c o n t e n t s may 2 0 1 2 • i s s u e 3 9 8

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 | m a y 2 0 1 2 2

f r om the p u l p i t 1 D J Taylor holy war r i or s 5 Timothy Brook

Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem Carol Delaney • The Last Crusade: The Epic Voyage of Vasco da Gama Nigel Cliff 6 Jonathan Sumption

The First Crusade: The Call from the East Peter Frankopan 8 Thomas Asbridge

In the Shadow of the Sword: The Battle for Global Empire and the End of the Ancient World Tom Holland h i st or y 10 Leslie Mitchell

Why Spencer Perceval Had To Die: The Assassination of a British Prime Minister Andro Linklater 11 Leanda de Lisle

The Plantagenets: The Kings Who Made England Dan Jones 12 Nicholas Vincent

The War on Heresy: Faith and Power in Medieval Europe R I Moore 14 John Guy

Our Man in Rome: Henry VIII & His Italian Ambassador Catherine Fletcher 15 Leo McKinstry

The Dam Busters: The True Story of the Legendary Raid on the Ruhr James Holland 16 Anna Reid

Just Send Me Word: A True Story of Love and Survival in the Gulag Orlando Figes 17 Donald Trelford

Seasons in the Sun: The Battle for Britain, 1974-1979 Dominic Sandbrook 19 Hugh Bicheno on four memoirs of fighting in the Falklands b i o g r a p hy & d i a r i e s 20 Joan Smith

As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh: Diaries 1964–1980 Susan Sontag 21 Richard Overy

Witness to History: The Life of John Wheeler-Bennett Victoria Schofield 22 Frances Spalding

Lucie Rie: Modernist Potter Emmanuel Cooper c o n t e n t s

24 Allan Massie

The Last Highlander: Scotland ’s Most Notorious Clan Chief, Rebel & Double Agent Sarah Fraser 25 Christopher Andrew

Snow: The Double Life of a World War II Spy Nigel West & Madoc Roberts q ua n t um l e a p s 27 Frank Close

How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival David Kaiser 28 Manjit Kumar

The Quantum Exodus: Jewish Fugitives, the Atomic Bomb, and the Holocaust Gordon Fraser au de n at the mov i e s 30 David Collard way o f the wor l d 32 Nick Cohen

The New Few, or A Very British Oligarchy: Power and Inequality in Britain Now Ferdinand Mount 33 Shiraz Maher

Europe’s Angry Muslims: The Revolt of the Second Generation Robert S Leiken 34 Martin Vander Weyer

Keynes Hayek: The Clash That Defined Modern Economics Nicholas Wapshott house & g a r de n 36 Simon Thurley

Felling the Ancient Oaks: How England Lost Its Great Country Estates John Martin Robinson 37 Gillian Tindall

The London Square: Gardens in the Midst of Town Todd Longstaffe-Gowan 38 Tom Fort

Hedge Britannia: A Curious History of a British Obsession Hugh Barker g e n e r a l 39 Jonathan Mirsky

Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China Paul French 40 Caroline Moorehead

Facing the Torturer: Inside the Mind of a War Criminal François Bizot

42 Jerry Brotton

Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything Philip Ball 43 Steve Fuller

Wired for Culture: The Natural History of Human Cooperation Mark Pagel 44 Rupert Christiansen

A History of Singing John Potter & Neil Sorrell 45 Theodore Dalrymple

The Fix: How Addiction Is Invading Our Lives and Taking over Your World Damian Thompson 46 Katharine Whitehorn

The Fifties Mystique Jessica Mann 47 Elaine Showalter

When I Was a Child I Read Books: Essays Marilynne Robinson 48 John Sutherland

My Name is Ross: An Alcoholic’s Journey Ross Fitzgerald f i c t i on 50 Frederic Raphael HHhH Laurent Binet 51 Sam Leith Skios Michael Frayn 52 Lyndall Gordon

No Time Like the Present Nadine Gordimer Absolution Patrick Flanery 53 David Annand The Red House Mark Haddon 53 Sam Kitchener In One Person John Irving 54 Leyla Sanai Seven Years Peter Stamm 55 Patrick Skene Catling Flight Adam Thorpe 56 Anthony Cummins Skagboys Irvine Welsh 57 Patrick McGuiness Painter of Silence Georgina Harding 57 Ophelia Field Ignorance Michèle Roberts 58 Linden Burleigh

The Girl Who Fell from the Sky Simon Mawer 59 Wendy Brandmark Home Toni Morrison 59 Sophia Waugh

Peaches for Monsieur le Curé Joanne Harris

60 Jessica Mann Crime 63 Lucy Popescu Silenced Voices 49 Letters 62 Poetry Competition 47 LR Bookshop 41 Crossword 64 LR Classifieds m a y 2 0 1 2 | Literary Review 3