CONTENTS

THIS MONTH’S PULPIT is written by Richard Davenport-Hines. His most recent books are A Night at the Majestic (2006) and Ettie: The Intimate Life of Lady Desborough (2008).

JOHN GRAY is the author of Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and The Death of Utopia (Allen Lane).

JULIET BARKER is the author of the best-selling Agincourt (Little, Brown, 2005). Joan of Arc features in her forthcoming book, Conquest: The English Kingdom of France 14171450, which will be published by Little, Brown in October.

NORMAN STONE is Professor of International Relations at Bilkent University, Ankara. His most recent book is World War One: A Short History (Penguin).

MIRANDA SEYMOUR’s most recent book is Chaplin’s Girl: The Life and Love of Virginia Cherrill. She is is currently writing a book about the appeasers.

DAVID STAFFORD is the author of Endgame 1945: Victory, Retribution, Liberation (Abacus, 2008), and is currently writing the official history of the Special Operations Executive in Italy 1943-1945.

PATRICIA FARA’s latest book is Science: A Four Thousand Year History (OUP, 2009). She is Senior Tutor of Clare College, Cambridge.

ROBERT CHESSHYRE is a journalist and author. A former US correspondent and home editor of The Observer, he writes about cricket when he can.

JONATHAN KEATES’s most recent book, The Siege of Venice, is published by Chatto & Windus.

ALAN CANE is a columnist and reviewer for the Financial Times.

PULPIT

BIOGRAPHY

HISTORY

BRIGHT IDEAS

LITERARY LIVES

BEAUTY & THE BEASTS

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RICHARD DAVENPORT-HINES

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JULIET BARKER The Virgin Warrior: The Life and Death of Joan of Arc Larissa Juliet Taylor NORMAN STONE Kaiser Wilhelm II: A Life in Power Christopher Clark FRANK MCLYNN A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir Donald Worster PAUL JOHNSON A Genius for Failure: The Life of Benjamin Robert Haydon Paul O’Keeffe PATRICIA FARA Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Master Criminal, the Great Genius and The Plot to Destroy the Royal Mint Thomas Levenson ROBERT CHESSHYRE Harold Larwood: The Authorized Biography of the World’s Fastest Bowler Duncan Hamilton CHRISTOPHER BRAY Stripping Gypsy: The Life of Gypsy Rose Lee Noralee Frankel Gypsy: The Art of the Tease Rachel Shteir ANDREW LYCETT Biography: A Very Short Introduction Hermione Lee

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LESLIE MITCHELLThe English Rebel: One Thousand Years of Troublemaking, from the Normans to the Nineties David Horspool A Radical History of Britain: Visionaries, Rebels and Revolutionaries – The Men and Women Who Fought for Our Freedoms Edward Vallance SIMON HEFFER 1939: Countdown to War Richard Overy DAVID STAFFORD The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War Andrew Roberts JONATHAN MIRSKY War Without Frontiers: The USA in Vietnam Bernd Greiner

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JOHN GRAY The Idea of Justice Amartya Sen ALLISTER HEATH Good Value: Reflections on Money, Morality and an Uncertain World Stephen Green SIMON MAY Ideas that Matter: A Personal Guide for the 21st Century A C Grayling

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ALEXANDER WAUGH Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead Paula Byrne HUGH BROGAN The Last Englishman: The Double Life of Arthur Ransome Roland Chambers PAUL BINDING Knut Hamsun: Dreamer and Dissenter Ingar Sletten Kolloen

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PATRICK O’CONNOR Debussy’s Mélisande: The Lives of Georgette Leblanc, Mary Garden and Maggie Teyte Gillian Opstad JONATHAN KEATES The Gargoyles of Notre-Dame: Medievalism and the Monsters of Modernity Michael Camille

Editor: NANCY SLADEK Deputy Editor: TOM FLEMING Editor-at-Large: JEREMY LEWIS Assistant Editor: JONATHAN BECKMAN

Contributing Editors: SEBASTIAN SHAKESPEARE, PHILIP WOMACK

Advertising Manager: TERRY FINNEGAN Classified Advertising: DAVID STURGE

Founding Editor: DR ANNE SMITH Founding Father: AUBERON WAUGH

Cover illustration by Chris Riddell

Issue no. 368

LITERARY REVIEW August 2009

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