4 JULY 1998, page 76

Clouds Without Silver Linings

John Redwood PROGRESS AND BARBARISM: THE WORLD IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY by Clive Pouting Chatto, f30, pp. 584 C live Ponting's massive book of 20th- century history is epic in......

Hamsters Or Heroes?

Philip Hensher ROUGH RIDE by Paul Kimmage Yellow Jersey, £8, pp. 260 T he Tour de France is one of those barbaric events which a truly civilised soci- ety would surely banish,......