Sir Diarmaid MacCulloch is one of finest historians in the English-speaking world and preeminent in the area of the English Reformation. He has combined his expertise in 16th-century history with a compelling literary style in his latest book ... the definitive work on Henry VIII's great minister and an extraordinary insight into the politics and religion of the age, and of any age for that matter. Thomas Cromwell's somewhat dark reputation was given a new and bright shine by Hilary Mantel in the Wolf Hall trilogy and this life takes us from the fictional into the authentic; its triumph is that it is just as thrilling and equally stimulating and challenging. A profoundly important book.

Thomas Cromwell has famously defied his biographers, but no more. Diarmaid MacCulloch's book is subtle, witty and precisely constructed. He has sifted the vast archive to clear away the accumulated error, muddle and propaganda of centuries, allowing us to see this clever and fascinating man better than ever before, and in the mirror of his times. This is the biography we have been awaiting for 400 years

Fizzing with energy, Mark B. Smith's book explodes many myths about the Russians and compels us to reflect critically on ourselves.

In this exciting and provocative book, Mark B. Smith blows apart misconceptions about the Russian past ... Smith's energy and dynamism carry the day.

The author is a highly informed guide, [who] prompts a review of prejudices ... Smith makes an important fundamental point: we must talk to the Russians and live alongside them.

Smith makes a very strong case that Russia's past needs to be considered as much more complex than it generally is. For that reason alone, this book deserves a large audience ... The Russia Anxiety is a very welcome book. It provides a provocative and much needed analysis of Russian history which ably shows the oversimplified nature of most Western understandings of Russia.

The Russia Anxiety is a valuable effort to assess the long history of the West's Russia-related worries ... Regrettably, more than five years [since the annexation of Crimea], the United States seems no closer to developing either a strategy or a policy to manage its relationship with Russia. Mark Smith's provocative book won't solve that problem alone, but it does offer some valuable guidance in thinking about solutions.

Made me laugh

A huge, generous, and fascinating study of the counterculture, from its earliest inception to Rave; and much of it seen through the prism of one unlikely survivor from the era

On a scale suitable to its subject, King of the World is in one way an extended moral fable ... Mansel tells the story of these wars fluently and fairly

To do [Louis XIV] justice and encapsulate his person, his plans, his successes and his failures, all which involved a dizzying cast of characters and a mind-numbing web of relationships, is no easy task. With his extensive studies of court ritual and his sympathy for the Bourbons, Philip Mansel is the man for the job. ... Mansel's descriptions of how Versailles functioned are masterful and high-entertaining.

Mansel has mastered a bewildering array of primary and secondary sources dealing with his man and his time period, and he's invested his entire narrative with a kind of tightly compressed narrative energy that has the most unlikely effect imaginable: it turns a 600-page biography of King Louis XIV into a genuine page-turner of a reading experience. ...a genuinely impressive work...one of the year's grandest biographies..

thorough, scholarly and fluent... breath-taking... indispensable

Philip Mansel's superb King of the World: The Life of Louis XIV will become a classic. Magisterial and definitive, this is the life's work of one of our leading historians.

a magnificent study of the life of Louis XIV. He shaped his own age and, partly because of some of his mistakes, helped to shape the future of France as well.

A wonderfully meticulous look at Louis XIV (1638-1715) from a leading historian of France. . . . An impressive, comprehensive biography of the Sun King-a must-add to any Francophile's library.

Philip Mansel's King of the World: The Life of Louis XIV is just a masterwork and a superlative delight, written with sensitivity and worldliness, political acuity and personal empathy all in Mansel's usual elegant prose.

Mansel is a welcome prize for any reviewer. You will have a judicious guide, able to make well-founded assessments based not only on an understanding of the archives and printed sources, their riches and ambiguities, but also of the culture from which their assumptions stem.

No other English-language biography has so successfully given us a portrait of him as man and monarch ... superb.

The best single-volume account of the reign in any language

Authoritative ... Mansel is ideally positioned to examine Louis' record ... Time and space both yield before Mansel's authorial ambition

A superb biography ... wonderfully detailed and fluent ... Mansel is alive to every nuance

An utterly fascinating book on important aspects of contemporary Britain.

An alarming and essential read.

London's Big Read wants to get the capital talking about [Brit(ish)] ... a personal and provocative exploration of British history, race, identity and belonging.

Afua Hirsch's new book uses the personal and political to take a good look at what it's like to be a person of colour here, now. Here's where you'll get an insight into what it means to be a mixed race and univocally British, yet continuously plagued with the question 'but where are you really from?'

An excellent read.

[A] personal and admirably honest account of her journey towards self-realisation as a woman of colour.

A fascinating...deeply intelligent, witty and often moving exploration of race in modern Britain

Afua Hirsch's first book, Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging, was published to wide acclaim at the start of 2018. She looks at the many, multi-faceted questions that surround identity - both on a personal and societal scale - to pen a thought-provoking read.

It is a life-shaping read.

Brit(ish) stands out from a crop of books on growing up mixed race in 70s Britain.

Brit(ish) is an essential read for all. Hirsch's exploration of her identity brings to light the difficulties of growing up as mixed-race and black in Britain. She also challenges the British perception of race, and how our inability to confront our past has profoundly affected our ability to coherently understand and discuss race in our present. Brit(ish) is a call to action, if we genuinely want to progress as a society, we must change our discussions and understanding of race.

A personal, political and challenging account of what it means to be British when you are racialised as Black. Hirsch is a brilliant and fearless intellect who deftly handles the complexity of the issues

A beautifully written, poignantly honest memoir while also scrutinising modern history and popular culture. The breadth of Hirsch's focus is impressive... Her insights are numerous and profound, big and small, woven into the details of a personal life we can all learn from.

A haunting investigation into family trauma and secrets from a forgotten England that turns out to lie closer to the surface than anyone suspected. Turning detective, she [Laura Cumming] interrogates old snapshots with the forensic skill of a professional art critic

On Chapel Sands starts by seeming to be about one kind of mystery but soon starts being about another, much more profound one… the subtlety and suspense of the narrative lies in the way Cumming allows details about their relationship to emerge slowly, like a photograph socking in developing fluid

With her critic’s eye, Cumming turns detective to investigate who took her mother and tell a pacy story about relationships, pride and the ramifications of what goes unsaid

In a year strong in ingenious memoir, Laura Cumming’s On Chapel Sands…stood out, not just for its great storytelling but for Cumming’s wonderful ability to bring to life a Lincolnshire coastal community…its moods, characters and toxic secret-harbouring machinery

This beautifully written memoir of family mystery proved one of the surprise hits of 2019

[A] twisting literary mystery that also serves as a deeply moving love letter

A complex story of family secrets, beautifully written, and illustrated

A beautiful, multi-layered story full of lost love, human motivation and tender secrets

[A] bewitching blend of history and mystery

A scrupulous work of storytelling, radiant with empathy and filial affection