Author:David Kynaston
Illusions of Gold, the third volume of David Kynaston's magnificent quartet, The City of London, sweeps us from 1914 to 1945, through years of fluctuating fortunes that began with the City at an all-time high, and ended with the 'Square Mile' ravaged by bombs, at its lowest ebb ever.
With unerring judgement and story-telling verve, Kynaston takes us through the City's vain attempt to recover the glory days before the First World War, in the return to the Gold Standard. He follows its tussles with government over control of monetary policy, investigates its increasingly important links with British industry and gives a pioneering account of its controversial role in the politics of appeasement.
Kynaston's great strength is his combination of vivid narrative with meticulous scholarship, based on an unparalleled variety of unpublished sources. The City of London is now hailed as one of the most ambitious and rewarding historical projects of recent times.
A fascinating book, deeply researched and admirably written by an author who is a master of his subject and also of the light touch
—— Evening StandardA splendidly entertaining history... This book is both immensely readable and an invaluable guide to a set of institutions whose role in British political and economic history is imperfectly understood
—— Sunday TelegraphDavid Kynaston's achievement... is to make the whole thing read like a novel... An altogether exceptional book
—— D. J. Taylor , GuardianThe City has never been good at justifying or explaining itself to the wider world, but in David Kynaston it has found a wonderfully gifted and diligent interpreter
—— Daily TelegraphA magnificent book
—— Sunday TimesForensic, unflinching and utterly compelling … the story of the first killings at Dachau has scarcely been more urgent
—— Glasgow Sunday HeraldAn extraordinary, gripping and edifying story told extraordinarily well. I read it with a sense of amazement at the capacity of one good man to stand tall in the face of evil
—— Richard Bernstein, author of Dictatorship of VirtueAmazing … This is history come alive in your hands
—— Robert Littell, author of The CompanyHorrifying and heartbreaking … By recounting such striking heroism, he allows us at least to ponder whether, had more good Germans come forward, it all might just have been stopped
—— David Margolick, author of Beyond GloryInspiring ... In the gathering shadow of the Holocaust, Josef Hartinger's dogged decency may redeem the German race
—— Geoffrey Robertson QC, author of Crimes Against HumanityAll the more startling and important for bringing to life an episode so little known
—— Raymond Bonner, author of Anatomy of InjusticeFinely researched and deeply disturbing
—— Alan Riding, author of And the Show Went OnGripping, revelatory account
—— BooksellerAbsorbing
—— Nicholas Shakespeare , Daily TelegraphExtremely well written, taut and evocative... Despite its complex subject, Butcher makes this an easy and engaging read with his breezy style and fascinating encounters
—— Misha Glenny , Daily TelegraphIlluminating... Butcher achieves something remarkable with Princip. He promotes him quite plausibly from mad man to everyman; a warning to the future whom the future foolishly forgot
—— Giles Whittell , The TimesArguably the most important story of the war
—— Michael Hodges , Mail on SundayAs a travel writer, Butcher takes some beating. He packs balls as well as ballpoints
—— John Lewis-Stempel , Sunday ExpressA triumph of storytelling... [A] highly original gem of a book
—— Victor Sebestyen , SpectatorInformative and powerful
—— John Horne , Irish TimesA page-turning exploration of how the forgotten past continues to inform the present... Important, and relevant
—— Oliver Poole , Independent on Sunday[Princip’s] story as Butcher now tells it has a resonance far beyond the Balkans
—— Iain Morris , ObserverElegant, horrifying and enlightening… A book which is not only a good piece of detective work, it is the finest contribution so far this year to the rapidly expanding literature on the Great War
—— Mark Smith , HeraldTim Butcher has produced the most imaginative and singular book on the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War to date. It is a lot more than a study of Princip… It is a piece of expeditionary journalism, an investigation in time, place and spirit, of the highest order
—— Robert Fox , ScotsmanA revealing insight into the mind and journey of the boy who escaped the narrow confines of his village, and whose political aspirations for his native country had such far-reaching effects on the world
—— Philippa Logan , Oxford TimesUtterly absorbing… If journalism is the first draft of history, Butcher marries both disciplines with boldness and originality – as well as sympathy for his shadowy subject
—— BBC History MagazineInsightful and entertaining, this blows the cobwebs off the history of that day
—— Evening Echo (Cork)Positive proof that fact can be as gripping as fiction…rich and timely… Amongst so many books published around the anniversary of the First World War, this one stands out
—— CGA MagazineA fascinating investigation… An absorbing read
—— Irish IndependentDespite its serious subject matter, the book is a rollicking read, full of amusing details and sarcastic humour
—— The EconomistA brilliant and haunting journey through the Balkans
—— Sinclair McKay , Daily TelegraphIn the centenary year of the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, what better read than Tim Butcher’s The Trigger
—— Paul Routledge , Tablet[A] fascinating and lively history
—— 4 stars , Daily TelegraphVery complex – but you will grasp it
—— William Leith , Evening StandardA fascination exploration
—— Mail on SundayHighly readable but profoundly researched, The Trigger represents a bold exception to the deluge of First World War books devoted to mud, blood and poetry
—— Ben Macintyre , The Timesa fascinating original portrait of a man and his country
—— Country and Town House