This highly revisionist, hard-hitting book will I predict be highly controversial. Yet no-one will deny Gary Mead's scholarship, deep research and ability to express an argument with lucidity and passion, as well as his readiness to name names. The Ministry of Defence must now to listen to his arguments, and profoundly reform the way we reward - or more often fail to reward --our heroes - Andrew Roberts Victoria's Cross is a highly original, judicious book, which questions our long-held assumptions about Britain's highest honour. In beautifully lucid prose, Gary Mead reminds us of the complex background to the creation of the VC. More importantly, he reveals how this decoration, originally a means of recognizing exceptional individual gallantry, has, almost imperceptibly, come to be a potent political tool, far removed from its roots. This is a "must-read" book for anyone interested in military and social history. --Peter Hart

Gary Mead was a journalist for the Financial Times for ten years and has worked extensively with the BBC. He is the author of The Doughboys: America and the First World War (2000) and The Good Soldier (2007).