Justin Marozzi, travel writer and historian, combines his two callings to great effect in Baghdad: City of Peace, City of Blood, with which he won the RSL Ondaatje Prize this week for a book “evoking the spirit of a place”. In passage after passage, reportage on the modern-day city leads smoothly into research on the ancient one. For a taste of the approach, see the extract I chose for Telegraph Travel, where you can still read passages from all six books short-listed for the prize.