c o n t e n t s a p r i l 2 0 1 2 • i s s u e 3 9 7

Editor Nancy Sladek Deputy Editor Tom Fleming Editor-at-Large Jeremy Lewis Senior Editor Jonathan Beckman Editorial Assistants Frank Brinkley • Tom Williams Contributing Editors Michael Burleigh Sara Wheeler • Philip Womack Advertising Manager Terry Finnegan Classified Advertising David Sturge Founding Father Auberon Waugh Cover Illustration Chris Riddell

The Literary Review, incorporating Quarto, is published monthly from: 44 Lexington Street, London W1F 0LW • Tel: 020 7437 9392 Fax: 020 7734 1844 • ISSN 0144 4360 © All subscription enquiries and changes of address to: Literary Review Subscriptions, FREEPOST RSJB-SUGY-ZKRA, Impakt MMD Ltd, 3-4 Pylon Way, Croydon CR0 4XX • Tel: 020 8683 7151 All advertising enquiries to: Terry Finnegan, Literary Review, 44 Lexington Street, London W1F 0LW • Tel: 020 7437 9392 Printed in the United Kingdom by: Henry Ling Ltd, at the Dorset Press, Dorchester DT1 1HD • Tel: 01305 251 066 Distributed to newsagents worldwide by: COMAG Specialist, Tavistock Works, Tavistock Rd, West Drayton, Middlesex, UB7 7QX • Tel: 01895 433 800 Distributed to bookshops by: Central Books, 99 Wallis Road, London E9 5LN • Tel: 020 8986 4854 Subscriptions: theliteraryreview@warnes.co.uk Editorial: editorial@literaryreview.co.uk www.literaryreview.co.uk • @lit_review Designed by Cog Design Literary Review is set in Adobe Caslon and Janet. The latter is a digitisation of an engraved typeface designed by the artist and typographer Reynolds Stone, and named after his wife.

Literary Review | a p r i l 2 0 1 2 2

f r om the p u l p i t 1 Thomas Marks f or e i g n pa rts 5 Dominic Sandbrook

Time to Start Thinking: America and the Spectre of Decline Edward Luce 6 Michael Burleigh

After the Arab Spring: How Islamists Hijacked the Middle East Revolts John R Bradley 7 George Walden

The Tree That Bleeds: A Uighur Town on the Edge Nick Holdstock 8 Brendan Simms

The War is Dead, Long Live the War: Bosnia – the Reckoning Ed Vulliamy 10 Roderick Matthews

The Meadow: Kashmir 1995 Adrian Levy & Cathy Scott-Clark 11 Jonathan Mirsky

China in Ten Words Yu Hua 12 Miranda Seymour

Keeping Up with the Germans: A History of Anglo-German Encounters Philip Oltermann l i t e r a r y l e g a c i e s 14 David Collard

Exorcism: A Play in One Act Eugene O’Neill 16 Andrew Hussey

Many Subtle Channels: In Praise of Potential Literature Daniel Levin Becker 17 John Sutherland

Monopolizing the Master: Henry James and the Politics of Modern Literary Scholarship Michael Anesko h i st or y 18 Frank McLynn

The Norman Conquest Marc Morris 20 Christopher Kelly

Empires of Faith: The Fall of Rome to the Rise of Islam, 500-700 Peter Sarris 21 Piers Brendon

A Dance with the Dragon: The Vanished World of Peking’s Foreign Colony Julia Boyd 22 Norman Stone

The Lost History of 1914 Jack Beatty 24 Alan Allport

Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II Keith Lowe c o n t e n t s a rt 25 Michael Prodger

The Healing Presence of Art: A History of Western Art in Hospitals Richard Cork 26 Alexandra Harris

Prunella Clough: Regions Unmapped Frances Spalding b i o g r a p hy 27 David Satter

The Strongman: Vladimir Putin and the Struggle for Russia Angus Roxburgh • The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin Masha Gessen 29 Edward Norman

Thomas Becket: Warrior, Priest, Rebel, Victim – A 900-YearOld Story Retold John Guy 30 Irving Wardle

Strindberg: A Life Sue Prideaux o u r i s l a nd st or y 31 Peter Jones

The Romans Who Shaped Britain Sam Moorhead & David Stuttard 32 Leslie Mitchell

London in the Eighteenth Century Jerry White 33 Harry Mount

Cheek by Jowl: A History of Neighbours Emily Cockayne 34 Chandak Sengoopta

Identifying the English: A History of Personal Identification 1500 to the Present Edward Higgs way o f the wor l d 36 Eric Kaufmann

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty Daron Acemoglu & James A Robinson 38 Michael Evans

The Intel Wars: The Secret History of the Fight Against Terror Matthew M Aid 39 Sonia Purnell

You Can’t Read This Book: Censorship in an Age of Freedom Nick Cohen g e n e r a l 41 Kevin Jackson

Until Further Notice, I Am Alive Tom Lubbock • Great Works: 50 Paintings Explored Tom Lubbock 42 Diana Athill

Sightlines Kathleen Jamie

43 John Gribbin

Turing’s Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe George Dyson 44 Felipe Fernández-Armesto

Peoples on Parade: Exhibitions, Empire, and Anthropology in Nineteenth-Century Britain Sadiah Qureshi 45 Christopher Hart

Middle Age: A Natural History David Bainbridge 46 Jonathan Beckman

Threads and Traces: True False Fictive Carlo Ginzburg • Traces Remain: Essays and Explorations Charles Nicholl 48 Caroline Moorehead

All the Missing Souls: A Personal History of the War Crimes Tribunals David Scheffer 49 John Cornwell

Leaving Alexandria: A Memoir of Faith and Doubt Richard Holloway 50 Jonathan Derbyshire

Iris Murdoch, Philosopher: A Collection of Essays (Ed) Justin Broackes f i c t i on 51 Pamela Norris The Beginner’s Goodbye Anne Tyler 52 Hannah Rosefield Angelmaker Nick Harkaway 52 Keith Miller The Chemistry of Tears Peter Carey 53 Sarah A Smith Honour Elif Shafak 54 Edmund Gordon Scenes From Early Life Philip Hensher 55 Sam Kitchener Stonemouth Iain Banks 56 Rowland Manthorpe The Leftovers Tom Perrotta 56 George Gömöri The Adventures of Sindbad Gyula Krúdy 57 Philip Womack Silver Andrew Motion 58 Andrew Barrow Secondhand Daylight D J Taylor 59 Jonathan Barnes on five debut novels

61 Jessica Mann Crime 63 Lucy Popescu Silenced Voices 60 Poetry Competition 9 LR Bookshop 13 Crossword 64 LR Classifieds a p r i l 2 0 1 2 | Literary Review 3