The samurai’s history and legacy, Angela Merkel’s 21st-century military and a new aviation festival

A new exhibition at the British Museum explores the mythmaking of Japan’s feudal warriors

It’s a sunny summer afternoon in a verdant corner of the Essex countryside. A pretty pastoral landscape lies before us, with cattle sheltering in the shade of oak trees, rolling green fields, and a gr

John Tolan Islam A new history from Muhammad to the present 304pp. Princeton University Press. £25 (US $29.95). James McDougall Worlds of Islam A global history 608pp. Allen Lane. £40. Elizabeth Drays

Centuries before Samarkand’s stately mosques, mausoleums and madrassas (Islamic schools) were built, a trading hub arose on what became known as the Silk Road. The site of the first ancient settlement

The grisly fate of more than 16,000 soldiers and civilians during the First Anglo-Afghan War serves as a timeless lesson in hubris and bad leadership