Freezing their socks off

Veronica Horwell considers the differing perspectives of a Brit and an American in Afghanistan, in Josiah the Great by Ben Macintyre and The Places in Between by Rory Stewart.

One hell of a ride

It may have been called a 'diary dump' but Bill Clinton's My Life is still riveting, says Jonathan Freedland.

Do they fancy him?

David Aaronovitch on Peter Oborne and Simon Walters' unusually revealing portrait of Alastair Campbell, 'the Flashman of Downing Street.'

This sporting strife

Peter Oborne tells how one man's cricketing talent and resolve helped bring down the apartheid regime in Basil D'Oliveira - Cricket and Conspiracy

The appeal of zeal

Malise Ruthven argues that contemporary fundamentalism stems from a feeling of being under threat - and it is a worldwide tendency

Way ahead of her time

Gavin Lambert's outstanding life of Natalie Wood traces the troubled star's film career, love affairs and her marriage to Robert Wagner. But can it solve the mystery of her death?

The real reason women hate porn

It's just not good enough. There's plenty of evidence that women would be prolific consumers of pornography if only it was aimed at them

Read me like a book

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala tells the stories of her life. But fable and fact are intriguingly entwined in My Nine Lives

The choicest cut

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall takes the traditional, integrated approach to breeding animals for food, winning over Felicity Lawrence with The River Cottage Meat Book

Dram dream

Giles Foden knocks back the malt with Michael Jackson's guide to the spirit of life, Malt Whisky Companion

Yes sir, that’s my bagel

For Howard Jacobson, a passion for eating - and being seen to eat - was an essential part of his Jewish childhood. No wonder, then, that his new novel was conceived amid the fragrant delis and cafes of St John's Wood High Street.

Heavy metal guru

You don't have to be a fan to enjoy Seb Hunter's homage to noise, Hell Bent for Leather. For him, it all began at school when he first heard AC/DC...

I was a teenage nail biter

Colin Wilson's claims to intellectual greatness in his memoir, Dreaming to Some Purpose, are fatally undermined - by the author himself