Communism
Paul Mason
The far-left celebrity broadcaster’s vision of the future falls into the same traps as all his fellow Marxists
Underrated: Václav Havel
A true revolutionary who showed his moral superiority over Communism by his magnanimity in victory
Farm Agents
The surprising story of Britain’s first animated feature, Animal Farm
Spanish Lies
Paul Preston’s exhaustive and admirable biography shines light on Santiago Carrillo, a relatively unknown figure, who played a key role in the restoration of Spanish democracy
The Leaning Tower of Dresden
In his epic novel ‘The Tower’ Uwe Tellkamp brilliantlydepicts the grotesque idiosyncrasies of the GDR’s bureaucracy
The Betrayal of Hong Kong
‘If the Chinese have shown cynical duplicity towards Hong Kong’s democrats, the British have been guilty of self-delusion’
Anthony Blunt: Art, Espionage and Treason
The Keeper of the Queen’s Pictures and Soviet spy sought out kindred spirits among artists who, like him, had lived double lives
Nadine Gordimer: ‘Comrade Madam’
A personal reminiscence of the Nobel laureate, whose anti-apartheid novels masked her own ruthless ideology
Message in a Bottle
Roger Scruton’s Notes from Underground is a loving portrait of the beauty and desolation of Communist-era Prague
A Sense of Belonging
That elusive sense of a homeland, Heimat, Mounk found only when he was free not to feel Jewish
