Want to know what books Richard Beeston recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Richard Beeston's favorite book recommendations of all time.
1
As British liaison officer to the CIA & FBI in 1949, Kim Philby held a position at the heart of the Western intelligence war against the Soviets. The quintessential Englishman, Philby was also an officer in the KGB. Here is the story that Philby revealed to the only Western journalist he trusted. 16 pages of photos. more As British liaison officer to the CIA & FBI in 1949, Kim Philby held a position at the heart of the Western intelligence war against the Soviets. The quintessential Englishman, Philby was also an officer in the KGB. Here is the story that Philby revealed to the only Western journalist he trusted. 16 pages of photos. less 
Richard BeestonThat’s a biography really. Knightley says he’s the only Western journalist to interview Philby in depth after his defection to the Soviet Union in 1963. He seems to have got closer to Philby than anyone else. (Source)
See more recommendations for this book...
2
The Balkan Trilogy is the story of a marriage and of a war, a vast, teeming, and complex masterpiece in which Olivia Manning brings the uncertainty and adventure of civilian existence under political and military siege to vibrant life. Manning’s focus is not the battlefield but the café and kitchen, the bedroom and street, the fabric of the everyday world that has been irrevocably changed by war, yet remains unchanged.
At the heart of the trilogy are newlyweds Guy and Harriet Pringle, who arrive in Bucharest—the so-called Paris of the East—in the fall of 1939, just weeks... more The Balkan Trilogy is the story of a marriage and of a war, a vast, teeming, and complex masterpiece in which Olivia Manning brings the uncertainty and adventure of civilian existence under political and military siege to vibrant life. Manning’s focus is not the battlefield but the café and kitchen, the bedroom and street, the fabric of the everyday world that has been irrevocably changed by war, yet remains unchanged.
At the heart of the trilogy are newlyweds Guy and Harriet Pringle, who arrive in Bucharest—the so-called Paris of the East—in the fall of 1939, just weeks after the German invasion of Poland. Guy, an Englishman teaching at the university, is as wantonly gregarious as his wife is introverted, and Harriet is shocked to discover that she must share her adored husband with a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. Other surprises follow: Romania joins the Axis, and before long German soldiers overrun the capital. The Pringles flee south to Greece, part of a group of refugees made up of White Russians, journalists, con artists, and dignitaries. In Athens, however, the couple will face a new challenge of their own, as great in its way as the still-expanding theater of war. less Richard BeestonI think she was one of the very best novelists of the 20th century. These books, The Balkan Trilogy – and The Levant Trilogy – were her best pieces. What I found fascinating was all the drama of the Second World War in rather peripheral places. But the drama and the feeling of the war was written against a background of a young couple who had just got married and who were very different in their... (Source)
See more recommendations for this book...
3
Richard BeestonMiller’s book is the most accurate and detailed account of this little known part of the First World War. A fascinating epic about an amazing German general, von Lettow-Vorbeck. He was in his early 40s when he arrived in what is now Tanzania, in those days German East Africa. It’s an account of his campaign against the Allies, which lasted throughout the entire war. In fact he was still fighting... (Source)
See more recommendations for this book...
4
This is the classic true adventure story of a man who by the pen, the sword and the diplomatic pouch influenced some of the most significant events of our era. Here Fitzroy Maclean recounts his extraordinary adventures in Soviet Central Asia, in the Western Desert, where he specialized in hair-raising commando-style raids behind enemy lines, and with Tito's partisans during the last months of the German occupation of Yugoslavia. An enthralling narrative, brilliantly told, "Eastern Approaches" is also a vivid personal view of episodes that have already become part of history. more This is the classic true adventure story of a man who by the pen, the sword and the diplomatic pouch influenced some of the most significant events of our era. Here Fitzroy Maclean recounts his extraordinary adventures in Soviet Central Asia, in the Western Desert, where he specialized in hair-raising commando-style raids behind enemy lines, and with Tito's partisans during the last months of the German occupation of Yugoslavia. An enthralling narrative, brilliantly told, "Eastern Approaches" is also a vivid personal view of episodes that have already become part of history. less Richard BeestonMaclean was one of the great characters of the 20th century. He was a junior diplomat in Moscow in the late 30s and then went on to join the SAS. During the war he kidnapped a Persian general who had collaborated with the Nazis. He was also a friend of Ian Fleming and partly an inspiration for the James Bond character. His account of the Soviet Union in the 30s was quite brilliant. A lot of... (Source)
See more recommendations for this book...
5
In "Scoop, " surreptitiously dubbed "a newspaper adventure, " Waugh flays Fleet Street and the social pastimes of its war correspondants as he tells how William Boot became the star of British super-journalism an how, leaving part of his shirt in the claws of the lovely Katchen, he returned from Ishmaelia to London as the "Daily's Beast's" more accoladed overseas reporter. more In "Scoop, " surreptitiously dubbed "a newspaper adventure, " Waugh flays Fleet Street and the social pastimes of its war correspondants as he tells how William Boot became the star of British super-journalism an how, leaving part of his shirt in the claws of the lovely Katchen, he returned from Ishmaelia to London as the "Daily's Beast's" more accoladed overseas reporter. less 
William BoydEverybody remembers Fleet Street and journalism and Lord Copper and The Daily Beast but the novel is about a classic, almost Shakespearean, case of mistaken identity. (Source)
Robert CottrellJournalists would pride themselves on their amateurism, and Scoop shoves that back at them in spades. (Source)
William BoydEverybody remembers Fleet Street and journalism and Lord Copper and The Daily Beast but the novel is about a classic, almost Shakespearean, case of mistaken identity. (Source)
See more recommendations for this book...
Don't have time to read Richard Beeston's favorite books? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.