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Lead book review

Books of the Year I

Our regular reviewers choose the books they have most enjoyed reading in 2024

2 November 2024

9:00 AM

2 November 2024

9:00 AM

Jonathan Sumption

Barbara Emerson’s The First Cold War: Anglo-Russian Relations in the 19th Century (Hurst, £35) is an outstanding account of Britain’s relations with Russia at a time when ambassadors mattered and Britain was the only world power. No one has explained the Great Game in Central Asia or the intricacies of European dynastic politics so well.

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