... he started out as a convinced imperialist but was so disgusted by British rule in India (and French rule in North Africa) that he eventually realized that mere administrative efficiency should never be exchanged for freedom.

Britain banned the practice of bull baiting in 1835 but, in Spain, the ritualized slaying of a fierce wild animal, timed to punctuate the annual calendar and local festivals, continues to this day.

the honesty with which she chronicled her change of sexual identity has made Conundrum arguably her most famous book.

Mackintosh-Smith is not just immersed in this history, he has been endangered by it. Alongside his fellow citizens of Sanaa, he has witnessed the violence and individual tragedies of three Yemeni civil wars, evidence of which is sadly etched in the book's dedication.

What gives his book its special poignancy is that in order to create this book (to read, research, question, record and write) he has in the process, expelled himself from his tribe.

.. the Uffington White Horse has always been both ancient and modern. It is an ephemeral figure which needs the active participation of every generation, to scour it, in order to survive."

Peter Hessler’s The Buried is, however, a masterpiece of contemporary travel writing

Caria might look just a small province within the national frontiers of Turkey, but under this sort of close attention to detail it expands to become a cultural universe of its own.

The sight of a beautiful youth awakens astonishment in the lover, and opens the door of his heart to the delight which the contemplation of this loveliness affords.

He was also full of remorse at the staff job in Cairo that kept him safe for two whole years while two of his beloved brothers died in the trenches.

The meticulous bird’s-eye views of the streets and docks of Venice in 1500, Seville in the time of Philip II and Augsburg (caught mid-siege) in the reign of Emperor Charles V are like a species of time travel.

... like inspiring pin-pricks in the night sky, there are still travel books that keep shining and have kept generation after generation of readers enthralled.

He has a historian's eye for continuity, a chemist's interest in the telling detail, a merchant-like enthusiasm for the roller-coaster laws of supply and demand combined with a salesman’s appreciation of a winning pitch.

Three children of Pakistani bus drivers are now working at the very peak of Britain's meritocratic society; Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, Baroness Warsi and cabinet minister Sajid Javid.

Queen Victoria not only read Quilliam’s book on Islam but bought copies for all her children.

Selina O’Grady is a first-rate story-teller with a finely tuned ear for character and an impressive eye for atmosphere and the telling detail.

His chapter on the city of Samarkand, informed by an earlier biography of Tamburlane, is so knowledgeable and intimate that one is in danger of briefly warming to this murderous but garden-loving tyrant, worthy of being listed alongside Stalin, Mao and Hitler.