REVIEWS
Author: Charles Emmerson Publisher: Bodley Hea
Price:£25Released: 05 SeptemberCRUCIB
THIS NEW REVISIONIST WORK UNCOVERS HOW THE ‘INTER-WAR YEAR
MISNOMER, AND HOW THE FALLOUT OF WWI CONTINUED TO CHANGE
dRS’WEREA
ETHEWORLDBy 1917 the Great War had been raging for almost three years. Millions had been
killed or mutilated in an industrial conflict in exchange for little gain. Yet, 1917 was
also the year the war entered its long end, until finally, in November 1918, the guns
mercifully fell silent. Apart from the unimaginable loss of life, Europe had been torn
apart and was collapsing from the inside. The old order was slipping away, and a
new uncertain world was emerging.
Historian Charles Emmerson skilfully tells the story of this lingering end to
the Great War and Europe’s subsequent and dramatic transformation. In one
sense, it is a bleak story of German soldiers returning home forced to face battle
once again – this time against the communists – while their country drowned in
economic depression and hyperinflation. Ancient ruling dynasties are ended, the
Tsar of Russia murdered in a violent revolution and the Kaiser of Germany living
out his days in pitiful exile.
Nevertheless, others were more fortunate. Women received the vote and
ordinary people, once of little consequence in the social peckingorder,suddenly
found themselves thrust to prominence. Albert Einstein was awardedthe 1921
Nobel Prize in Physics while André Breton became a founder oftheSurrealist
Movement. It was the time of the Jazz Age, economic boom andt
Twenties. Yet, it was also a time which saw the emergence ofthe
Lenin,wholaterplaytheirpartin plungingEuropeintodarknessWriter: David Barbaree Publisher: Zaffre Price:£
Released: Out nowWhat responsibility does the writer of
historical fiction have to the historical
record? This tautly written, rather
bleak thriller of Imperial Roman
politics raises that question for the
reader. In his author’s note, David
Barbaree informs the reader that The
Exiled is a work of fiction and that he
has taken liberties that a novelist is
allowed. But since many readers of
historical fiction read the genre to be
informed as well as to be entertained,
it behoves the writer to inform his
reader where he has taken these
liberties. Unfortunately, Barbaree
does not. So the unsuspecting reader
might believe that Domitilla, the sister
of the Emperor Titus, was alive and a
key player in the events of his reign,
including the aftermath of the eruption
of Mount Vesuvius, when in fact so faras we know shedied
all the events ofthis
Barbaree’s enterta
as to the true fateof
Nero, which wasthe
novel, The Deposed,
The Exiled, and itsin
understandablegive
constructed. Perhap
taken as an imagina
the ‘What if?’ scena
not die, but livedon,
the scenes of Imper
As such, the book
best thought ofash
sans dragons andgo
but with similarscan
probably happened.
to the use of thepre
modern-day vocabul
fiction might alsowaTHE EXIL
A BLEAK THRILLER OF ROMAN POLITICS THAT PLAYS FAST ANDLOO
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ainingfancy
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ial politics.
kmightperhapsbe
istoricalfantasy,
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nt regardfor what
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esenttenseand
aryinhistorical
ant to be wary.EAOSEWITHHISTORY