] experience researching and writing vividly about combat shines through in X Troop

[A] thrilling story

Garrett is to be commended for bringing to life this little-known tale of extraordinary wartime heroism by this group of Jewish refugees in the service of Britain

Vivid and starkly unsentimental... X Troop is a gripping story of Jewish courage and empowerment in the midst of darkness and sorrow

The Lion House presents a historical universe that captivates and astonishes and is near-impossible to put down. A superb example of historical literature and research

Full of breath-taking events at the cross-roads of empires at a moment in history when notions such as Europe, Asia, Christianity and Islam were infinitely more fluid and permeable than they are today

Original... de Bellaigue... offers a vivid presentation of events, re-imagined as scenes and episodes... a different, literary kind [of history]

De Bellaigue writes with impecable scholarship, piecing together contemporary accounts to create a thrilling narrative

De Bellaigue is an expert stylist, sensitive to rhythm and vocabulary, and passionate in his pursuit of the fugitive detail that gives meaning to a whole episode

An exhilarating read

An engrossing book... This is history turned into drama and poetry, awesomely spectacular yet also intensely intimate

The world of Suleyman the Magnificent...is brought to life in this history

A masterpiece

Jessie Child's The Siege of Loyalty House turns an English Civil War stand-off into a fable of murderous polarisation: gripping, timely history

The Siege of Loyalty House ... tingles with a discerning historical imagination

[A] thrilling tale of war

[A] gripping tale of a royalist house standing its grown against the Roundheads ... Atmospheric, unflinching, and at times extraordinarily witty

[A] poignant book... the story is timeless

Compelling

Exhaustively researched and beautifully written, [The Siege of Loyalty House] tells the story of the epic two-year siege of Basing House, a royalist mansion finally captured by Oliver Cromwell in 1645.

When you are as good a writer as Jessie Childs, and as assuredly immersed in the archives, the pages zing with the technicolour of celluloid. ... [A] masterpiece.

Childs writes an engrossing, spellbinding narrative while laying out a clear and comprehendible history

The broad subject of this poignant book is what happens to people during civil war: how quickly and imperceptibly order becomes chaos and decency yields to cruelty. In other words, how close to inhumanity humanity always is. The focus is on an episode in the English civil war, but the story is timeless

A gripping account of the agony at Basing, The Siege of Loyalty House is also a potted social history of the civil wars and how they started. Jessie Childs, [is] a gifted storyteller