Mira Grant has written post-apocalyptic books about zombies, a couple of novels about killer mermaids, and the like. Her stories are often (always?) about empowered women, contain lots of blood and gore, and healthy doses…Read more…
A spectre is haunting Putin
A spectre is haunting Vladimir Putin — the spectre of Andrei Sakharov. Sakharov was a physicist and the father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb. He later became a world-famous campaigner for peace, democracy and human…Read more…
Review: Just One Thing: How simple changes can transform your life, by Dr Michael Mosley
Dr Michael Mosley’s latest best-seller (or soon-to-be bestseller) is one of a number of new books that promise massive improvements in your life — if you just do one tiny little thing. And yet —…Read more…
The Tories, Russia and Lord Palmerston’s Ghost
Nearly 170 years ago, Britain was at war with Russia and Karl Marx was convinced that the Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, was colluding secretly with the enemy. During his research in the British Museum Marx…Read more…
Review: Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper – Case Closed, by Patricia Cornwell
Patricia Cornwell is a very good writer of crime fiction. I have enjoyed several of her novels featuring Dr Kay Scarpetta. But I think she should have stuck to the fiction. This 365-page tome is…Read more…
The Israeli Opposition – from Politics to Protest
I had the opportunity last weekend to do something I’d rarely done during the years that I lived in Israel. I got to speak directly to leaders of the Israel Labour Party and Meretz. The…Read more…
And just 11 years later …
I have learned that an article of mine from The Guardian appeared in this book, which was published in 2012. It might have been nice to have heard that from the publisher, but …
Review: The East German Rising – 17th June 1953, by Stefan Brant (K. Harpprecht)
Barely eight years after the end of the Second World War, and with much of Berlin in ruins, workers in the Soviet Zone launched an extraordinary uprising. The trigger was an increase in the demands…Read more…
Qatargate: What the scandal reveals about the global trade union movement
In early December, the newly-elected leader of the International Trade Union Confederation, Luca Visentini, was arrested in Brussels as part of a major police operation targeting members of the European Parliament. Visentini was released conditionally…Read more…
Operation Basalt featured in Aurigny’s in-flight magazine
The in-flight magazine of Aurigny (Guernsey’s airline) is running a two-page feature which I wrote about the 1942 British commando raid on Sark – Operation Basalt. Download the PDF here: http://www.ericlee.info/issue26.pdf
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Review: Only Dull People Are Brilliant at Breakfast, by Oscar Wilde
A very short (52 pp) collection of the wit and wisdom of the witty and wise Oscar Wilde. Much of what he wrote here is nonsense, but much of it is the opposite — and…Read more…
Review: Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin and Russia’s War Against Ukraine, by Owen Matthews
This is a brilliant book. Owen Matthews, a veteran journalist covering Russia, tells the story of the run-up to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 and the months that followed. The book was…Read more…
Review: SAS: Rogue Heroes, by Ben Macintyre
Ben Macintyre is a great story-teller. But to see him at his best, he needs a great story to start with. Having watched the recent BBC series based on this book, I was keen to…Read more…
Review: Ghost Country, by Patrick Lee
Three weeks ago I read the first of the Travis Chase novels (The Breach) and in my review, I said that I would not be continuing with the series. But I lied. I’ve now completed…Read more…
Review: The Trees, by Percival Everett
This book, shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize, is very hard to categorise. It begins as a kind of police procedural, though one that is at times laugh-out-loud funny. It has elements of horror. And…Read more…
Review: The Breach, by Patrick Lee
This is the first of a series of sci-fi thrillers starring Travis Chase, ex-con and ex-cop. It is unimaginably silly, with a death count to rival actual wars, and yet … I was somewhat intrigued….Read more…
Review: The Bialy Eaters – The Story of a Bread and a Lost World, by Mimi Sheraton
I grew up with bialys in New York City. Places that sold bagels sold bialys. When you got bored of bagels, you had a bialy. But fast forward several decades, and I can barely remember…Read more…
Review: The Science of Self-Discipline: The Willpower, Mental Toughness, and Self-Control to Resist Temptation and Achieve Your Goals, by Peter Hollins
Peter Hollins has written a good, short, clear book explaining how all us can learn to be more self-disciplined (and get things done). He’s not the first to have done so, but I liked his…Read more…
Review: Assassination of the First Prime Minister of Georgia Noe Ramishvili, by Gela Suladze
The murder of the former Georgian Interior Minister Noe Ramishvili on a Paris street in 1930 would make a great thriller. It’s an incredible story and it involves a true villain, Lavrenty Beria, who publicly…Read more…
Review: Standing by the Wall: A Slough House Interlude, by Mick Herron
Every new book from British author Mick Herron is a cause for celebration. Even when the book isn’t actually a book. This “interlude” is more of a short story — a story in which appear…Read more…