The announcement of the Samuel Johnson prize longlist earlier today reveals a nation troubled by god and war.
Richard Dawkins's attack on religion, The God Delusion, is in contention for Britain's richest non-fiction prize with Ian Buruma's account of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh's death at the hands of an Islamic extremist, Murder in Amsterdam, and a clutch of books that focus on struggles in the Middle East. No space was found on the list for either travel writing or popular science.
The chair of the judges, Helena Kennedy, was struck by the political tone of the list: "It is particularly interesting that current affairs and what is happening, in particular in Iran and Iraq, are at the forefront of non-fiction," she said.
The Washington Post's former bureau chief in Baghdad, Rajiv Chandrasekaran, is nominated for a book that confronts the Anglo-American coalition's disastrous occupation of Iraq head on, Imperial Life in the Emerald City. Also in contention for the £30,000 prize is Rory Stewart, with an account of his time as an administrator in post-Saddam Iraq, Occupational Hazards.
Dominic Streatfield appears on the list with Brainwash, a history of attempts at mind control, which traces the roots of interrogation and torture in the modern US military.
Other books on the longlist with a Middle Eastern flavour include Georgina Howell's biography of Britain's Oriental Secretary in Baghdad, Daughter of the Desert, Jo Tatchell's account of a poet's life in Saddam Hussein's Iraq, Nabeel's Song, and the 2003 Nobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi's memoir of life under Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran Awakening.
Claire Tomalin, Hermione Lee and Byron Rogers fly the flag for literary biography with heavyweight lives of Thomas Hardy, Edith Wharton and RS Thomas respectively. Jenny Uglow's life of Thomas Bewick, Nature's Engraver, is joined by William Dalrymple's biography of Bahadur Shah II, The Last Mughal, and Ruth Scurr's biography of Robespierre, Fatal Purity.
Memoirs from Martin Rowson and Brian Thompson join history from Adrian Tinniswood, Vic Gatrell, Peter Hennessey and Richard English to make up the rest of the 20-strong longlist.
"We've had an incredibly hard time choosing our longlist as the calibre of books was really astonishing," said Baroness Kennedy.
"After gorging ourselves on a feast of reading," she continued, "we settled finally on 20 books which we feel are truly outstanding."
She will be joined on the panel by the scientist and broadcaster Jim Al-Khalili, the writer and editor Diana Athill, the historian and journalist Tristram Hunt and the broadcaster and journalist Mark Lawson.
The shortlist will be announced on Thursday May 3 2007, and the winner at an awards ceremony on Monday June 18.
The 2006 Samuel Johnson prize was won by James Shapiro for his account of a year in the life of William Shakespeare, 1599.
The longlist in full:Murder in Amsterdam - Ian Buruma (Atlantic Books)
Imperial Life in the Emerald City - Rajiv Chandrasekaran (Bloomsbury)
The Last Mughal - William Dalrymple (Bloomsbury)
The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins (Transworld)
Iran Awakening - Shirin Ebadi (Ebury)
Irish Freedom - Richard English (Pan Macmillan)
City of Laughter - Vic Gatrell (Atlantic Books)
Having it so Good: Britain in the Fifties - Peter Hennessey (Allen Lane)
Daughter of the Desert - Georgina Howell (Pan Macmillan)
Edith Wharton - Hermione Lee (Random House)
The Man Who Went into the West - Byron Rogers (Aurum Press)
Stuff - Martin Rowson (Random House)
Fatal Purity - Ruth Scurr (Random House)
Occupational Hazards - Rory Stewart (Pan Macmillan)
Brainwash - Dominic Streatfeild (Hodder and Stoughton)
Nabeel's Song - Jo Tatchell (Sceptre Books)
Thomas Hardy: The Time-Torn Man - Claire Tomalin (Penguin)
The Verneys - Adrian Tinniswood (Jonathan Cape)
Clever Girl, A Sentimental Education - Brian Thompson (Atlantic Books)
Nature's Engraver - Jenny Uglow (Faber & Faber)