are these the best non-fiction books of the year?

The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction has had a strong track record of rewarding good books since it was founded in 1999 as the Samuel Johnson Prize. Antony Beevor’s Stalingrad, Anna Funder’s Stasiland, Helen Macdonald’s H is for Hawk, Barbara Demick’s Nothing to Envy, James Shapiro’s 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare . . . all terrific reads.

The 13-strong longlist, announced today, for this year’s prize looks pretty strong. The judges have bucked the trend for awards panels by remembering that people actually read for pleasure: look, among the nominees is The Wager, a genuinely exciting piece of historical storytelling that is going to be turned into a film by Martin Scorsese. It’s also a reassuringly