A gripping work of history, a series of oral narratives that drag the reader, almost by force, into the nightmarish mental landscape of the Third Reich

A rare document...striking proof of the banality of evil

Goldensohn serves as a down-to-earth Dante in these anterooms to hell, getting one damned soul after another to reveal himself in his own words...as Goldensohn made his rounds, he mostly kept his astonishment and dismay under control. It's more than readers will be able to do

Goldensohn's conversations with these men are perturbing because most of the them seem like many of us except for the circumstances that lured them into opportunistic deviance. Goldensohn may not have left a headline-making legacy of belated revelations, but he has complicated further the tapestry of evil

Virtually all the top Nazi officials tried at Nuremberg are interviewed here, and their responses make for fascinating yet chilling reading... Without necessarily intending to do so, these men reveal how easily totalitarian systems can induce acquiescence to or even enthusiastic participation in evil

As they follow Dalia and Bashir's difficult friendship, readers will experience one of the world's most stubborn conflicts firsthand

Masterly and brilliantly researched... If it were fiction, critics would no doubt hail the epic, almost Tolstoyan quality of this book

A much-needed antidote to the cynicism of realpolitik

Affecting. Sensitively told. Humane and literate - and rather daring in suggesting that the future of the Middle East need not be violent

The inspiring lives of two unique people, and Tolan's compassion in narrating them, illuminate the tragedy of Palestine in the most moving and revealing way

A hard book to read with dry eyes and without a lump in one's throat. And hard to read, also, without feeling - dare one even say the word? - something approaching hope

An understated clash of cultures tale, delicately told

Impeccably researched... this narrative illustrates the possibility of compassionate imagination

Beautifully written

An erudite labour of love, a fan-letter to a fabulous city, and a book one suspects Ackroyd was destined to write. It illuminates the English character, and is darkly humorous in its detail, tumbling through centuries crowded with legendary events and eccentric observations, as exuberant, energetic and alarming as the city itself

A masterpiece

Spellbinding

A sharp, beautifully written but above all truthful account of London…This is the kind of writing that gives intellectuals a good name