ResoluteReader

There are many places on earth, some of them tourist shrines, some of them deserted, covered by the sands of deserts or choked by the sur...

On 15th February 2003 up to two million people marched through the streets of London against the forthcoming war in Iraq. Around the globe...

This Iain Banks novel is about war and the consequences of war. In Bank's universe where societies span thousands of solar systems, a wa...

In the introduction to this, the revised and expanded version of the novel, Stephen King makes it clear that he thinks that the series of no...

Thud, Terry Pratchett's latest Discworld novel to hit paperback continues pretty much where the last few have left off. Once again, we a...

When Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum stood little chance. Both were less than 10 miles from the volcano, an...

The outbreak of war in 1914 was greeted in many countries by rejoicing. Indeed, many of the most ardent and eloquent opponents of the expec...

Francis Wheen wrote one of the best books about the life of Karl Marx, an accessible, interesting and often funny look at the great man...

The greenhouse gases that humans have emitted into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution will lead to an almost certain temperature...

When I was a kid, I read and re-read the "Swallows and Amazons" novels many times. The descriptions of children free to idle thei...

Predictably confusing, with razor sharp wit and a plot as seeped in bourbon, cigarette smoke and blood as any other novel staring Chandler...

The period of history before the Romans came to Britain gets little enough attention. Right at the end of his excellent and illuminating boo...

As a leading figure in the international anti-war movement, John Rees has probably had more opportunity to reflect, debate and discuss the...

It must be pretty tough sometimes when you're writing in an over-subscribed arena like crime fiction, to come up with an original story....

Antonio Gramsci is one of the most important revolutionaries of the crucial inter-war years. He’s also almost forgotten, perhaps because his...

The twentieth anniversary of the accident at Chernobyl has led to much reflection on the dangers of nuclear power. While figures are hotly d...

I’ve said elsewhere how much I liked Poppy Z Brite’s earlier works. They combined dark, fantastical plots, with Vampires, erotica and New O...

I have to admit that I took this to Italy with me, because I quite liked the idea of sitting reading an ancient historian in some pavement c...

A few months back I reviewed Paul Theroux’s book about travelling from Cairo to Cape town overland – Dark Star Safari , since I enjoyed it s...

Thomas Pakenham’s monumental book (my copy weighs in at 680 pages, excluding indices etc) documents the inglorious ‘scramble’ undertaken by ...