At its simplest level, it is a burlesque adventure, where a well-meaning amateur English adventurer blunders his way through a totally impractical project

Howse’s real connections are all with carved stone and the printed word, especially with the lovers of Gothic architecture

The late 19th-century had some advantages for a homegrown Muslim missionary of talent, for the tiresome quarrels between rival sectarian churches had alienated many Christian believers.

The resulting memoir, only now published ten years after her death, is a work of loving devotion and a true reflection of Lesley Blanch in her own words.

the invasion of Iraq in 2003 by the USA and its dependent allies is not only a crime, but one that was spectacularly ill-advised.

A chronological tale of the First World War might be wearyingly familiar, but by telling it from the perspective of the Ottoman Empire, Eugene Rogan grabs the reader’s attention – as if we are hearing the Iliad from the Trojan battlements.

In the background to this enduring triangular relationship a shifting chain of alliances bound the city of Aleppo to tribes of Bedouin (horse-breeding) Arabs to the east, Kurdish clans in the hills to the north and Alawi highlanders to the west.

... the book’s fine focus is trained on the condition and fate of the nobles, citizens, peasant cultivators and highland clansmen

… what makes him remarkable is his restless quest for the perfection of his craft continuously sharpened by a vast capacity for work

Over 60% of Muslims in Britain come from the lands of the old Raj - Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. So Urdu and English are the languages of communication in British Islam, not modern classical Arabic, let alone Koranic Arabic.

This biography is both funny and erudite as it chronicles a fascinating caste of dangerously charming spies, poet-scholars, scheming Oxbridge academics, dashing majors and clever queens.

... for the small readership who can engage in the poetics of two cultures situated in two different ages, it is a work of extraordinary richness.

Today Rory finds the land no longer in the hands of indigenous native farmers, but increasingly divided between factory farms and national parks, the gaps filled in with a spreading suburbia of retirement villages and tourist-friendly infrastructure.

... 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.