Ken Wharton's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Between 1969 and 1998, over 4,000 people lost their lives in the small country of Northern Ireland. The vast majority of these deaths were sectarian in nature and involved ordinary civilians, killed by the various paramilitary groups. These organisations murdered freely and without remorse, considering life a cheap price to pay in the furtherance of their cause. The words 'Why us?' were uttered by many families whose lives were ripped asunder by The Troubles.

Thousands of innocents received a life sentence at the hands of the terrorists; these, then, are their words, the words of those who survived such attacks,… show more.

A major source for the BBC drama The Reckoning

Winner of the 2015 Gordon Burn Prize and the 2015 CWA Non-Fiction Dagger

Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize and the James Tait Black Prize

'An astonishing account' Observer

'A compulsive, colourful and chilling read' Sunday Times

'An extraordinary book' Mail on Sunday

Dan Davies spent more than a decade on a quest to find the real Jimmy Savile, and interviewed him extensively over a period of six years before his death. Dan also interviewed scores of people, many of them unobtainable while Savile was alive.

Jimmy Savile was cynical, calculating and… show more.

A Times History Book of the Year 2022 From the #1 bestselling historian Max Hastings 'the heart-stopping story of the missile crisis' Daily Telegraph

The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis was the most perilous event in history, when mankind faced a looming nuclear collision between the United States and Soviet Union. During those weeks, the world gazed into the abyss of potential annihilation.

Max Hastings's graphic new history tells the story from the viewpoints of national leaders, Russian officers, Cuban peasants, American pilots and British disarmers. Max Hastings deploys his accustomed blend of eye-witness interviews, archive documents and diaries, White House… show more.