Patriot of Persia: Muhammad Mossadegh and a Very British Coup by Christopher de Bellaigue – review
This fascinating biography of a 1950s Persian nobleman and politician explains much of Iran's antipathy towards BritainIran is the only country in the world where people think that secretly, behind the charade, America is Britain's poodle. The eponymou...
Thinking the Twentieth Century by Tony Judt
Tony Judt's last book is an admirable assessment of intellectuals and politics in the last centuryIn this marvellous book, two explorers set out on a journey from which only one of them will return. Their unknown land is that often fearsome continent w...
Jacqueline Rose: a life in writing
'Victimhood is something that happens but when you turn it into an identity you're psychically and politically finished'One day, Jacqueline Rose came across a troubling passage in Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu. The narrator, Marcel, lies besid...
Rin Tin Tin by Susan Orlean
He had the world at his paws, and earned $1,000 a weekThe creature at the centre of this remarkable book is an enigma. We never really know what he is thinking, and in fact he may not think at all, in the ratiocinatory sense. Susan Orlean presents to u...
The Birth of Modern Britain by Francis Pryor – review
By Ian Pindar"In post-war years town centre developers did as much damage to Britain's historic towns and cities as Nazi aircraft," declares the archaeologist Francis Pryor (of TV's Time Team) in this chatty, rather rambling book, the last in his four-...
Anthony Sutcliffe obituary
Academic and writer who helped to develop the disciplines of urban and planning historyAnthony Sutcliffe, who has died after a long illness aged 69, was one of a select group of British academics who developed the disciplines of urban history and plann...
The Death of Mao by James Palmer
Disaster and intrigue in China after the cultural revolutionOn 12 May 2008, a devastating earthquake ripped apart Wenchuan county in Sichuan province, southwest China. Military and civilian rescuers arrived swiftly at the scene, saving c...
Cities of the Classical World by Colin McEvedy
A study of great cities of the past has morals for todayWhat makes a city? A simple mass of people, a great temple, a hub of learning, trade or transport? Colin McEvedy's idiosyncratic book, a survey of 120 "centres of ancient civilisation", doesn't as...
Trampling Out the Vintage by Frank Bardacke – review
The life and times of a charismatic labour leaderIt wasn't just British trade unions that seemed to have a death wish in the late 70s and early 80s. The brightest and bravest of the American unions, United Farm Workers, whose struggle against inhuman c...
Sue Arnold’s audiobook choice – review
The Forgotten Legion by Ben Kane, Vespasian by Robert Fabbri and Lives of the Twelve Caesars by SuetoniusThe Forgotten Legion, by Ben Kane, read by Michael Praed (17½hrs unabridged, BBC, £24.50)In 53BC an army of 35,000 Roman legionaries le...
The first sexual revolution
Adulterers and prostitutes could be executed and women were agreed to be more libidinous than men – then in the 18th century attitudes to sex underwent an extraordinary changeWe believe in sexual freedom. We take it for granted that consenting m...
Whitewashing Black History Month | Gary Younge