Why did the Nazis lose? And what brought about that defeat? For those readers familiar with the massive amount of scholarly and popular literature of World War II, this book will reveal no great surprises; however, Geoffrey P Megargee's examination of the German General Staff, both in terms of its structure and strong personalities, describes its function, untangles its dysfunction, and, ultimately, provides the kind of clear critical analysis most welcome in the complex world of historical writing, says Robert C Doyle

Paul John Eakin has written an important book for whoever teaches autobiography as a genre, reads it as a source of pleasure and insight, or might be considering writing their own autobiography. "How Our Lives Become Stories" is thoroughly researched, and carefully written. Even before he starts to discuss how autobiographies ever get to be written, or how one person feels the need to write one, Eakin discusses the very existence of that which needs: the self, writes Eva Bueno

The last word comes from Dmitri Nabokov's memoir of his father, originally read at a memorial gathering in New York in 1977. "A few days before he died there was a moment I remember with special clarity. During our penultimate farewell, after I had kissed his still-warm forehead - as I had for years when saying goodnight or goodbye - tears suddenly welled in Father's eyes. I asked him why. He replied that a certain butterfly was already on the wing; and his eyes told me he no longer hoped that he would live to pursue it again", says Subir Ghosh

Orvar Lofgren simply doesn't present his material in this way, although he almost always flirts with doing so. It's as if the author, in conjunction with the University of California Press, has made an effort to produce a scholarly book, which uses words like "sociogram," in the form of a popular survey, which is as likely to cite the comic strip, Doonesbury, as yet another French sociologist. Few of the subjects examined in this book are original. What's original is that so much-a few pages of mini-history on the postcard, a paragraph on the pleasures of "theme park slums"-is included in the book, points out Terry Caesar

Evolutionary science may said to be still in its infancy. Many theories pertaining to evolutionary psychology, hence, seem fantastic. Geoffrey Miller's theories about sexual selection in evolution has drawn mixed reactions. While many have dismissed Miller as a capricious storyteller, taking his theories with more than a pinch of salt; still others have found nothing wrong with them. Perhaps it depends on which side of the evolutionary divide one is on, feels Gene Evans