at Oxford he began writing in Tokyo, where he worked as an English teacher. He travelled whenever he was able, visiting more than eighty countries and seven continents, and tried his hands at learning a number of languages from Spanish and Italian to Japanese, Albanian, Romanian and Amharic Ethiopian. He has written a volume of themed short stories and five novels, including English Passengers, which was a finalist for the Booker Prize and won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award. His recent books include Rome: a History in Seven Sackings and Pilgrims.
At the Guardian, Kneale tagged ten "outstanding history books and novels exploring era-defining decisions made under pressure," including:
Five Days in London, May 1940 by John LukacsRead about another entry on the list.
As the British army retreated to Dunkirk, newly appointed prime minister Winston Churchill debated with his war cabinet – most of all with his predecessor, Neville Chamberlain, and foreign minister Lord Halifax – as to what to do: fight on or make peace with Hitler? Lukacs’s riveting account pulls the rug on a great misconception (shamefully repeated in the film Darkest Hour) and details how, at this crucial moment, Chamberlain used his considerable authority to support Churchill against Halifax to prevent a peace deal with the Nazis.
--Marshal Zeringue
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