This book has now gone through several editions, and was recently re-issued with a slightly different title. It is a very short history of the Battle of Britain of 1940-41 and in just a few…Read more…
If we can’t get a new government, let’s get a new Left
The Israeli Left failed yesterday in its attempt to change the leadership and the direction of the country. Maybe it’s time to change the Left instead. And let’s learn a lesson from Israel’s history…Read more…
Review: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, illustrated by Renée Nault
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale has been in the news a lot lately. Her book is now considered a classic, a recent television adaptation was a huge success, and a sequel is due out…Read more…
Review: Eugene V. Debs: A Graphic Biography by Noah Van Sciver, Paul Buhle, Steve Max and Dave Nance
The colourful Eugene V. Debs would make a wonderful subject for a graphic novel but unfortunately, this is not the book I’d recommend. A text-heavy graphic novel that cannot decide if…Read more…
Review: Utopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There, by Rutger Bregman
I admit to being a bit of a latecomer to this party, having only discovered Rutger Bregman following his extraordinary non-interview on Fox News recently. This is his best-selling book laying out the…Read more…
Don’t vote
If having a prime minister who faces a number of serious criminal charges doesn’t bother you because you think it’s all “fake news” cooked up by the left-wing media, you can relax because polls…Read more…
Review: A Berliner’s Luck – Surviving the Third Reich and World War II, by Fred A. Simon
This short memoir, written by the author when in his eighties, looks back at his experience as a German soldier during the Second World War. I would not recommend it to others. Sometimes in…Read more…
Review: Forgotten Legion: Sonderverbünde Bergmann in World War II, 1941-1945 by Eduard Abramian with Antonio J. Muñoz
There is a tendency, I think, among some who write about the Nazi Germans to become – too put it mildly – somewhat too close to their subject. That is the case with this book…Read more…
It’s time to talk about peace, not separation
The late Amos Oz had a very appealing way of describing his vision for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. “I don’t believe in a sudden burst of mutual love between Israel and Palestine,” he…Read more…
Review: How to Cure a Fanatic, by Amos Oz
This tiny little book, which you can read in under an hour, is a reminder of how much Amos Oz is missed today. The book consists of two short speeches he gave in Germany in…Read more…
Review: A Freewheelin’ Time, by Suze Rotolo
It was one of the iconic images of the early 1960s: a young Bob Dylan walking down a snow-covered street in Manhattan, looking down, while a young woman clutching his left arm walks with him,…Read more…
Review: Between Friends, by Amos Oz
I lived for nearly 18 years on a kibbutz. Amos Oz, who passed a way a few weeks ago, also lived for a number of years on a kibbutz. This collection of stories takes place…Read more…
Review: Transcription, by Kate Atkinson
Having just read a couple of non-fiction books about the British people who worked for a German victory in the Second World War, I thought it was time to read a work of fiction on…Read more…
Review: Sara, by Garth Ennis
This new graphic novel is a beautifully-drawn, powerfully-told story about a group of seven Soviet female snipers during the Second World War. Sara, the best shot in the group, is plagued by doubts…Read more…
Review: The Traitors: A True Story of Blood, Betrayal and Deceit, by Josh Ireland
Having just read The Meaning of Treason by Rebecca West I was keen to read a more recent account of the British subjects who betrayed their country and worked on behalf of Nazi Germany. I…Read more…
Review: The Meaning of Treason, by Rebecca West
This extraordinary book, published in 1949, tells the stories of the trials of a number of British subjects who betrayed their country during the Second World War. The bulk of the book is a long…Read more…
Ann Coulter wants Jared Kushner to be deported
Right-wing pundit Ann Coulter is furious at Donald Trump for, in her view, caving in to the Democrats and putting an end (for now) to the US federal government shutdown. Coulter has long criticised…Read more…
Israeli elections 2019: Battle of the insiders
“I was a minister in Netanyahu’s government and know it’s impossible to create change from there.” Those are the words of Avi Gabbay, the embattled leader of Israel’s rapidly-fading Labor Party. But…Read more…
Review: Soviet Opposition to Stalin – A case study in World War II, by George Fischer
This short book was an early history of Vlasov movement, which during the second world war aimed to create a Russian army of “liberation” that would fight side by side with the Germans…Read more…
Review: German Rule in Russia, 1941-1945 by Alexander Dallin
Alexander Dallin, the son of the well-known Menshevik David Dallin, published this book in 1957. More than sixty years on, it is probably still the definitive text on the subject. The book is a…Read more…