Stephen Kotkin’s Stalin is all paradox. He is pockmarked and physically unimpressive, yet charismatic; a gambler, but cautious; undeterred by the prospect of mass bloodshed, but with no interest in personal participation.

Stephen Kotkin, John P. Birkelund Professor in History and International Affairs at Princeton University and a research scholar at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, has won for Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941 (Penguin Press), a history of the world during the build-up to its most fateful hour, from the vantage point of Stalin’s seat of power.

The right has a complicated relationship with President Trump. Is it the Republicans or President Trump who are without a home? National Review Editor, Rich Lowry weighs in.

Fom insights into the Russian spy agency Sergei Skripal worked for, to a candid account from Stalin’s assassinations director – these books take you inside the closed world of espionage.