ANDY HEDGECOCK is entertained by a playful novel that embeds a fictional game at its heart
Serbia: A Modern History
Marko Attila Hoare
Hurst, £65
THERE are certain cliches that are wise to avoid when reviewing a book, but then along comes a work that tempts you down that well-trodden path. The cliche in question is “exhaustive,” an epithet which Marko Hoare’s meticulous, groundbreaking and erudite Serbia: A Modern History thoroughly deserves.
An exhaustive book would normally demand an exhaustive review, but there is so much to say about the work that general remarks allied to a concentration on a couple of well-known periods might serve the reader better.
BRENT CUTLER is intrigued by the imperialist, supremacist and contradictory history of a word that is used all too easily
JOHN GREEN is fascinated by a very readable account of Britain’s involvement in South America
GORDON PARSONS steps warily through the pessimistic world view of an influential US conservative



