Norman Stone
World on Fire
In the early 1990s, the Frankfurter Allgemeine ran a questionnaire, apparently thought up by Proust, to divine the respondents’ character. One question was: ‘Which military achievement do you most admire?’ The limply correct answer, given by most Germans, was ‘none’. Isaiah Berlin wrote ‘the Battle of Britain’, an ingenious answer. During 1940, the general assumption was that the Nazis were militarily superior; some people thought that it would have made sense to find out what Hitler’s terms were. He had overthrown France in a few weeks – in a decisive afternoon, even, when his tanks crossed the River Meuse at Sedan. The British miraculously managed to lift 330,000 men from the trap at Dunkirk, but they left all their equipment behind. Why not at least enquire what Hitler had in mind?
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'The authors do not shrink from spelling out the scale of the killings when the Rhodesians made long-distance raids on guerrilla camps in Mozambique and Zambia.'
Xan Smiley on how Rhodesia became Zimbabwe.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/what-the-secret-agent-saw
'Thirkell was a product of her time and her class. For her there are no sacred cows, barring those that win ribbons at the Barchester Agricultural.'
The novelist Angela Thirkell is due a revival, says Patricia T O'Conner (£).
https://literaryreview.co.uk/good-gad
'Only in Britain, perhaps, could spy chiefs – conventionally viewed as masters of subterfuge – be so highly regarded as ethical guides.'
https://literaryreview.co.uk/the-spy-who-taught-me