Schindler's Ark, by Thomas Keneally (Coronet, £7.99 in UK), relates what Oskar Schindler did for the duration of the second World War, and shows one man's personal crusade against an apparently unbeatable system. His sympathy for the Jews is similar to that of many other Germans; however, he takes it a step further than everyone else and saves many Jews from the gas chamber, and in the process goes bankrupt. This story of one man's unprompted crusade is enthralling.