Compelling, illuminating ... Chrastil's compassionate and thought-provoking history does justice to both sides of this legacy, the great statesman's achievements tempered with their human cost.

Superb on the human consequences of war. It is ravishing in its evocations of wartime life ... [the] prose is crystal clear.

An extraordinary story too little known in Britain ... Chrastil addresses the story with a modern eye, especially for issues of gender and civilian victimhood. She displays considerable knowledge... The book [offers] fascinating details about the conflict.

Vivid, commendable ... Chrastil excels in providing vivid descriptions of military operations and their impact on ordinary soldiers and civilians ... brings these events to light in a vivid way. Her book is likely to become the standard account of the war in English.

A most engaging book, distinguished by sharp insight, powerful characterization and a strong narrative flow. It is the best modern account of the war and deserve to stand with Sir Michael Howard's classic study of 1961.

Elegantly written, marvellously readable ... Bismarck's War is very much worth reading as a lively and effective account of a largely forgotten past conflict.

Engrossing narrative history ... The mosaic of glimpses into the human hopes and tragedies of the Franco-Prussian War leaves one thinking long after the last page.

This is an impressive work, fluent, wide-ranging, vivid in its use of sources, and central to an understanding of Europe's subsequent history.

A fresh and compelling history of the most important European war between Waterloo and World War I. In rich and engaging detail, she shows how it laid much of the foundation for the wars of the twentieth century, even as it was seen at the time, and subsequently remembered, as a relatively conventional conflict. A tour-de-force.

Bismarck's War brings the Franco-Prussian War to life through the words and deeds of participants both on and off the battlefield. Rachel Chrastil's fascinating examination of the conflict compellingly narrates its military and political dimensions, and it puts the war in a global context, emphasizing its human cost and the international response to the humanitarian crisis it created. An engrossing, compassionate, and critical interrogation of a decisive historical event.

[Offers] a number of fascinating insights into Putin [among] the massive array of facts on offer

I got so absorbed in Philip Short's biography of Putin that I overshot my [train] stop

Stupendous... The definitive biography of the man, and I do not expect it to be eclipsed as such in my lifetime, or ever

A monument of information and sober common sense. Of all the books I have read about Putin, this is the most comprehensive and sensible

Elegantly written and pacy

(Praise for Philip Short on Mao): 'It is everything one could hope for: magisterial, beautifully written... and rich in material'

(Praise for Philip Short on Mao): 'A beautifully written, grippingly readable biography... A formidable piece of research'

(Praise for Philip Short on Pot Pot): 'Extraordinary and brilliant'

(Praise for Philip Short on Pot Pot): 'A superb, chilling, yet human portrait of a monster'

(Praise for Philip Short on Mitterand): 'A stunningly detailed investigation of a monumental political character'

(Praise for Philip Short on Mitterand): 'Deeply researched and marvellously readable'

Comprehensive

[A] meticulously researched biography

Superb, totally fascinating and compelling, Katja Hoyer's first full history of East Germany's rise and fall is a work of revelatory original research - and a gripping read with a brilliant cast of characters. Essential reading

A beyond-brilliant new picture of the rise and fall of the East German state. Katja Hoyer gives us not only pin-sharp historical analysis, but an up-close and personal view of both key characters and ordinary citizens whose lives charted some of the darkest hours of the Cold War. If you thought you knew the history of East Germany, think again. An utterly riveting read

A fantastic, sparkling book, filled with insights not only about East Germany but about the Cold War, Europe and the forging of the 20th and 21st centuries

The joke has it that the duty of the last East German to escape from the country was to turn off the lights. In Beyond the Wall Katja Hoyer turns the light back on and gives us the best kind of history: frank, vivid, nuanced and filled with interesting people

A refreshing and eye-opening book on a country that is routinely reduced to cartoonish cliché. Beyond the Wall is a tribute to the ordinary East Germans who built themselves a society that - for a time - worked for them, a society carved out of a state founded in the horrors of Nazism and Stalinism

A colourful and often revelatory re-appraisal of one of modern history's most fascinating political curiosities. Katja Hoyer skilfully weaves diverse political and private lives together, from the communist elite to ordinary East Germans

Katja Hoyer is becoming the authoritative voice in the English speaking world for all things German. Thanks to her, German history has the prominence in the Anglosphere it certainly deserves.

Katja Hoyer brilliantly shows that the history of East Germany was a significant chapter of German history, not just a footnote to it or a copy of the Soviet Union. To understand Germany today we have to grapple with the history and legacy of its all but dismissed East

Katja Hoyer's return to discover what happened to her homeland - the old East Germany - is an excellent counterpoint to Stasiland by Anna Funder