20 non-fiction holiday reading tips: Biographies, history, sport, music and more...   

Salman Rushdie's account of the attack on him, an inspiring tale from the Holocaust, and a biography of Joni Mitchell feature in Richard Fitzpatrick's non-fiction tips 

Some of Richard Fitzpatrick's summer selections

1. A Faithful Spy: The Life and Times of an MI6 and MI5 Officer, by Jimmy Burns 

Walter Bell was a British Cold War spy recruited to espionage in the 1930s. His biography sizzles with fascinating portraits of key historical figures in his drama, including J. Edgar Hoover, Russian spies Donald Maclean and Kim Philby, and Bill Stephenson, allegedly Ian Fleming’s inspiration for James Bond. Written with the pace of a thriller, it’s a riveting story of a flawed individual trying to navigate a murky, morally compromised world.