MixedThe New Statesman (UK)In many ways rather limited ... Enough detail comes through to provide a vivid central thread to the narrative ... Ian Buruma knows how to tell a good story ... Enviably fluent and readable ... He has a keen eye for the telling anecdote and the illuminating quote ... Still, I have some major reservations about this book ... It is based on a quite narrow selection of source material ... Relies too much on sources that have been translated into English ... Doesn’t make any fresh contribution to knowledge ... But it is still a readable and engrossing narrative.
