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Non-Fiction

Non-Violence: The History of a Dangerous Idea
By Mark Kurlansky

Mark Kurlansky made his name with short, fact-rich biographies of foodstuffs (Cod and Salt); he has now come up with the biography of a concept. While all the major religions preach non-violence, he notes, that has never stopped them taking a martial line when push came to shove. It has been left to individuals to play peacenik (the first American draft dodger, by the way, was a Mennonite who refused to fight in the Civil War) and take the opprobrium that inevitably followed. Pacifism may have won the ideological battle, says Kurlansky, but it is still losing the war. He sets out to discover not only why but also just what is so threatening about the white-feather brigade, looking at the likes of Tolstoy, Gandhi and Martin Luther King, among others, for his answers.

Jonathan Cape, £12.99

All For Love: Seven Centuries of Illicit Liaison By Val Horsler

For as long as the institution of marriage has existed, spouses have yearned for a bit on the side. Val Horsler has scoured the National Archives for the court records, divorce papers and diaries that show how centuries of extra-marital lust came to grief. There's Profumo and Wilde of course, but also little-known lovers, including the 17th-century woman accused of having carnal relations with her dog (it was clear the game was up when the dog was brought into court and it wagged its tail and made 'motions as it were to kiss her'). Horsler is not the most incisive writer, nor is she that interested in why people run such risks but her 'there but for the grace of God' list of misdemeanours is fascinating.

National Archives, £19.99

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Dancing into Battle: A Social History of the Battle of Waterloo
By Nick Foulkes

According to Nick Foulkes, better known for his floppy hair and lifestyle pieces for glossy magazines, the prospect of a battle during the Napoleonic wars was a good excuse for a party. The Duchess of Richmond's Ball, given on 15 June 1815 on the eve of Waterloo, has long been celebrated as a blaze of light before the bloodiness of the following days. But the Duchess wasn't the only hostess with the mostest: Brussels was buzzing with carpe diem celebrations, and officers rushed from one to the next in an effort to cram in as much of life as remained to them (assisted by high-born women keen to offer solace). Alternately gushing and arch, Foulkes is an alumnus of the Jennifer's Diary school of history.

Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £18.99

The Delectable Dollies: The Dolly Sisters, Icons of the Jazz Age
By Gary Chapman

The Dollies were Jennie and Rosie (or rather Yansci and Roszike), Hungarian identical twins who danced and slept their way to celebrity on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1920s and 1930s. They remain half known through Angela Carter's novel Wise Children; Gary Chapman wants to reclaim them for non-fiction. Their lovers included Gordon Selfridge - who spent £2m during his infatuation - and, almost inevitably, Edward VIII when Prince of Wales. Friends included Mary Pickford and Irving Berlin. Chapman makes the expected obeisances towards feminism, 'It' girls and male oppression but the Dollies knew just what they were up to: one favoured routine was to caper in a bulldog collar attached to a golden padlock. There's oppression and oppression.

Sutton, £16.99

Fiction

The Echo Maker
By Richard Powers

With Richard Ford and John Irving, Richard Powers is one of that group of American novelists jostling just behind the Roth/Updike generation. His characters usually wrestle with whether to join the rough and tumble of the real world or withdraw into themselves. In this book, Mark Schluter has the dilemma forced on him. A truck crash leaves him in a coma, and when he emerges he refuses to believe the sister who has come to care for him is who she says she is. As Karin and a neurologist attempt to put Mark's mind back together he attempts to recreate the night of his accident. Powers' own power lies in his adroit handling of the big themes - identity, memory, relationships.

Heinemann, £17.99

 

Piercing
By Ryu Murakami

Murakami has come up with a Lost in Translation noir. Kawashima Masayuki has a tidy modern Japanese life - a job as a graphic designer, a Tokyo flat, a wife and new-born daughter - yet his mind is as disordered as the world around him is ordered. Each night he finds himself staring into his daughter's cot with an ice-pick in his hand. What he must do is find someone else to murder so as not to kill her. This should not prove a problem: an erotic masseur in an anonymous hotel room seems perfect, except that his chosen victim turns out to be as deranged as he is. Murakami's psychological thriller overdoes the psychology at times but the spiral of murder he presents is genuinely chilling.

Bloomsbury, £10

Picture this

Four Magical Days in May

Earlier this year a creaking, 40-foot-high wooden elephant tramped through central London, accompanied by a giant 'little girl'. A million people looked on in amazement. Buses were diverted, roads closed and pavements dug up. The Sultan's Elephant was the biggest piece of street theatre Britain has ever seen, and it was created by the French company Royal de Luxe. For those unfortunate enough not to witness the ground-shaking spectacle itself, this collection of images by Sophie Laslett and Matthew Andrews should provide a vicarious thrill. And for those who did, it's a wonderful reminder.

Four Magical Days in May: How an Elephant won the Heart of a City (Artichoke Trust, £18)

Paperbacks

Jimmy Stewart

Was James Stewart - war hero and film embodiment of all that was best about America - really such a good egg? Michael Munn delves around rumours of a gay affair with Henry Fonda and hints of racism but in the end Stewart's eggdom remains uncracked.

Robson Books, £8.99

 


Second Honeymoon

Joanna Trollope has made middle-class, middle-age angst her own. This latest is an examination of empty nest syndrome. Will Edie find a new life after her son moves in with his girlfriend or will a husband alone not be enough?

Black Swan, £6.99

 


Envy

It's a well-known fact that psychoanalysts can be every bit as messed up as the people they treat. Will, Kathryn Harrison's shrink in this novel, has a shrink of his own and a past crawling with issues - a penchant for kinky sex being one of them.

Harper Perennial, £7.99

 

A Dictionary of the English Language

David Crystal has combed Dr Johnson's dictionary for this anthology: it's full not just of such delightful if forgotten words as 'foppling' and 'pickthank' but also occasional outbursts about anything the Doctor found irritating - the Scots, for instance.

Penguin Classics, £12.99