c o n t e n t s aug u st 2 0 1 2 • i s s u e 40 1

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

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Literary Review | a u g u s t 2 0 1 2 2

f r om the p u l p i t 1 Jerry Brotton h i st or y 5 William Doino Jr

Were the Popes Against the Jews? Tracking the Myths, Confronting the Ideologues Justus George Lawler 6 Piers Brendon

From the Ruins of Empire: The Revolt Against the West & the Remaking of Asia Pankaj Mishra 8 Leslie Mitchell

The Day Parliament Burned Down Caroline Shenton 9 Miri Rubin

Christian Beginnings: From Nazareth to Nicaea, AD 30–325 Geza Vermes 11 Jonathan Mirsky

Hiroshima Nagasaki: The Real Story of the Atomic Bombings & their Aftermath Paul Ham • Nagasaki: The Massacre of the Innocent & Unknowing Craig Collie 12 David Gelber

Damn His Blood: Being a True & Detailed History of the Most Barbarous & Inhumane Murder at Oddingley & the Quick & Awful Retribution Peter Moore c l oa k & dag g e r 14 Christopher Ross

Ninja: 1,000 years of the Shadow Warriors John Man 15 John Cooper

The Watchers: A Secret History of the Reign of Elizabeth I Stephen Alford 17 Alan Judd

Man of War: The Secret Life of Captain Alan Hillgarth, Officer, Adventurer, Agent Duff Hart-Davis 18 Roderick Bailey

The Spy Who Loved: The Secrets & Lives of Christine Granville, Britain’s First Female Special Agent of the Second World War Clare Mulley 19 Hugh Bicheno

Castro’s Secrets: The CIA & Cuba’s Intelligence Machine Brian Latell b i o g r a p hy 20 Sarah Bradford

Bertie: A Life of Edward VII Jane Ridley 21 David Collard

A Mysterious Something in the Light: Raymond Chandler – A Life Tom Williams c o n t e n t s

23 Jurek Martin

Barack Obama: The Making of the Man David Maraniss 24 Alex Goodall

The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life & Times of America’s Banana King Rich Cohen f or e i g n pa rts 25 Charles Grant

Good Italy, Bad Italy: Why Italy Must Conquer Its Demons to Face the Future Bill Emmott 26 Richard Cockett

The Impossible State: North Korea, Past & Future Victor Cha 27 Mark Leonard

Tiger Head, Snake Tails: China Today, How It Got There & Where It Is Heading Jonathan Fenby 29 Adrian Weale

Little America: The War within the War for Afghanistan Rajiv Chandrasekaran 30 Tom Wainwright

Mexico: Democracy Interrupted Jo Tuckman memoirs & d i a r i e s 31 Norman Stone

Not Me: Memoirs of a German Childhood Joachim Fest 32 Michael Holman

My First Coup d ’Etat: Memories from the Lost Decades of Africa John Dramini Mahama 33 David Bodanis

Notes on a Century: Reflections of a Middle East Historian Bernard Lewis 34 Richard Canning

Liberation: Diaries, Volume Three – 1970–83 Christopher Isherwood e x h i b i t i on 36 Paul Binding

Edvard Munch: The Modern Eye at Tate Modern m i l l i on d o l l a r q u e st i on s 38 Alan Ryan

How Much is Enough? The Love of Money, & the Case for the Good Life Robert Skidelsky & Edward Skidelsky 40 Martin Vander Weyer

The Price of Inequality Joseph E Stiglitz p o em 39 Patrick McGuinness ‘Doors and Windows of Wallonia’

g e n e r a l 41 Bryan Appleyard

Why We Build Rowan Moore 42 Caroline Moorehead

Brother Mendel’s Perfect Horse: Man & Beast in an Age of Human Warfare Frank Westerman 43 Michael Collins

Among the Hoods: My Years with a Teenage Gang Harriet Sergeant 45 Sara Wheeler

Sex & Punishment: Four Thousand Years of Judging Desire Eric Berkowitz 46 John Harwood

Poltergeists: A History of Violent Ghostly Phenomena P G Maxwell-Stuart 47 Harry Mount

Diamond Street: The Hidden World of Hatton Garden Rachel Lichtenstein 48 John Sutherland

New Ways to Kill Your Mother: Writers & Their Families Colm Tóibín f i c t i on 49 Matthew Adams Umbrella Will Self 50 Hannah Rosefield The Big Music Kirsty Gunn 51 Sam Kitchener on three new South American novels 52 Thea Lenarduzzi Thérèse and Isabelle Violette Leduc 53 Simon Hammond The Teleportation Accident Ned Beauman 54 Simon Baker The Yips Nicola Barker 54 Sarah A Smith Toby’s Room Pat Barker 56 Jonathan Barnes on five first novels 57 Kate Saunders Come to the Edge Joanna Kavenna 58 Christena Appleyard The Daylight Gate Jeanette Winterson

60 Jessica Mann Crime 59 Lucy Popescu Silenced Voices 19 Crossword 37 Letters 37 LR Bookshop 62 Poetry Competition 63 LR Classifieds a u g u s t 2 0 1 2 | Literary Review 3