A single page might contain a delightful mix of history, referencing accounts of the original journey...together with accounts of incidents that bring a smile to the reader's face... Tim Parks will remain a favourite author of mine

Gingeras takes an even-handed approach to each issue, while never making light of the horrendous tally of human suffering that emerges on every side. Turks have long been treated to an over-simplified account of their modern history. This book teaches the beginning of wisdom, which is that most human history, as it actually happened, was a terrible, bewildering mess.

In his impressive centenary history, Ryan Gingeras recounts not just the death throes of the old realm but the painful emergence of Turkey as a nation state ... It is a complicated story that still reverberates under Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Gingeras narrates it with lucid authority.

Dispassionate and well-researched ... Gingeras sets out the twisting, turning story of decline through the later part of the 19th century.

Fruitful reflections on the enduring cultural legacy of the Ottomans, how their empire ended and what was lost when it did ... brings a welcome human lens to the story of the empire's disintegration.

Outstanding ... Homelands is an elegantly written piece of contemporary history by one of Britain's leading public intellectuals

At once accessible, engaging and erudite, Homelands is an extraordinary accomplishment, much like the author's life; it is a heartfelt call to arms

Personal memories matter in Europe, where the remembrance of recent horrors has shaped modern politics ... Homelands is a trip down memory lane on a continental scale ... insightful [and] downright chilling, too

We know there are Germans, Italians, Spaniards and Poles - but are there Europeans? Yes, at least one: Timothy Garton Ash. Homelands is the brilliant, captivating story of how he became one.

This book, from a man who had a front-row seat to much of the history he describes, draws on his experiences and those of his friends to bring events to vivid life

Garton Ash deftly combines scholarship, journalistic experience, and personal observations and stories in Homelands ... delightful and thought-provoking

Garton Ash has carved out a unique niche as a 'historian of the present.' Homelands combines his eye-witness account of Europe's evolution with his keen historical insight to offer an innovative and compelling book

Insightful

Rich with originality and memoiristic detail

A fluent and authoritative account of Europe since the Second World War

An insightful analysis of the transformation of central and eastern Europe in the decades between the Hungarian revolution of 1956 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Garton Ash is a clear-headed chronicler of the Continent [and] Homelands is an engaging read

An authoritative big picture well matched with revealing, important human details

Timothy Garton Ash tells the epic story of ... [postwar] Europe

Excellent ... Read as a letter, such gemlike vignettes can be treasured. Because in them, Garton Ash has captured something of what it means to be European. Though he is proudly in love with Europe, he is not blind to its faults

Part memoir, part history and is fascinating, rich in anecdote, and at times intensely moving

A panoramic contemporary history of Europe, in which sharp political analysis is enlivened with personal memoir — drawn from decades of distinguished work as a journalist and academic

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