Want to know what books Boris Starling recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Boris Starling's favorite book recommendations of all time.
1
Brexit represents potentially the single greatest economic and foreign-policy challenge to the Irish state since the Second World War. There is hardly any area of Irish life that won't be affected.
More than any other journalist, RTE's long-time Brussels correspondent Tony Connelly has been helping the public make sense of the implications of Brexit for Ireland. Now, he tells the dramatic inside story of the Irish response to this political and economic earthquake and lays out the agenda for the uncertain years ahead.
Based on extensive interviews with insiders in... more Brexit represents potentially the single greatest economic and foreign-policy challenge to the Irish state since the Second World War. There is hardly any area of Irish life that won't be affected.
More than any other journalist, RTE's long-time Brussels correspondent Tony Connelly has been helping the public make sense of the implications of Brexit for Ireland. Now, he tells the dramatic inside story of the Irish response to this political and economic earthquake and lays out the agenda for the uncertain years ahead.
Based on extensive interviews with insiders in Dublin, London, Belfast and Brussels, Brexit and Ireland is full of insights about how the EU actually works, and of colourful and revealing stories from the corridors of power. It is a must-read for anyone who cares about Ireland's future.
'Required reading ... As Ireland navigates its way through Britain's withdrawal and the new Europe taking shape, this fine book offers an indispensable guide to the hazards and the opportunities along the way' Denis Staunton, Irish Times
'Excellent ... It ought to be read in every European capital ... Connelly examines how Brexit will affect every part of the Irish economy' John Bruton, Sunday Times
Definitive ... Connelly covers the politics very well, but he also writes vividly, with colour and pace and detail, about the businesses and communities that will be affected. It's a superb work of reporting, and a much needed one - Andrew Sparrow, Guardian
'One of the most enticing aspects of Connelly's book is his promise to tell you the inside story of the Irish response. This is delivered on ... He has an eye for human details that enrich the book: not only does he bring you into the room at Number 10 when Theresa May and Enda Kenny were engaged in the high-wire dance of working out the post-Brexit reality, but he tells you what they had for dessert ... The first-hand account of the mass mobilisation of Official Ireland's soft and hard power after the result, as negotiations got into gear, is engrossing' Jack Horgan-Jones, Sunday Business Post
'Magisterial ... Connelly has encyclopaedic knowledge of European diplomatic processes and the political realities of the border, and is able to use them to great effect' Donal O'Donovan, Irish Independent
'I was completely absorbed by Tony Connelly's Brexit and Ireland ... Connelly shows that the implications for the Irish Republic extend to the entire economy and its relationship with the EU' Brendan Simms, New Statesman Books of the Year
'A valuable guide through the Brexit labyrinth' Sunday Business Post Books of the Year less 
Boris StarlingThe EU has to have an external hard border at a point where the EU butts up against non-EU states. And yet Northern Ireland is British, part of the Common Travel Area, and the Republic of Ireland is a republic and part of the EU. They are logistically more or less the same place now. There’s no hard border. There has to be a hard border, but they don’t want one. That’s a circle that cannot really... (Source)
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2
In this provocative book, renowned public intellectual Ivan Krastev reflects on the future of the European Union--and its potential lack of a future. With far-right nationalist parties on the rise across the continent and the United Kingdom planning for Brexit, the European Union is in disarray and plagued by doubts as never before. Krastev includes chapters devoted to Europe's major problems (especially the political destabilization sparked by the more than 1.3 million migrants from the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia), the spread of right-wing populism (taking into account the... more In this provocative book, renowned public intellectual Ivan Krastev reflects on the future of the European Union--and its potential lack of a future. With far-right nationalist parties on the rise across the continent and the United Kingdom planning for Brexit, the European Union is in disarray and plagued by doubts as never before. Krastev includes chapters devoted to Europe's major problems (especially the political destabilization sparked by the more than 1.3 million migrants from the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia), the spread of right-wing populism (taking into account the election of Donald Trump in the United States), and the thorny issues facing member states on the eastern flank of the EU (including the threat posed by Vladimir Putin's Russia). He concludes by reflecting on the ominous political, economic, and geopolitical future that would await the continent if the Union itself begins to disintegrate. less See more recommendations for this book...
3
Alan Moore, David Lloyd | 4.43
"Remember, remember the fifth of November..."
A frightening and powerful tale of the loss of freedom and identity in a chillingly believable totalitarian world, V for Vendetta stands as one of the highest achievements of the comics medium and a defining work for creators Alan Moore and David Lloyd.
Set in an imagined future England that has given itself over to fascism, this groundbreaking story captures both the suffocating nature of life in an authoritarian police state and the redemptive power of the human spirit which rebels against it. Crafted with... more "Remember, remember the fifth of November..."
A frightening and powerful tale of the loss of freedom and identity in a chillingly believable totalitarian world, V for Vendetta stands as one of the highest achievements of the comics medium and a defining work for creators Alan Moore and David Lloyd.
Set in an imagined future England that has given itself over to fascism, this groundbreaking story captures both the suffocating nature of life in an authoritarian police state and the redemptive power of the human spirit which rebels against it. Crafted with sterling clarity and intelligence, V for Vendetta brings an unequaled depth of characterization and verisimilitude to its unflinching account of oppression and resistance. less Boris StarlingV for Vendetta is a graphic novel set in a future, fascist Britain. It mirrors 1984 in some ways. The fascists are called Norsefire. (Source)
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4
When Dr Horatio Lestoq, All Souls Prize Fellow and freelance journalist, discovers the body of a 91-year-old Admiral in suspicious circumstance, he is soon on the trail of more than a murderer.
For there is a scandal which goes to the very heart of the United States of Europe - the corrupt, bureaucratic, xenophobic Euro-superstate which has, in the 30 years since the Aachen Referendum, almost snuffed out British national identity.
Buckingham Palace, now Attali House, is the regional headquarters of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The now-defunct... more When Dr Horatio Lestoq, All Souls Prize Fellow and freelance journalist, discovers the body of a 91-year-old Admiral in suspicious circumstance, he is soon on the trail of more than a murderer.
For there is a scandal which goes to the very heart of the United States of Europe - the corrupt, bureaucratic, xenophobic Euro-superstate which has, in the 30 years since the Aachen Referendum, almost snuffed out British national identity.
Buckingham Palace, now Attali House, is the regional headquarters of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The now-defunct Houses of Parliament have been renamed The Westminster Heritage, Amenity and Leisuredrome. Even Horatio's namesake has removed from his column in Delors Square.
Can the overweight, snobbish, lecherous, asthmatic, cowardly Lestoq - the most unlikely of heroes - stay one stop ahead of his sinister pursuers? Is his new lover - Cleopatra Tallboys, the sexiest secret policewoman in Europol - all that she seems? Is it coincidental that William Mountbatten-Windsor, King of New Zealand and Pretender to his father's former throne, should be visiting London? Will the ghastly truth emerge of how British independence was extinguished by the all powerful European mega-state?
In this gripping fictional debut, the historian Andrew Roberts has created an Orwellian Britain that is a frightening possibility.
A thriller - and a warning to us all. less Boris StarlingIn the book, there’s a referendum in 2015 for Britain to join the United States of Europe, a referendum which is passed, bizarrely, 52% to 48%. The book is set in 2045 and the spiffily named hero, Horatio Lestocq, discovers that the referendum was carried only because of large-scale electoral fraud. And then he goes about trying to prove this. It’s a counterfactual in the way Robert Harris did... (Source)
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5
‘The best political book of the year’ Andrew Marr
‘A superb work of storytelling and reporting. Sets new benchmark for the writing of contemporary political history’ Andrew Sparrow, Guardian
The only book to tell the full story of how and why Britain voted to leave the EU.
Based on unrivalled access to all the key politicians and their advisors – including Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, George Osborne, Nigel Farage and Dominic Cummings, the mastermind of Vote Leave – Tim Shipman has written a political history that reads like a thriller, and... more ‘The best political book of the year’ Andrew Marr
‘A superb work of storytelling and reporting. Sets new benchmark for the writing of contemporary political history’ Andrew Sparrow, Guardian
The only book to tell the full story of how and why Britain voted to leave the EU.
Based on unrivalled access to all the key politicians and their advisors – including Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, George Osborne, Nigel Farage and Dominic Cummings, the mastermind of Vote Leave – Tim Shipman has written a political history that reads like a thriller, and offers a gripping, day-by-day account of what really happened behind-the-scenes in Downing Street, both Leave campaigns, the Labour Party, Ukip and Britain Stronger in Europe.
Shipman gives his readers a ringside seat on how decisions were made, mistakes justified and betrayals perpetrated. Filled with stories, anecdotes and juicy leaks the book does not seek to address the rights and wrongs of Brexit but to explore how and why David Cameron chose to take the biggest political gamble of his life and explain why he lost.
This is a story of calculation, attempted coups, individuals torn between principles and loyalty. All the events are here – from David Cameron’s pledge to hold a referendum, through to the campaign itself, his resignation as prime minister, the betrayals and rivalries that occurred during the race to find his successor to the arrival of Theresa May in Downing Street as Britain’s second female prime minister.
All Out War is a book about leaders and their closest aides, the decisions they make and how and why they make them, as well as how they feel when they turn out to be wrong. It is about men who make decisions that are intellectually consistent and – by their own measure – morally sound that are simultaneously disastrous for themselves and those closest to them. It is about how doing what you know has worked before doesn’t always work again. Most of all it is about asking the question: how far are you prepared to go to win? less 
Marc AndreessenInside story of how Britain decided to exit the EU. Economic self-destruction or national liberation? Repercussions to play out for decades. (Source)
Boris StarlingAll Out War is brilliant. It’s one of the best political books I’ve ever read. It’s 200,000 words and he wrote it in something like ten weeks. Just to produce that amount of words that quickly and for it to be so good is really phenomenal. There’s the old cliche about journalism being the first draft of history. This really is. (Source)
Andrew HindmoorAll Out War and Fallout are consummate insider accounts of the politics of the last few years. These are events we’re still living through, and the third book in the trilogy will be out later this year. Both are really substantive books that I give to my students. They’re very long and very detailed, not lightweight books by any means. He’s got this amazing capacity to marshal the minutiae of... (Source)
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