BOOKS


Iain MacGregor Checkpoint Charlie: The Cold War, the Berlin Wall and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth Constable, 24th, HB, £20, 9781472130587 By Simon & Schuster’s non-fiction publisher, and impressively researched in his spare time over three years, a vivid and poignant history of Checkpoint Charlie, the famous military gate on the border of East and West Berlin. Through testi- monies from eyewitnesses on all sides, MacGregor captures the essence of mistrust, oppression, paranoia and fear of those times. Published for the 30th anniversary of the fall of the wall, and Constable is drawing comparisons with Anna Funder’s Stasiland.


Previews New Titles: Non-fiction


the Allies needed a new plan. The Americans’ audacious suggestion to the Soviets was to open a second air front, with the US Air Force establishing bases in Soviet-controlled territory.


Diana Preston Eight Days at Yalta: How Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin Shaped the Post-War World Picador, 17th, HB, £25, 9781509868742 Billed as a riveting and meticulously researched minute-by-minute chronicle of the February 1945 conference at Yalta between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill. It shaped the outcome of one war—and gave birth to another.


great-great-great-grand- father’s pulse glass, a toy train, a stack of letters and a battered ivory figure. Sounds wonderful.


award-winning Ring of Steel returns with the story of the 1914 First World War battle at the Anglo-Hungarian fortress at Przemysl, which few have heard of but, Watson argues, was ultimately more pivotal than any other battle—including the Somme.


This illustrated,


no-nonsense beauty guide aims to dispense advice for real women (and men). Focusing on what affects the appearance of your skin, the beauty editors offer advice to help you tailor-make a routine that works from your eyebrows down.


Richard van Emden Missing: The Need for Closure After the Great War Pen & Sword, HB, £25, 9781526760968 Angela Mond’s son, a pilot, was shot down over France during the First World War, but where was his body? She spent years trying to find him, longing for closure and personal peace. Van Emden interviews her 91-year-old granddaughter as he explores whether a sense of closure is possible in times of war.


Thomas Penn The Brothers York: An English Tragedy Allen Lane, 3rd, HB, £30, 9781846146909 The author of the much- acclaimed Winter King with the story of the three charismatic brothers— Edward IV; George, Duke of Clarence; and Richard, Duke of Gloucester—who became the figureheads of the Yorkist ruling dynasty and promised a renewal of royal authority. But, within one genera- tion, it destroyed itself.


Serhii Plokhy Forgotten Bastards of the Eastern Front: An Untold Story of World War II Allen Lane, 3rd, HB, £20, 9780241404560 The Baillie Gifford Prize- winning historian tells the “riveting” story of an unlikely and short-lived alliance between the US and Russia. In November 1943, with the outcome of the Second World War hanging in the balance,


38 12th July 2019


Walter Scheidel Escape from Rome: The Failure of Empire and the Road to Prosperity Princeton UP, 15th, HB, £24, 9780691172187 What has the Roman Empire ever done for us? Fall and go away, says the US historian author, who argues that, by collapsing, it cleared the path for Europe’s economic rise and the creation of the modern age.


Kristina Spohr Post Wall, Post Square: Rebuilding the World After 1989 Collins, 3rd, HB, £30, 9780008280086 Drawing on a wealth of newly declassified sources from both sides of the Iron Curtain, Spohr shows how a new European order was created without a major conflict after the Berlin Wall fell. The reshaping of Europe must be understood in a global context, she argues.


Gillian Tindall The Pulse Glass: And the Beat of Other Hearts Chatto, 24th, HB, £16.99, 9781784742997 One of my favourite historians traces the memories and meanings that accrue to artefacts of human lives through time, including her


Jake Tapper The Outpost Collins, 31st, PB, £8.99, 9780008332853


Being published in the UK for the first time, to coin- cide with the release of its movie adaptation starring Orlando Bloom, this is widely recognised as the definitive book on the war in Afghanistan, I’m told. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Battle of Kamdesh, on which the action of the book (and film) centres.


James Verini They Will Have to Die Now: Mosul and the Fall of the Caliphate Oneworld, 3rd, HB, £18.99, 9781786077486 Jonathan Franzen is among those praising this “searing narrative” of the climactic battle for Mosul against Islamic State, based on months on the frontline. The battle was the first to show us the true shape of 21st-century warfare, he argues, where the distinction between military and civilian has collapsed and mobile photo towers are a strate- gic priority.


Alexander Watson The Fortress: The Great Siege of Przemysl Allen Lane, 31st, HB, £25, 9780241309063 The author of


Susan Whitfield (ed) The Silk Roads: Peoples, Cultures, Landscapes Tames & Hudson, HB, £49.95, 9780500021576 This “landmark” book provides an ambitious visual overview of the Silk Roads, which draws on new research and scholarship from over 80 international specialists. Putting landscape at the heart of understanding the cross-cultural devel- opments that shaped the ancient networks, it is richly illustrated with maps, photographs and artworks.


Dixe Wills Tiny Histories: Trivial Events and Trifling Decisions That Changed British History Hardie Grant, 3rd, PB, £9.99, 9781787134591 From Saxon leader Byrhtnoth’s act of chivalry in 991 to the wrong turn by the chauffeur driving Archduke Ferdinand in 1914, a witty guide to the seemingly insignificant coincidences, decisions and acts that have trig- gered major events and thus changed the course of British history.


Homes, interiors, craft, fashion & beauty


Sophie Beresiner & Lisa Potter-Dixon Back Chat Beauty: The No B.S. Beauty Guide by the People Who Know Pavilion, 3rd, HB, £14.99, 9781911624646


Zach Klein Cabin Porn: Inside Particular, 3rd, HB, £25, 9780241388549 This eagerly awaited follow-up to the swoony Cabin Porn (2015) includes more breathtaking interi- ors featured on the Cabin Porn blog (400,000+ followers on Instagram) over the past 10 years.


Marie Kondo, Yuko Uramoto (illus) The Life-Changing Manga


Funmi Fetto Palette: The Beauty Bible for Women of Colour Coronet, 3rd, £25, 9781529330434 Vogue’s contributing beauty editor, and Observer columnist, with a long-overdue beauty bible aimed at women of colour, who are still so often left out of beauty coverage in the mainstream media. Includes hair, skincare, make-up and body products.


of Tidying Up: A Magical Story to Spark Joy in Life, Work and Love Bluebird, 17th, PB, £9.99, 9781529028355 A fun, manga-style graphic novel version of Kondo’s famed Konmari tidying method. It’s a quirky fictional story of Chiaki, a young woman in Tokyo who transforms her home, work and love life using Kondo’s advice and inspiration.


Nina Freudenberger Bibliostyle: How We Live at Home with Books Hardie Grant, 3rd, HB, £25, 9781743795910 This achingly aspirational book for anyone with a messy home library (like mine) features the gorgeously arranged book collections of 35 bibliophile homeowners around the world, includ- ing Karl Ove Knausgaard, Art Spiegelman, Coralie Bickford-Smith and Sylvia Whitman, owner of Shakespeare & Company.


John Plant Primitive Technology: The Complete Guide to Making Things in the Wild From Scratch Ebury, 31st, HB, £16.99, 9781529104592 Plant is the creator of Primitive Technology, a YouTube channel with more than nine million subscribers. With his first book he encourages you to disconnect from all things digital and go wild to reconnect with your inner caveman by craft- ing spears, lighting fires, making a kiln and more from scratch, using no modern tools or materials.


Humour & gift


TFL Quote of the Day: Bringing London Together Through the Power of Words Yellow Kite, 31st, HB, £16.99, 9781473691247 On days when I’m in London, I love reading Transport for London’s Quote for the Day boards across the Tube network. This new anthology will collect some of the most popular quotes written by TFL staff, illustrated with photographs of its station whiteboards. Delayed from earlier in 2019, when it was an Editor’s Choice.


Trump v Trump Seven Dials, 3rd, PB, £6.99, 9781841883977 On each page you’ll find


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