Medieval and Modern History
Highly recommended. La Sombra del Viento (The Shadow of the Wind) is one of the best novels I've read in years, full of wit and humour - but don't take it too seriously, it's a sort of Alice in Wonderland for adults meshed with dark Gothic horror. If you know Spanish then do get the original.
"A book of exceptional literary quality ... it has the kind of intimacy found in the diary of Anne Frank" - Times Literary Supplement
Although published in 2006 I have only just read this book. It is the finest work I have read on the Civil War (1943-1945) in central and northern Italy either in Italian or English. This is an absolutely rivetting account and reads like a thriller. Highly recommended!
Prisoner of War - Voices From Captivity During the Second World War is an excellent book. Many collections of memories by different contributors tend to be pulled in different directions by contradictory accounts. This one, both in its parts and the whole, is highly successful. The evidence is overwhelming and relentlessly builds up a picture of endurance and human suffering on a grand scale. All is skilfully handled and masterfully linked by Charles Rollings. Both historians and the general public should be grateful to him for this definitive account of war-time captivity. Highly recommended.