july 2022 • issue 509

Editor Nancy Sladek

Deputy Editor Tom Fleming

Assistant Editor David Gelber

Contributing Editors Jonathan Beckman

Michael Burleigh • Sara Wheeler • Philip Womack

Editorial & Marketing Assistant Michael Delgado

Marketing Manager Constance Watson

Advertising Manager Terry Finnegan

Classified Advertising David Sturge

Founding Editor Dr Anne Smith

Cover Illustration Chris Riddell

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Literary Review | july 2022

diary

1

Frances Wilson

history

5

Donald Rayfield

Russia: Revolution and Civil War 1917-1921 Antony Beevor

7 Rana Mitter

The Road to Dien Bien Phu: A History of the First War for Vietnam Christopher Goscha

9 Claudia Gold

Two Houses, Two Kingdoms: A History of France and England, 1100–1300 Catherine Hanley

10 Nicholas Vincent

Empires of the Normans: Makers of Europe, Conquerors of Asia Levi Roach

money & power

12 Piers Brendon

Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy Henry Kissinger

13 Howard Davies

The Price of Time: The Real Story of Interest Edward Chancellor

14 Charles Clarke

Labour’s Civil Wars: How Infighting Has Kept the Left from Power (and What Can Be Done About It) Patrick Diamond & Giles Radice • The Starmer Project: A Journey to the Right Oliver Eagleton

16 Martin Vander Weyer

The Missing Cryptoqueen Jamie Bartlett

biography & memoir

17 Edward Weech

Dream-Child: A Life of Charles Lamb Eric G Wilson

19 Ben Hutchinson

Rilke: The Last Inward Man Lesley Chamberlain

20 Frances Cairncross

Agent Twister Philip Augar & Keely Winstone

21 Christopher Silvester

Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker’s Life James Curtis

22 Mathew Lyons

Landscapes of Silence: From Childhood to the Arctic Hugh Brody

23 Kevin Power

Original Sins: A Memoir Matt Rowland Hill