Political Biographies

In 1908, at the age of two, Henry Pu Yi ascended to become the last emperor of the centuries-old Manchu dynasty. After revolutionaries forced Pu Yi to abdicate in 1911, the young emperor lived for thirteen years in Peking's Forbidden City, but with none of the power his birth afforded him. The remainder of Pu Yi's life was lived out...

FINALIST FOR THE 2019 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD CHOSEN BY BARACK OBAMA AS ONE OF HIS FAVOURITE BOOKS OF 2019 LONGLISTED FOR THE 2020 ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'An informed, moving and kaleidoscopic portrait... Treuer's powerful book suggests the need for soul-searching about the meanings of American history and the stories we tell ourselves about...

'I have always been fascinated by that charismatic hero of the Resistance, Josephine Baker, but it turns out I didn't know the half of it. Lewis' story-telling blew my mind. Again.' - Dan Snow 'A story of incredible bravery in the face of tyrants who invaded a free and democratic nation, this will have powerful resonance today.' - Tim Spicer...

The forgotten story of the nineteenth-century freethinkers and twentieth-century humanists who tried to build their own secular religion. In The Church of Saint Thomas Paine, Leigh Eric Schmidt tells the surprising story of how freethinking liberals in nineteenth-century America promoted a secular religion of humanity centered on the deistic revolutionary Thomas Paine (1737-1809) and how their descendants eventually became embroiled...

Vast and brilliant white, P&O's flagship the SS Canberra was a final salute to a bygone era of opulence even as she embarked on her maiden voyage. For a decade she carried passengers between Britain and Australia, a 90-day voyage of pampering and decadence. But in March 1982, Britain went to war to defend the Falkland Islands and the SS...

The incredible story of an Australian hero who helped save the life of a future president. On a moonless night in August 1943, a US torpedo boat commanded by Lt John F Kennedy, on patrol in Solomon Islands, was rammed by a Japanese destroyer. Left clinging to wreckage within sight of Japanese encampments, the eleven surviving members of Kennedy's crew...

RADICAL NATION makes it clear what is at stake. If you want to Save America you must read this—it is MAGA all the way." - PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP The Biden-Harris progressive agenda presents a radical change to the American economy, values, national security, and freedom. From the former Trump White House press secretary and New York Times bestselling author...

Popular culture has mythologized the Dunera Boys, but who were the real men who sailed on the infamous ship, and how did the voyage transform their lives? Art historian Tonia Eckfeld draws on a deeply personal history to tell the story of her father and her uncle, Jewish refugees whose lives were shaped indelibly by their wartime experiences and internment,...

From the famous cases such as the kidnapping of Eichmann from Argentina and the systematic tracking-down of those responsible for the Munich Massacre, to lesser-known episodes shrouded in darkness, this extraordinary book describes the dramatic, largely secret history of the Mossad, the greatest intelligence service in the world. Bloody, violent, daring and astonishing, Mossad reveals the covert actions, targeted assassinations,...

A colourful and central figure in Australian politics for two decades—described by Bob Hawke as having 'the most acute mind' of any of his ministers—Gareth Evans has also been applauded worldwide for his contributions, both as Foreign Minister and in later international roles, to conflict resolution, genocide prevention and curbing weapons of mass destruction. In this sometimes moving, often entertaining,...

Some girls fancy sailors, others fancy soldiers. But you, my dear, are a fag hag! Lola Miesseroff's childhood certainly predisposed her to be a rebel. She was born in Marseilles in 1947 to immigrant parents, her mother a Russian-Jewish social worker, her father an Armenian-Russian with a sandpaper-making workshop in sheds left behind by the Americans. The family ran and...

The top job is within Bill Shorten's grasp. But who is he? How did he rise to become Labor leader? And does he have what it takes to beat Malcolm Turnbull and lead the country? In this dramatic essay, David Marr traces the hidden career of a Labor warrior. He shows how a brilliant recruiter and formidable campaigner mastered first...

Many of the academic refugees Esther Simpson helped rescue are well remembered. But who was she and why has history forgotten her? This is the story of Esther Simpson, a woman whose dedication to the cause of freedom in science and learning left an indelible mark on the cultural and intellectual landscape of the modern world. Esther Simpson - Tess...

In the early hours of 26 February 1918, the British hospital ship Glenart Castle steamed into the Bristol Channel, heading for France to pick up wounded men from the killing fields of the Western Front. On board was 32-year-old Australian nurse, Edith Blake. Unbeknown to the ship's company, a German U-boat lurked in the waters below. When Edith Blake missed...

D-Day, 6 June 1944, the turning point of the Second World War, was a victory of arms. But it was also a triumph for a different kind of operation: one of deceit, aimed at convincing the Nazis that Calais and Norway, not Normandy, were the targets of the 150,000-strong invasion force. The deception involved every branch of Allied wartime intelligence...

It was the greatest feat of engineering in nineteenth-century Australia, but it very nearly collapsed in the face of monumental obstacles. The year was 1870, and mail took six weeks to get to England by sea. Australians hungered for the speedy communication a telegraph connection would bring. Engineer Charles Todd promised that he could string up wires on poles from...

Where will Dutton lead the Coalition? Who is Peter Dutton, and what happened to the Liberal Party? In Bad Cop, Lech Blaine traces the making of a hardman—from Queensland detective to leader of the Opposition, from property investor to minister for Home Affairs. This is a story of ambition, race and power, and a politician with a plan. Dutton became...

Cozzens is a master storyteller - The Times Extremely well researched - Times Literary Supplement From the devastating invasion by Spanish conquistadors in the sixteenth century to the relentless pressure from white settlers 150 years later, A Brutal Reckoning tells the story of encroachment on the vast Native American territory in the Deep South. This gave rise to the Creek...

We live in a dangerous world. The stories of war and terrorism that fill our screens are brought to us by brave journalists who put their lives on the line. They will always face peril, but now they can work in much greater safety, thanks to the determination and dedication of one remarkable man. Tony Loughran's life has been all...

General Sir Peter Cosgrove AK AC (Mil) CVO MC (Retd) is one of Australia's most significant public figures. As a soldier, he saw action in Vietnam, winning the Military Cross, and rose to the very top of his profession, becoming Chief of the Defence Force. Soon after his retirement from the Army, he was invited to take charge of the...

Winner of the Costa Biography Award What makes a Stalin? Was he a Tsarist agent or Lenin's bandit? Was he to blame for his wife's death? When did the killing start? Based on revelatory research, here is the thrilling story of how a charismatic cobbler's son became a student priest, romantic poet, prolific lover, gangster mastermind, and murderous revolutionary. Culminating...

Yesterday’s Man exposes the forgotten history of Joe Biden, one of the United States’ longest-serving politicians, and one of its least scrutinised. Over nearly fifty years in politics, the man called “Middle-Class Joe” served as a key architect of the Democratic Party’s rightward turn, ushering in the end of the liberal New Deal order and enabling the political takeover of...

Winston's Bandits by Adrian Phillips explores the intricate relationships and feuds among the close friends who supported Winston Churchill in achieving victory during the Second World War. This well-researched, closely argued work goes beyond conventional accounts of Churchill's life, offering an important addition to the Churchillian canon. As Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny, notes, "Phillips goes beyond...

In his short new biography of Winston Churchill, author Peter Caddick-Adams writes that the recipe for Winston Churchill's success during his wartime premiership of 1940-45 can be found in the First World War. He argues that Britain's survival under Churchill was precisely because the nation, and its leaders, had undergone a "dress rehearsal" in 1914-18; conscription, rationing, convoys, air raids,...

A new edition of this acclaimed biography of a key player in the fight for women's rights in Australia. 'It is only with an understanding of the past we can create a better future. A must-read for anyone aspiring to make their own impactful change.' - Julia Gillard What was it like to be involved in the heady days of...

It is only with an understanding of the past we can create a better future. A must-read for anyone aspiring to make their own impactful change. - Julia Gillard What was it like to be involved in the heady days of 'second wave' feminism in Australia, when the role of women at home and at work changed decisively? Iola Mathews...

Colonial lasses were expected to marry at sixteen, but she wanted to be an artist, not a wife, and she had big ambitions. She wanted to train with the best painters of her day in Europe, to elevate her sex, and to adorn her home town of Sydney with republican frescoes. Adelaide Ironside was the granddaughter of a convict forger,...

A new edition of this bestselling Australian classic. After the Japanese invasion of Burma in late 1941, 11-year-old Colin McPhedran was forced to flee his homeland on foot, across the steep Patkoi Mountain Ranges, to safety in India. Over a three-month period, Colin, along with his mother, elder brother, sister, and thousands of others who died, battled the annual monsoon...

In Xinjiang, the large northwest region of China, the government has imprisoned more than a million Uyghurs in re-education camps. One of the incarcerated—whose sentence, unlike most others, has no end date—is Ilham Tohti, an intellectual and economist, a prolific writer, and formerly the host of a website, Uyghur Online. In 2014, Tohti was arrested; accused of advocating separatism, violence,...

From the award-winning historian and filmmakers of The Civil War, Baseball, The War, The Roosevelts, and others, comes a vivid, uniquely powerful history of the conflict that tore America apart. This book is the companion volume to the major, multipart PBS film aired in September 2017. NATIONAL BESTSELLER. Based on the celebrated PBS television series, it presents the complete text...

Chester Wilmot (1911-1954) was a renowned Australian war correspondent, broadcaster, journalist, and writer. Covering the first triumphant North African battles of Bardia, Tobruk, and Derna, the heartbreaking disaster of the Greek Campaign, the epic struggle along the famed Kokoda Track, the momentous amphibious invasion at Normandy, and the eventual defeat of Nazi Germany, his voice stood above all others during...

The compelling biography of former British Columbia cabinet minister Bob Williams weaves his political and economical insights with the story of his unconventional life. In Using Power Well, former provincial politician Bob Williams tells his atypical life story. Beginning with his childhood in the working-class east end of Vancouver, Williams goes on to describe his early years as a planner...

Up Came a Squatter by Maggie Black unravels the fascinating life of Niel Black, a Scotsman from Argyllshire, who arrived in Melbourne in September with the goal of making his fortune. Ambitious and determined, Black emerged as one of the most successful and energetic squatters in the Western District of Victoria, becoming a livestock breeder and a Member of the...

In May 2015, Jeffrey Sterling was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. He was convicted of violating the Espionage Act by revealing details about Operation Merlin (a covert operation that aimed to frame Iran by leaking flawed nuclear blueprints) to journalist and author James Risen. He was released from prison in January 2018. Here, Sterling chronicles his...

John Quincy Adams is widely recognised as America's most distinguished diplomat, considering the length and breadth of his public service and his influence on American foreign policy. In the course of this remarkable journey, John Quincy documented his ideas and actions through his writings, speeches, letters, diary entries, and state papers. To aid those interested specifically in learning more about...

At the dawn of the twentieth century, Katherine Routledge, Maria Czaplicka, Winifred Blackman, Beatrice Blackwood and Barbara Freire-Marreco set out to explore the furthest reaches of the globe. Resisting pernicious sexism and misogyny, they were among the first women to study at university and went on to chart now-vanished worlds, seeking new freedoms in the wastelands of Siberia, the uncharted...

An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller In this celebration of faith and freedom, Fox News Co-Host Emily Compagno shares first-person accounts that show the profound role belief in God has played in the lives of U.S. military service members as they served in combat from World War I to today—commemorating the courage, camaraderie, spirit, and sacrifice of America’s heroes....

A new interpretation of Tycho Brahe's pivotal role in the emergence of empirical science. The Danish aristocrat and astronomer Tycho Brahe personified the inventive vitality of Renaissance life in the sixteenth century. Brahe lost his nose in a student duel, wrote Latin poetry, and built one of the most astonishing villas of the period, as well as the observatory Uraniborg,...

Highly Commended, NSW History Awards 2025, NSW Community and Regional History Prize Surveyor Thomas Scott Townsend (1812–1869) is an elusive, almost legendary figure, closer to folklore than to history. His name is given to the country's second highest mountain, but the details of his career are obscure and his personal identity has remained a mystery. Yet, if you live in...

Instant New York Times Bestseller #1 New York Times bestselling author Bret Baier reveals how George Washington saved the Constitution—and the American experiment To Rescue the Constitution is a masterful exploration of the electrifying struggle to unite a young United States." —Jay Winik A sweeping narrative ranging from the unsettled early American frontier and the battlefields of the Revolution to...

A gripping new approach to the Nuremberg Trial, told through the stories of the many great writers who came to witness it Nuremberg, 1945. As the trials of Nazi war criminals begin, some of the world's most famous writers and reporters gather in the ruined German city. Among them are Rebecca West, John Dos Passos, Martha Gellhorn, Erika Mann, and...

The Wisest Fool by Steven Veerapen delves into the life of James VI and I, the first monarch to reign over Scotland, England, and Ireland, who has long endured a mixed reputation. To many, he is simply the homosexual King, the inveterate witch-roaster, the smelly sovereign who never washed, the colourless man behind the authorised Bible bearing his name, or...

In his newest book, Daniel J. Mahoney offers refreshing historical antidotes to the displays of despotism in today's political arena. "A brilliantly written and researched tribute to the pantheon of classically trained and thinking men of action." - Victor Davis Hanson In The Statesman as Thinker, Daniel J. Mahoney provides thoughtful and elegant portraits of statesmen who struggled to preserve...

James Klugmann appears as a shadowy figure in the legendary history of the Cambridge spies. As both mentor and friend to Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, and others, Klugmann was the man who manipulated promising recruits deemed ripe for conversion to the communist cause. This perception of him was reinforced following the release of his MI5 file and the disclosure of...

Until his assassination by US drone strike in January 2020, military commander Qassem Soleimani was one of the most powerful men in Iran. A widely popular but also feared maverick operator, he helped to establish the Islamic Republic as a major force in the Middle East. This was a long way from where he began as a youth, living on...

Now the TV series The Serpent Queen, starring Samantha Morton The bestselling revisionist biography of one of the great women of the 16th century. Orphaned in infancy, Catherine de Medici was the sole legitimate heiress to the Medici family fortune. Married at fourteen to the future Henri II of France, she was constantly humiliated by his influential mistress, Diane de...

ANNE LISTER IS THE INSPIRATION FOR GENTLEMAN JACK, A NEW BBC/HBO SERIES BY SALLY WAINWRIGHT, STARRING SURANNE JONES. 'Engaging, revealing, at times simply astonishing: Anne Lister's diaries are an indispensable read for anyone interested in the history of gender, sexuality, and the intimate lives of women' — SARAH WATERS 'The Lister diaries are the Dead Sea Scrolls of lesbian history;...

The compelling quest to solve a great mystery of the twentieth century: the ultimate fate of Russia's last tsar and his family. In July 1991, nine skeletons were exhumed from a shallow grave near Ekaterinburg, Siberia, a few miles from the infamous cellar where the last tsar and his family had been murdered seventy-three years before. Were these the bones...

A gripping tale of royal feuds and divided kingdoms - AMANDA FOREMAN Set in Renaissance France at the magnificent court of the Valois kings, The Rival Queens is the history of two remarkable women, a mother and daughter driven into opposition by a terrible betrayal that threatened to destroy the realm. Catherine de' Medici, the infamous queen mother of France,...

A Top 10 Best Books of the Year (Wall Street Journal), Top 10 Best Nonfiction (Time), Top 5 Nonfiction (LA Times), Top 10 Books of 2022 (Fresh Air), and One of Oprah Daily's Favourite Books of 2022: A revelatory biography from a Pulitzer Prize-winner about the most essential Founding Father—the one who stood behind the change in thinking that produced...

Evelyn Juers's study of reclusion focuses on Eliza Emily Donnithorne, long considered the model for Charles Dickens' character Miss Havisham in Great Expectations. For most of her life, she lived in isolation in a large house in the inner-Sydney suburb of Newtown. It was said that she had been jilted at the altar and become a recluse, wearing her wedding...

Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II has reigned for 64 years, longer than any British monarch in history. During that time, the Queen has endured the ups and downs that long life will bring. She was a beacon of hope during and after the Second World War, in difficult times when the world faced a precarious future. She has served...

Politics Home: Parliamentarians' Top Books for Christmas 2021 'A must read for political geeks' - Saqib Bhatti There was a huge upsurge of global interest in US politics during the Trump presidency, culminating in the November 2020 election, the victory of the Democrat candidate Joe Biden and the subsequent, horrifying response in the storming of the US Capitol. American politics...

'A riveting, unvarnished and wholly unforgettable portrait of America’s most storied commandos at war.' - Joby Warrick, author of Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS, winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction A stirringly evocative, thought-provoking, and often jaw-dropping account of SEAL Team Operator Robert O’Neill’s awe-inspiring 400-mission career. O’Neill describes his idyllic childhood in Butte, Montana; his...

A feminist biography of the only woman to become prime minister of Israel In this authoritative and empathetic biography, Pnina Lahav reexamines the life of Golda Meir (1898–1978) through a feminist lens, focusing on her recurring role as a woman standing alone among men. The Only Woman in the Room is the first book to contend with Meir's full identity...

A feminist biography of the only woman to become prime minister of Israel In this authoritative and empathetic biography, Pnina Lahav reexamines the life of Golda Meir (1898–1978) through a feminist lens, focusing on her recurring role as a woman standing alone among men. The Only Woman in the Room is the first book to contend with Meir's full identity...

'One of the most exciting narrative histories to come out of India.' - William Dalrymple It was a scandal that rocked the highest echelons of the British Raj. In 1891, a notorious jeweller and curio dealer from Simla offered to sell the world's largest brilliant-cut diamond to the fabulously wealthy Nizam of Hyderabad. If the audacious deal succeeded, it would...

As the Commander of U.S. Central Command, General Frank McKenzie oversaw some of the most important—and controversial—operations in modern U.S. military history. He had direct operational responsibility for the strikes on Qassem Soleimani and two successive leaders of ISIS, the many months of deterrence operations against Iran and its proxies, and the methodical drawdown in Iraq. He directed the noncombatant...

On 8 June AD 218, a fourteen-year-old Syrian boy led an army into battle during a Roman civil war. Rallying his retreating troops in person, against all expectations, he was victorious. Varius Avitus Bassianus, known to the modern world as Heliogabalus, was proclaimed emperor. The following four years were to be the strangest in the history of the empire. Heliogabalus...

'Buy the book; it's very entertaining.' David Aaronovitch, The Times A Financial Times, BBC History and Spectator Book of the Year On 8 June 218 AD, a fourteen-year-old Syrian boy, egged on by his grandmother, led an army to battle in a Roman civil war. Against all expectations, he was victorious. Varius Avitus Bassianus, known to the modern world as...

The Lost Queen is described as "a good story, embracing character, emotion and drama... refreshing," according to The Times. "A splendidly sympathetic and sparky portrait... Wittily written and rich in detail," notes Miranda Seymour. Despite Catherine of Braganza's crucial place in British history and that of its Empire, she has since been overshadowed by stories of the king's many mistresses...

As the author of The Condition of the Working Class in England and, along with Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto, Friedrich Engels is a seminal 19th-century figure; the co-founder of Marxism, he left an indelible impression as a philosopher, political theorist, economist, historian, and revolutionary socialist. The Life, Work and Legacy of Friedrich Engels is nevertheless the first book to...

In this ground-breaking new book, Alan Ogden brings to life Lt Gen Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart, soldier, statesman, and an often-overlooked figure in British Military and Diplomatic History. Framed through the life of Carton de Wiart, this book also offers an exploration of important topics and developments in the first half of the 20th century, including the Boer War,...

Our heroes can come from the most ordinary of places. As a shy lad growing up in country Victoria, no one in the district had any idea the man Albert Jacka would become. Albert 'Bert' Jacka was 21 when Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914. Bert soon enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force, and the young private was...

The Last Royal Rebel is described as "brilliant and revelatory... a superb biography, which paints a vivid picture of the times and of her subject" by the Daily Telegraph. James, Duke of Monmouth, the cherished illegitimate son of Charles II, was born in exile the very year his grandfather was executed and the English monarchy abolished. Removed from his mother...

In 2020, the Queen finally appeared to be at ease in the modern world, helped by the new generation of Windsors. But then Harry and Meghan announced that they were leaving "The Firm," and Prince Andrew was relieved of his duties following revelations of his involvement with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, inflamed by a car-crash TV interview. Suddenly, the Faustian...

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In this "gripping . . . spectacular piece of reporting" (Ken Burns), a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist examines Senator Frank Church, the man at the centre of numerous investigations into the abuses of power within the American government. For decades now, America's national security state has grown ever bigger, ever more secretive and powerful, and...

For decades now, America's national security state has grown ever bigger, ever more secretive and powerful, and ever more abusive. Only once did someone manage to put a stop to any of it. Senator Frank Church of Idaho was an unlikely hero. He led congressional opposition to the Vietnam War and had become a scathing, radical critic of what he...

A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK 'A great, thrusting codpiece of a book. It is big, bombastic and richly brocaded... A jewel in its own right' The Times 'Evokes the painter and his world as vividly as a Holbein masterpiece. Beautifully written and illustrated, this book is a must for lovers of Tudor history' — Tracy Borman 'Full...

The Kennedys considered their home in Hyannis Port, Cape Cod, ‘The big white house’, to be a haven from their busy lives. Yet in the summer of 1944, against the backdrop of WWII, the events that unfolded for them there changed the family forever. Beginning in the May of that year, The Kennedys at Cape Cod, 1944 paints an intimate...

Ian Buruma's maternal grandparents, Bernard and Winifred (Bun & Win), wrote to each other regularly throughout their life together. The first letters were written in 1915, when Bun was still at school at Uppingham and Win was taking music lessons in Hampstead. They were married for more than sixty years, but the heart of their remarkable story lies within the...

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER. ‘The SAS and all it stands for is exemplified in men such as Mark ‘Billy’ Billingham. They are the backbone of the British military and I for one am thankful he is on our side!’ – Sir Ranulph Fiennes 'The most experienced Special Forces soldier in recent memory. The Hard Way is brutally brilliant.' – Tom...

The Guynd by Belinda Rathbone is a heartwarming tale of a woman from New England who falls for a charming Scottish landowner, only to find herself in a complex relationship with his family's 400-year-old ancestral estate. This story beautifully intertwines the elements of a house, a place, and a marriage. The word "Guynd" rhymes with "wind" and is Gaelic for...

The Great Successor is an irreverent yet insightful quest to understand the life of Kim Jong Un, one of the world's most secretive dictators. Kim's life is swathed in myth and propaganda, from the plainly silly—he supposedly ate so much Swiss cheese that his ankles gave way—to the grimly bloody stories of the ways his enemies and rival family members...

The revered civil rights activist and pioneering member of Congress chronicles her groundbreaking 1972 run for President as the first woman and person of colour—a work of immense historical importance that both captures and transcends its times, newly reissued to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of her campaign. “Shirley Chisholm created a path for me and for so many others. Today,...

In The Fords: An American Epic, Peter Collier and David Horowitz tell the riveting story of three generations of Fords, a dramatic story of conflict between fathers and sons played out against the backdrop of America's greatest industrial empire. The story begins with the first Henry Ford, the mechanical wizard, tinkerer, and "mad genius" who drove the automobile into the...

The Fog of War provides the background behind the Academy Award-winning documentary by Errol Morris. In this intriguing work, editors James G. Blight and Janet M. Lang, who served as academic advisors on the film, bring together film transcripts, documents, dialogues, and essays to explore the issues raised by Robert McNamara's life and work.

The Dissident is the story of how one fearless man, offended by the dishonesty and criminality of the Russian political system, mounted a relentless opposition movement and became President Vladimir Putin's most formidable rival—so despised that the Russian leader makes a point of never uttering Navalny's name. There's an old saying that Russia without corruption isn't Russia. Alexey Navalny refuses...

On 22 June 2013, Corporal Cameron Baird was a 2nd Commando Regiment Special Forces soldier when he led his platoon into a known Taliban stronghold to back up another Australian unit under heavy fire. In the prolonged firefight, Cameron was mortally wounded. In 2014, Cameron's bravery and courage under fire saw him posthumously awarded the 100th Victoria Cross, our highest...

The Collaborators is at once fascinating and frightening, an apposite tract for our increasingly mendacious, treacherous times." - John Banville On the face of it, the three characters here seem to have little in common - aside from the fact that each committed wartime acts that led some to see them as national heroes, and others as villains. All three...