I'm John Bachelors with my colleague Judy Dempsey, editor-in-chief of Strategic Europe.

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It's the wide-ranging thoughts of European intellectuals.

These are people who did very well in school and they continue to write very well.

And in the summertime, I've learned over these years,

Judy has an opportunity to offer people an occasion to comment

about what they're reading or watching on television, what the politics and fiction

matter to them.

And I read through the list and try to imagine I'm in Ireland or in Germany reading these things. And Judy, I start off by saying,

I discovered something I didn't know existed.

This is from Ben Tonra, a professor of international relations

at the University College Dublin.

It's Peter Aps's deterring Armageddon, a biography of NATO.

I don't know this and it seems to me a wonderful publication. It must be European only.

I'm going to go look for it. It's a wonderful example.

Now that's very heavy duty politics. I'm sorry not to begin with something light.

But do you have something heavy duty politics to recommend here, Judy?

Well, there's an awful lot to recommend. I must say, I don't want to duck the question,

but it's been an absolute joy to ask 25, 27, 29 individuals to give me their contributions.

Do I have any heavy duty? Well I mean I would be biased.

Curiously there was one or two novels which I really liked and I have to I suppose mention Stephen Erlinger's books on the Middle East.

He's very very good on this But there's such a mixture. I can't identify anyone

...