The historian and broadcaster chooses his favourite books. He is talking about his book, “Endgame 1944: How Stalin Won the War”, at the Stratford Literary Festival, 30 October-2 November.
Stalingrad
Grossman is the 20th century’s Tolstoy, a genius whose “Stalingrad” is no less powerful than his later masterpiece, “Life and Fate”, but on a more intimate scale: a heroic struggle portrayed from the perspective of a wonderfully layered cast of characters.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Red Sparrow
Jason Matthews, 2013
The first in a trilogy of spy novels that are rooted in the murderous underworld of Putin’s Foreign Intelligence Service. “Red Sparrow” is a “sexspionage” intelligence officer who is turned by her hatred of the system. In an intricate web of international intrigue and breath-suspending drama, the emotions are intense and the violence is gruesome. Written by a former CIA operative, it feels terrifyingly authentic.
The Mayor of Casterbridge
Thomas Hardy, 1886
Set in an apparently tranquil market town, this is one of Hardy’s bleakest Wessex novels. The protagonist is a proud pillar of the community who is brought low by his past and his own deep flaws, doomed by remorseless fate.
Master and Commander
Patrick O’Brien, 1969
The first of a series of 20 novels set in the Napoleonic Wars, which are rich in nautical detail. Their brilliance lies in O’Brien’s portrayal of the deep if unlikely friendship between two of fiction’s most endearing characters – a buccaneering naval officer and his saturnine ship’s surgeon, who is a spy.
History of the Second World War
Winston Churchill, 1948-54
This is history on the grand scale. Of course you don’t get scholarly detachment; Churchill’s sweeping authorial vision is inevitably Anglocentric and often self-serving. Nevertheless, it is surprisingly candid and an awesome and invaluable achievement.
Titles in print are available from The Week Bookshop
-
Homo Floresiensis: Earth’s real life ‘hobbits’Under the Radar New research suggests that ‘early human pioneers’ in Australia interbred with archaic species of hobbits at least 60,000 years ago
-
Homes by renowned architectsFeature Featuring a Leonard Willeke Tudor Revival in Detroit and modern John Storyk design in Woodstock
-
Looming drone ban has farmers and farm-state Republicans anxiousIN THE SPOTLIGHT As congressional China-hawks work to limit commercial drone sales from Beijing, a growing number of conservative lawmakers are sounding an agricultural alarm
-
Homes by renowned architects
Feature Featuring a Leonard Willeke Tudor Revival in Detroit and modern John Storyk design in Woodstock
-
Film reviews: ‘Hamnet,’ ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ and ‘Eternity’Feature Grief inspires Shakespeare’s greatest play, a flamboyant sleuth heads to church and a long-married couple faces a postmortem quandary
-
We Did OK, Kid: Anthony Hopkins’ candid memoir is a ‘page-turner’The Week Recommends The 87-year-old recounts his journey from ‘hopeless’ student to Oscar-winning actor
-
The Mushroom Tapes: a compelling deep dive into the trial that gripped AustraliaThe Week Recommends Acclaimed authors team up for a ‘sensitive and insightful’ examination of what led a seemingly ordinary woman to poison four people
-
‘Chess’feature Imperial Theatre, New York City
-
‘Notes on Being a Man’ by Scott Galloway and ‘Bread of Angels: A Memoir’ by Patti Smithfeature A self-help guide for lonely young men and a new memoir from the godmother of punk
-
6 homes built in the 1700sFeature Featuring a restored Federal-style estate in Virginia and quaint farm in Connecticut
-
Film reviews: 'Wicked: For Good' and 'Rental Family'Feature Glinda the Good is forced to choose sides and an actor takes work filling holes in strangers' lives
