A glance at the index reveals this to be a book of Greek recipes without moussaka! Real Greek Foodhas a lot going for it already. The name derives from the restaurant The Real Greek opened in the fashionable East End of London (imagine being able to write such a phrase) in 1999 by Theodore Kyriakou to very considerable acclaim. Expert midwifery from food writer and journalist Charles Campion has effected a transfer of his cooking to the domestic realm with mouth-watering effect. This is Greek food of a type and quality very different from the usual dismal offerings of the dreaded moussaka, souvlakia, kleftiko and the rest. For one thing, Kyriakou is from Athens, not Cyprus, and seems to have been brought up with sophisticated culinary expectations: in his preface he pays tribute to his parents' devotion to "Greek gastronomy", not ordinarily a pairing of words easy to compute. Sample menus might include Belly Port with Leeks, Parchment-Wrapped Liver and Potted Chicken with Walnuts. Other unusual but delicious dishes are Pork and Quince Casserole, Crab Claws Stewed with Muscat Wine and Poached Rack of Lamb with Fennel. Desserts include Caramel and Hazelnut Tart and the intriguing, medieval-sounding, though obviously modern, Mustard Ice Creams, which tempers the hot tang of Dijon mustard with Greek honey. It all adds up to a very fine collection, smart and modern, recommended to anyone who feels there must be more to Greek cooking. —Robin Davidson

Undoubtedly one of the most useful books ever written.
(The New Republic )

American editor Robert Cowley has brought together those whom his meaty book dubs "the world's foremost military historians" to describe details of significant human conflicts and to construct plausible "counterfactual" events. The balance between the actual and the speculative varies between essays but the counterfactual is always used as "a tool to enhance the understanding of history".

Beginning with the siege of Jerusalem in 701 BC and ending with the Cold War, the contributors posit some amazing historical alternatives. Christianity and Islam, for example, may never have existed and Hitler might have been killed in the First World War. Generally taking a "Western" (sometimes specifically American) perspective, the far-reaching repercussions of real and imagined events are shown. Information gems include the fact that Genghis Khan's soldiers wore silk underwear and that the Kaiser almost met his end in a Wild West show stunt in 1889. What If?reveals that the path of history is a mix of action, reaction and chance. As the editor writes, "milliseconds can influence centuries" and "the difference can be as slight as the path of a bullet". A book of both facts and opinions, it can be argued with as well as learnt from. It might provide perfect fodder for an intellectual dinner party—although pondering the frightening unpredictability of past and future could damage your appetite! —Karen Tiley