Justin Marozzi

How dangerous is the Sunni-Shia schism?

6 January 2024 9:00 am

What unites the two groups is more fundamental than what divides them, says Barnaby Rogerson, and the more serious conflict among Muslims concerns ethnicity and language

How a small town in Ukraine stopped the Russians in their tracks

29 July 2023 9:00 am

Andrew Harding describes the hastily assembled ‘Dad’s Army’ – and formidable babushka – who sensationally resisted the Russian advance on Voznesensk last year

A 1,000-mile trek through the Caucasus finally clears the mind

15 July 2023 9:00 am

Scarred by reporting the Beslan school siege in 2004, Tom Parfitt embarks on a gruelling – and ultimately healing – journey from the Black Sea to the Caspian

The shocking truth behind the Baghdad bombings of 1950 and 1951

17 June 2023 9:00 am

Avi Shlaim claims to have uncovered undeniable proof that Zionist agents were responsible for targeting the Jewish community, forcing them to flee Iraq and settle in Israel

Letter from Ukraine

13 May 2023 9:00 am

Here be dragons, dog-headed men and women growing on trees

28 January 2023 9:00 am

Justin Marozzi celebrates the medieval naturalist Zakariyya Qazwini and his breathtaking bid to capture the marvels of creation

My 6,000-mile adventure of a lifetime

12 November 2022 9:00 am

‘Oh, you’ll hate it, Julia. It’s men talking about cars all the time. Really, really boring. You drive all day,…

How to tether your camel and other useful tips

29 October 2022 9:00 am

Here’s a treat for Christmas: a bona fide literary treasure for under a tenner. And a handsome little hardback, too,…

The Nazi influence in Egypt

6 August 2022 9:00 am

Justin Marozzi finds Egypt teeming with Germans after the second world war

Light and shade in the Holy Land – a century in spectacular images

14 May 2022 9:00 am

Justin Marozzi on the troubled history of a small, much-coveted country

Hubris, blunders and lies characterised the war in Afghanistan from the start

28 August 2021 9:00 am

There was certainly no shortage of excellent advice about war in Afghanistan offered to many American leaders by many people over many years, says Justin Marozzi

Edward Said — a lonely prophet of doom

13 March 2021 9:00 am

Even Edward Said would not have claimed to be ‘the 20th century’s most celebrated intellectual’. But neither was he ‘Professor of Terror’, says Justin Marozzi

Is there anything left worth joking about?

28 November 2020 9:00 am

Here are a couple of books that seek to tackle the difficult issue of comedy on the front line. One…

In just eight years Selim I became ‘God’s Shadow on Earth’

22 August 2020 9:00 am

Faber must take a rather dim view of British readers’ historical awareness these days. This is a biography of one…

In Afghanistan, Trump and the Taleban want the same thing – Americans out

24 August 2019 9:00 am

‘Incoming! Incoming! Incoming!’ As morning alarms go, this one leaves a lot to be desired. Normally I wake up to…

Is one of history’s most rousing speeches apocryphal?

15 June 2019 9:00 am

As rousing death-and-glory speeches go, it is one of the best. With a besieging Roman army only hours from storming…

The day Turkish democracy died

25 May 2019 9:00 am

‘It’s official. Turkey is a banana republic!’ My friend Mustapha, a serial entrepreneur, sends me a flurry of doom-laden WhatsApp…

Bring me my arrow of desire: the original Italian film poster for Pasolini’s 1974 Il Fiore delle Mille e Una Notte

How film fell for caliphs and slave girls

11 May 2019 9:00 am

Most of Hollywood’s Arabian Nights fantasies are, of course, unadulterated tosh. The Middle East, wrote the American film critic William…

Why do we love The Archers, when all the characters are loathsome?

23 March 2019 9:00 am

OK, Archers fans out there. All five million of you. Ask yourselves a straightforward question. Why on earth do you…

Levison Wood. Credit Simon Buxton

Boys’ Own adventures in the war-torn Middle East

10 November 2018 9:00 am

Ask most people whether they fancy a four-month, 5,000-mile trek across the Middle East and they might conclude you need…

Bactrian camels in the Khongoryn Els sand dunes of the Gobi Desert

The Empty Quarter is a great refuge for lonely hearts

2 June 2018 9:00 am

Here’s a treat for desert lovers. William Atkins, author of the widely admired book The Moor, has wisely exchanged the…

Who knew that Arabic has more than 30 words for wine?

31 March 2018 9:00 am

You know you’re in good hands when the dedication reads: ‘To the writers, drinkers and freethinkers of the Arab and…

Did the fabled Phoenicians ever actually exist?

13 January 2018 9:00 am

So the Phoenicians never existed. Herodotus, that unreliable old fibber, made it all up in the Histories. Is this really…

Originals: Jack Dempsey, left, in his 1919 title fight

Boxer shorts

19 August 2017 9:00 am

Chaps, be honest. Have you achieved nether-region nirvana? Twenty years ago I had reached the summit of underwear style and…