MICHAL BONCZA recommends a minimalist installation that prompts intriguing connotations
The Crimea - a History
Neil Kent, Hurst, £16.99
THIS fascinating history through the ages is essential reading for all those wishing to understand the background to the present conflict in Ukraine. In this ongoing war between Ukraine as a Nato proxy and Russia, the Crimea has played a key role.
It shapes the headlines much as it did some 160 years ago, when the Crimean War pitted Britain, France and Turkey against tsarist Russia. Yet few books have been published on the history of this peninsula. For many readers, Crimea seems as remote today as it was when colonised by the ancient Greeks.
The defence secretary’s resignation reveals not a split over principle but a dispute over pace of military spending, as Britain’s political Establishment unites behind deeper Nato commitments, argues NICK WRIGHT
STEVE ANDREW is intrigued by a timely and well-researched book that demonstrates the conflicted history of the central Asian country
BRENT CUTLER is intrigued by the imperialist, supremacist and contradictory history of a word that is used all too easily


