Bibliography, August 2018

BOTM: A. Hartley, The Zanzibar chest (2003)

R. Cowan, Common Ground (2015)

S. Fay & D. Kynaston, Arlott, Swanton and the Soul of English Cricket (2018)

R. Gough, History of Myddle (1700)

H. Lyttelton, As it occurred to me (2006)

C. Nixey The Darkening Age (2018)
A. Rajan, Twirlymen  (2010)

H. Rosling, Factfulness (2018)

D. Sandbrook, White Heat (2006)

Nixey first. I don't think it's the worst book I have ever read, as some reviewers have alleged, but it is terrible. Its faults are documented well here, to which I would add my huge irritation that it claims to advance a thesis, but has no narrative or chronological analysis, jumping from the third through seventh centuries with abandon. 

Everything else was much better. I think I would put Aidan Hartley's memoir top, though both Rosling and Fay & Kynaston's books were also outstanding. It's nicely written, with the right balance of personal and contextual that makes a good memoir, and, though some of the territory is well trodden (e.g., Rwanda), lots is not. Lots of it is also quite grim, so there's much credit in making it not only a engrossing read, but not a horrific one. It's also not too long: always welcome.