《布达佩斯》 Budapest. By Victor Sebestyen. W&N; 432 pages; £25
Forever caught between East and West, the capital of Hungary encapsulates the drama of central Europe in its wonders and horrors. The author, who left the city as a child after the uprising against communist rule in 1956, excels in describing Budapest’s Habsburg heyday, the historical role of its Jewish population and the hubris and humiliations that have helped shape the city.
东西方之间的城市布达佩斯，关于中欧的恐怖和惊奇。
从马扎儿人、哈布斯堡直到苏联和近代史。
《忠社之围》 The Siege of Loyalty House. By Jessie Childs. Bodley Head; 318 pages; £25
The broad subject of this poignant book is what happens to people during civil war: how quickly and imperceptibly order becomes chaos and decency yields to cruelty. In other words, how close to inhumanity humanity always is. The focus is on an episode in the English civil war, but the story is timeless.
美国内战历史的侧写，关于人性。
《那不勒斯的盘绕巨蛇》 The Serpent Coiled in Naples. By Marius Kociejowski. University of Chicago Press; 506 pages; $27.95. Haus Publishing; £20
To write about Naples, you really need to be a poet—or, even better, an antiquarian bookseller. This author is both and has produced a delightful work that is as eclectic, labyrinthine, ironic and shocking as the great Italian city itself.
那不勒斯的故事。
《贯串其中的管道》A Pipeline Runs Through It. By Keith Fisher. Allen Lane; 768 pages; £35
A sprawling, scrupulously researched history of oil from the Palaeolithic era to the first world war. Black gold has been as much a curse as a blessing for the people on whose land it has been found. A compelling read and an immensely valuable guide to a great and terrible industry. 石油的故事，一个巨大而可怖的产业的历史。
《世界：一部家庭史》 The World: A Family History. By Simon Sebag Montefiore. W&N; 1,344 pages; £35. To be published in America by Knopf in May; $45
Don’t be put off by the doorstopper length: this history of the world, told through the stories of eminent families, is a riveting page-turner. The author brings his cast of dynastic titans, rogues and psychopaths to life with pithy, witty pen portraits, ladling on the sex and violence. An epic that both entertains and informs.
用家庭POV来讲述的世界历史，生动有趣。
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