The fog of war, when it ended in Europe in 1918, left four great empires in shambles. The Versailles peace conference, however, merely ushered in what could be called the fog of peace, as the battlefield became the conference table, a fog that continues to our day, as the maps of the Balkans, Africa, and the Middle East attest. What happened to the hopes of the world for justice and self-determination when they met at that table with the competing demands of new and old nationalisms? That is the stuff of Margaret MacMillan's award-winning study. Suzanne Toren's intuitive understanding of MacMillan's text raises her narration from mere reading to a new level of intimacy and immediacy. She is so in tune with the author's irony and nuance that it's difficult to believe we are only listening to history, not the author herself (great-granddaughter of Britain's David Lloyd George) recounting the events and personalities who met that spring and summer in Paris 1919. But history it is--and vital at that, if we are to understand how historic mistakes transform themselves later into world crises. P.E.F.
(c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2003
Duration: 26 hrs
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Macintyre’s latest is one of his best.
If there’s a branch of history devoted to espionage, Macintyre is its unchallenged dean. As narrator, Macintyre is conversational, confiding, unaffected, and companionable. He sounds like he’s been through it all. His popular narratives, among them A Spy Among Friends (2014) and Operation Mincemeat (2010), excel in precision of detail and adherence to fact, which is indeed often stranger than fiction. What novelist would conceive of a master spy with erectile dysfunction? This true history of a British spy roping in a Soviet spy in revolutionary Tehran is a primer in spycraft and agent management and offers an entirely new perspective on the Islamic Revolution and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Macintyre’s latest is one of his best.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2026
Duration: 17 hrs, 24 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217406906
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2026
A brilliant piece of work that proves love can survive war.
Journalists are trained to look for and deliver facts, and Irish reporter Hayden did that, but she also did something more: She looked for love amid war. Narrator Aoife McMahon, with her delightful Irish accent, brings us the stories Hayden found while reporting the news. She explores war's impact on people and their relationships. She tells stories of the courageous soldier in Ukraine who confesses discomfort during his home visits and queer people in Ghana, where their love could have deadly consequences. From battle-scarred countries the world over, including Uganda, Iraq, and Rwanda, McMahon relates these stories with a beautiful dignity. They reveal terror and horror but also unexpected love, compassion, and survival.
A brilliant piece of work that proves love can survive war.Pub Date: June 16, 2026
Duration: 9 hrs, 41 mins
DD ISBN: 9781797198644
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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