Want to know what books Andrew Cayley recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Andrew Cayley's favorite book recommendations of all time.
1
Primo Levi, Stuart Woolf, Paul Bailey | 4.68
'With the moral stamina and intellectual poise of a twentieth-century Titan, this slightly built, dutiful, unassuming chemist set out systematically to remember the German hell on earth, steadfastly to think it through, and then to render it comprehensible in lucid, unpretentious prose. He was profoundly in touch with the minutest workings of the most endearing human events and with the most contemptible. What has survived in Levi's writing isn't just his memory of the unbearable, but also, in The Periodic Table and The Wrench, his delight in what made the world exquisite to... more 'With the moral stamina and intellectual poise of a twentieth-century Titan, this slightly built, dutiful, unassuming chemist set out systematically to remember the German hell on earth, steadfastly to think it through, and then to render it comprehensible in lucid, unpretentious prose. He was profoundly in touch with the minutest workings of the most endearing human events and with the most contemptible. What has survived in Levi's writing isn't just his memory of the unbearable, but also, in The Periodic Table and The Wrench, his delight in what made the world exquisite to him. He was himself a magically endearing man, the most delicately forceful enchanter I've ever known' - Philip Roth. less 
Aleksandar HemonLevi regains reason, by treating his experience in Auschwitz as something that is subject to rational analysis. (Source)
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2
In this coloful, absorbing tale of Nelson's life on and off the high seas, Hibbert illuminates the admiral's personality, his personal and political friendships, his relationship with Sir William Hamilton, and his passionate love affair with Hamilton's wife, the beautiful Lady Emma, daughter of a blacksmith and once a London prostitute. Whether quarreling with royalty, wooing beautiful women around the world, or winning history's most famous sea battles, Hibbert's irascible Nelson is a character for all times. more In this coloful, absorbing tale of Nelson's life on and off the high seas, Hibbert illuminates the admiral's personality, his personal and political friendships, his relationship with Sir William Hamilton, and his passionate love affair with Hamilton's wife, the beautiful Lady Emma, daughter of a blacksmith and once a London prostitute. Whether quarreling with royalty, wooing beautiful women around the world, or winning history's most famous sea battles, Hibbert's irascible Nelson is a character for all times. less 
Andrew CayleyI read this book about three or four years ago. Christopher Hibbert is an absolutely wonderful biographer, another professional soldier. I seem to read a lot of books written by professional soldiers. (Source)
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3
Washington Post Book World Bestseller
“Customers are raving about Five Days in London.”—Amazon.com
“Gripping. . . . Lucaks’s story is not new . . . but [he] has transformed it into a memorable drama.”—M.F. Perutz, New York Review of Books
The days from May 24 to May 28, 1940 altered the course of the history of this century, as the members of the British War Cabinet debated whether to negotiate with Hitler or to continue what became known as the Second World War. The decisive importance of these five days is the focus... more Washington Post Book World Bestseller
“Customers are raving about Five Days in London.”—Amazon.com
“Gripping. . . . Lucaks’s story is not new . . . but [he] has transformed it into a memorable drama.”—M.F. Perutz, New York Review of Books
The days from May 24 to May 28, 1940 altered the course of the history of this century, as the members of the British War Cabinet debated whether to negotiate with Hitler or to continue what became known as the Second World War. The decisive importance of these five days is the focus of John Lukacs’s magisterial new book.
Lukacs takes us hour by hour into the critical unfolding of events at 10 Downing Street, where Churchill and the members of his cabinet were painfully considering their war responsibilities. We see how the military disasters taking place on the Continent—particularly the plight of the nearly 400,000 British soldiers bottled up in Dunkirk—affected Churchill’s fragile political situation, for he had been prime minister only a fortnight and was regarded as impetuous and hotheaded even by many of his own party. Lukacs also investigates the mood of the British people, drawing on newspaper and Mass-Observation reports that show how the citizenry, though only partly informed about the dangers that faced them, nevertheless began to support Churchill’s determination to stand fast.
Other historians have dealt with Churchill’s difficulties during this period, using the partial revelations of certain memoirs and private and public papers. But Lukacs is the first to convey the drama and importance of these days, and he does so in a compelling narrative that combines deep knowledge with high literary style. less Andrew CayleyYes. Actually, this book is in essence about the five days in May when Churchill had been Prime Minister just for a number of weeks. That was the time that a decision was being made as to whether or not the United Kingdom would come to some kind of arrangement with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany or whether the country would fight on. And John Lukacs explains the complex politics of the time. And,... (Source)
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4
Airey Neave, Rebecca West | 4.39
Andrew CayleyThis is a book that I was given by a friend of mine in the army when I was working at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal. Airey Neave was a soldier and a lawyer – a bit like me, I guess. He served in the infantry during the Second World War and it is very sad that he was blown up by the INLA in the House of Commons car park in 1979. It is an interesting book because it gives his personal account of... (Source)
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5
Of all the work bequeathed by to us by that generation of young men who fought in the trenches, Owen's is the most remarkable for its breadth of sympathy and its understanding of human suffering and tenderness, at home and on the battlefield.
This new, authoritative edition, indispensable to student and general reader alike, contains the texts of 103 poems and twelve fragments, among them thirty-three poems not previously published or otherwise available in paperback edition. Many of the most famous have important new readings; illuminating notes and a detailed... more Of all the work bequeathed by to us by that generation of young men who fought in the trenches, Owen's is the most remarkable for its breadth of sympathy and its understanding of human suffering and tenderness, at home and on the battlefield.
This new, authoritative edition, indispensable to student and general reader alike, contains the texts of 103 poems and twelve fragments, among them thirty-three poems not previously published or otherwise available in paperback edition. Many of the most famous have important new readings; illuminating notes and a detailed biographical table are also included. less 
Martin BellI had a battered edition I used to carry around with me. Owen speaks to me about the reality of warfare more than any other book about war (Source)
Andrew CayleyI think Owen found war terrifying and emotionally draining. And in many respects he wrote poetry to try and explain some of the things that he was seeing. What he does address in all of his poems about the First World War is the utter pity of the situation. (Source)
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