One by one she takes on hoary old myths, explodes them with panache, and leaves us instead with a richer, fuller understanding of epochs, worldviews and fascinating individuals from the past... Lots of people will enjoy this clever and thought-provoking account

A forceful, well-written book, in which Mac Sweeney shows her command of a vast sweep of history

A bold, sweeping bird's-eye view of thousands of years of history that provides a truly global perspective of the past. A fantastic achievement

Bright, expansive, and iconoclastic, this deliciously witty book has the potential to upset the applecart of "Western Civilisation" itself ... A magnificent achievement

Awe-inspiring... Deeply researched, wonderfully well written and immensely thought-provoking, this is an important book which reshapes our understanding of the past

A bracing addition to the ongoing deconstruction of the historiographical pillars of western cultural supremacy

A book to savour ... challenges us to rethink what it means to be of the West. The writing is as accessible as the argument is pointed

Sets the record straight on the modern myth of Western Civilisation. Authoritative and impassioned, this glorious book takes us beyond prejudice and preconception to a new story about the world in which we live

Incredibly successful and impressive... An honest, painstaking and thrilling story that upends almost everything we think we know about the world... I cannot recommend this book more

Fluent and accessible... Mac Sweeney skillfully blends analysis, erudition and anecdote

Fascinating... Mac Sweeney's breadth of knowledge and elegant style keep the book highly engaging

A highly readable, vigorous repudiation of the Western-centric school of history

Robert Darnton is one of the world's greatest historians, and this is an exceptional book ... each chapter brims with life and colour ... A titanic work.

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