John Jolliffe
For me the most rewarding book of the year is The Polish Way by Adam Zamoyski (John Murray, £17.95). It surveys 1,000 years of Polish history and the Polish character, and there is hardly a dull mo- ment in either. Knowing his subject from inside, but disdaining the cliché-ridden 'romantic' approach, the author gives the reader the best insights from both worlds, Polish and non-Polish. It is hardly neces- sary to add that not all Poles will agree with all his conclusions since they have never all agreed about anything, but this is an endlessly fascinating and illuminating book, beautifully illustrated.
I was also enthralled by The Ghosts of Peace 1935-1945 by Richard Lamb (Michael Russell, £14.95). In spite of its rather clumsy title, it shows first what a mess Baldwin's and Chamberlain's govern- ments made of the task of preventing the war from happening, not least Eden by regarding Mussolini as the greater menace and driving him firmly into the arms of Hitler, and also all those who ignored the approaches of anti-Hitlerites such as Kleist, Beck and Weizsaecker. Secondly, it laments our terrible failure to outman- oeuvre and isolate the two dictators, after the war had begun, by showing the faintest interest in (let alone support for) the millions of their subjects who were bitterly hostile to them, and in the case of their heroic leaders such as Trott, Witzleben and Otto John, risked all for the cause. Again, some of the author's assumptions may be arguable, but the book raises intriguing questions from a point of view that is often seriously neglected. It will be indispensible especially for those who are interested in the period but born after its crucial import- ance was eclipsed by subsequent events.
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