CONTENTS

THIS MONTH’S PULPIT is written by Sam Leith. His new book, You Talkin’ To Me? Rhetoric from Aristotle to Obama, is published by Profile in October.

JAN MORRIS’s Allegorizings will be published posthumously by Faber & Faber in London, and W W Norton in New York.

LESLEY DOWNER is the author of Geisha: The Secret History of a Vanishing World and, most recently, The Courtesan and the Samurai (Corgi).

JONATHAN KEATES’s The Siege of Venice is published by Chatto & Windus.

WILLIAM BLACKER is the author of Along the Enchanted Way: A Story of Love and Life in Romania (John Murray).

EDNA FERNANDES is the author of The Last Jews of Kerala and Holy Warriors: A Journey into the Heart o f Indian Fundamentalism (both Portobello).

RICHARD OVERY’s The Morbid Age: Britain Between t he Wars and his 1939: Countdown to War were both published in 2009 by Allen Lane.

SAUL DAVID’s books include Victoria’s Wars: The Rise of Empire and Zulu: The Heroism and Tragedy of the Zulu War of 1879 (both Penguin).

KENNETH O MORGAN’s most recent book is Ages of Reform (I B Tauris).

JONATHAN SUMPTION’s latest book, Divided Houses (Faber & Faber), is the third volume in his history of the Hundred Years War.

STEVE FULLER is Auguste Comte Professor of Social Epistemology at the University of Warwick. His new book, Humanity 2.0: What it Means to be Human Past, Present and Future, is published by Palgrave Macmillan in the autumn.

PULPIT

FOREIGN PARTS

HISTORY

WE’RE ONLY HUMAN

BIOGRAPHY

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SAM LEITH

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JAN MORRIS Odessa: Genius and Death in a City of Dreams Charles King LESLEY DOWNER Pacific Cosmopolitans: A Cultural History of US–Japan Relations Michael R Auslin JONATHAN KEATES City of Fortune: How Venice Won and Lost a Naval Empire Roger Crowley WILLIAM BLACKER On the Road to Babadag: Travels in the Other Europe Andrzej Stasiuk JOHN KEAY Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia Thant Myint-U DANIEL MATLIN Harlem is Nowhere: A Journey to the Mecca of Black America Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts MIRANDA FRANCE Into the Arena: The World of the Spanish Bullfight Alexander Fiske-Harrison EDNA FERNANDES Beautiful Thing: Inside the Secret World of Bombay’s Dance Bars Sonia Faleiro

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RICHARD OVERY The End: Hitler’s Germany, 1944–45 Ian Kershaw SAUL DAVID A Merciless Place: The Lost Story of Britain’s Convict Disaster in Africa Emma Christopher NIGEL JONES Citizen Sailors: The Royal Navy in the Second World War Glyn Prysor Sea Wolves: The Extraordinary Story of Britain’s WW2 Submarines Tim Clayton KENNETH O MORGAN Freedom and Order: History, Politics and the English Bible Nick Spencer WILLIAM DOYLE Monsters of the Gévaudan: The Making of a Beast Jay M Smith JONATHAN SUMPTION Holy Bones, Holy Dust: How Relics Shaped the History of Medieval Europe Charles Freeman LEANDA DE LISLE Mary I: England’s Catholic Queen John Edwards JOSH GLANCY The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery Eric Foner PIERS BRENDON The Future of History John Lukacs

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STEVE FULLER Aping Mankind: Neuromania, Darwinitis and the Misrepresentation of Humanity Raymond Tallis MAREK KOHN The Origin of Our Species Chris Stringer JOAN SMITH How To Be a Woman Caitlin Moran

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MARK BOSTRIDGE Now All Roads Lead to France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas Matthew Hollis Edward Thomas: Prose Writings, A Selected Edition – Volume I, Autobiographies (Ed) Guy Cuthbertson

LITERARY REVIEW August 2011

Editor: NANCY SLADEK Deputy Editor: TOM FLEMING Editor-at-Large: JEREMY LEWIS Senior Editor: JONATHAN BECKMAN Contributing Editors: MICHAEL BURLEIGH,

SARA WHEELER, PHILIP WOMACK Editorial Assistants: FRANK BRINKLEY, TOM WILLIAMS

Advertising Manager: TERRY FINNEGAN Classified Advertising: DAVID STURGE

Founding Father: AUBERON WAUGH

Cover illustration by Chris Riddell

Issue no. 390

2 AUGUST 2011

ART & MUSIC

POETRY

GENERAL

FICTION

CRIME POETRY SILENCED VOICES LR CLASSIFIEDS LR BOOKSHOP

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BLAIR WORDEN The Life and Thought of Herbert Butterfield: History, Science and God Michael Bentley LESLIE MITCHELL Dare to Stand Alone: The Story of Charles Bradlaugh, Atheist and Republican Bryan Niblett SIMON HEFFER Nikolaus Pevsner: The Life Susie Harries JONATHAN MIRSKY Leon Uris: Life of a Best Seller Ira B Nadel

EDWARD DOLNICK Art Theft and the Case of the Stolen Turners Sandy Nairne KEVIN JACKSON Austin Osman Spare: The Life and Legend of London’s Lost Artist Phil Baker WILLIAM PALMER I Feel So Good: The Life and Times of Big Bill Broonzy Bob Riesman

OLIVER DENNIS ON THREE RECENT RELEASES

DAVA SOBEL Measure of the Earth: The Enlightenment Expedition that Reshaped Our World Larrie D Ferreiro JOHN SUTHERLAND The Words of Others: From Quotations to Culture Gary Saul Morson JAMES LE FANU Disease Maps: Epidemics on the Ground Tom Koch FRED INGLIS Visions of England Roy Strong SEBASTIAN SHAKESPEARE Sex on the Moon: The Amazing True Story behind the Most Audacious Heist in History Ben Mezrich ALEX RENTON Dishing i t Out: In Search of the Restaurant Experience Robert Appelbaum IAIN MARSHALL ON FOUR BOOKS ON BICYCLES

MATTHEW ADAMS Complete Stories Kingsley Amis ADRIAN TURPIN The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes JOHN THIEME The Cat’s Table Michael Ondaatje EDMUND GORDON On Canaan’s Side Sebastian Barry ANTHONY CUMMINS The Blue Book A L Kennedy MICHAEL SHERBORNE Gods Without Men Hari Kunzru JONATHAN BARNES ON FIVE FIRST NOVELS RACHEL HORE Blow on a Dead Man’s Embers Mari Strachan JOANNA HINES ON SIX HISTORICAL NOVELS DAVID ANNAND Wild Abandon Joe Dunthorne

LR CROSSWORD 4 0

WILLIAM DOYLE’s most recent book is Aristocracy: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press).

LEANDA DE LISLE’s most recent book is The Sisters Who Would be Queen: The Tragedy of Mary, Katherine & Lady Jane Grey (HarperPress).

MAREK KOHN’s most recent work, Turned Out Nice: How the British Isles will Change as the World Heats Up, is published by Faber & Faber.

JOAN SMITH i s the author of Misogynies, What Will Survive and halfa-dozen crime novels. She is President of the Creators’ Rights Alliance and blogs as www.politicalblonde.com.

MARK BOSTRIDGE’s most recent book is Florence Nightingale (Penguin). He is writing a study of England in 1914.

BLAIR WORDEN’s most recent book is The English Civil Wars, 1640–1660 (W&N).

LESLIE MITCHELL is Emeritus Fellow of University College, Oxford. His publications include a study of the Whig Party entitled The Whig World.

EDWARD DOLNICK is the author of two books on art crime, Stealing the Scream and The Forger’s Spell.

DAVA SOBEL’s books include Longitude and Galileo’s Daughter. Her new book, A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos, is published next month by Bloomsbury.

JOHN SUTHERLAND is Lord Northcliffe Professor Emeritus at UCL.

FRED INGLIS is Emeritus Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Sheffield. His most recent book is A Short History of Celebrity (Princeton).

ALEX RENTON writes a column in The Times on food.

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LITERARY REVIEW August 2011