Not all editorially inclined publishers are also good salesmen, good businessmen, good managers. Christopher Falkus, though unorthodox, sometimes infuriating and often quite outrageous, delivered the goods for Weidenfeld & Nicolson for year after year in the 1970s when he was its managing director.
He was born in 1940, the twin son of the naturalist Hugh Falkus; neither Christopher nor his brother had an easy upbringing. Their mother was left to feed, clothe and educate her children on meagre resources. Despite, or perhaps partly because of this, the boys showed outstanding aptitude - both intellectual and physical. They went first to the Marist convent in Paignton and then to St Boniface's College, Plymouth. Christopher then went to University College, London, where he was awarded an outstanding First Class history degree and also won the Derby Prize. After a year as a BBC trainee and a period working for the children's partwork Knowledge, he emigrated to Australia as a Lecturer in Modern History at Queensland University. In Australia he blossomed - as teacher, researcher, tennis and squash player and cricketer. He also became an enthusiastic and knowledgeable naturalist. ( )

Good middle school book on Charles II. Lots of pictures, good use of language and paints a decent picture of the man himself. ( )