Lead book review
Flights of fancy
Fieldwork can move the most rigorous scientist to lyricism, as Mark Cocker discovers
All Renaissance men now
With unlimited information just a click away, everyone can pass as a polymath today, says Philip Hensher
Nature fights back
Adrian Woolfson explains the essence of pandemics – and how we can expect many more of them
A tinpot Caesar
Mussolini dreamed of a new Roman empire and dominion over the Mediterranean. Two decades later he was hanging by his feet in a public square, as Ian Thomson relates
The inner circle from hell
Putin’s corrupt cronies may change, but the paranoid world view they all share remains the same, says Owen Matthews
Birds of a feather
Philip Hensher describes how Paris became a magnet for literary-minded lesbians in the early 20th century – where they soon caused quite a stir
A foul-weather family
Excess, incest and marital misery were in the blood. Frances Wilson uncovers several generations of infamous Byrons
A true revolutionary
Wordsworth’s reputation has been too long in decline, says Tom Williams. In the space of a decade he transformed English poetry, and his earlier works remain astonishing
Saviours of the world
Alan Johnson describes how four young men from Liverpool revived Britain, healed America and brought joy to millions
A resounding success
Gustav Mahler was a passionate enthusiast for the colossal in music. Even so, his mighty eighth symphony stands apart, says Philip Hensher
Riotous performances
Emma Smith examines the peculiarly disruptive effect of Shakespeare’s plays on American society over the centuries
The road to Tower Hill
In 1540, he, himself, Lord Cromwell fell victim to the king’s caprice. His execution brings to a close one of English literature’s great trilogies, says Mark Lawson
The cheapest, deadliest weapon
Nothing prepared Antony Beevor for this devastating exposé of the systematic use of rape in war and ethnic cleansing
The inside story
As an inmate, Chris Atkins discovered just how violent and chaotic prison life is. His diaries highlight a national scandal – and the dangerous incompetence of the Ministry of Justice, says Will Heaven
Out of order
In his autobiography, John Bercow takes his peerage as a given. But that might be scuppered by accusations of bullying, says Lynn Barber
The heroine of the plains
Calamity Jane’s legend as brave frontierswoman, crack shot and compassionate nurse to the wounded was nurtured largely by herself. The truth, says Sam Leith, was dismayingly different
Dresden: The Fire and the Darkness
Dresden defined the horror of war: revenge and cold-blooded murder. It still does, says Christopher Priest
A hollow, empty experiment
In 1973, a social psychologist from Stanford perpetrated one of the greatest scientific frauds of recent history. Its consequences still resonate today, says Andrew Scull
Carrying on loving: Elizabeth Hardwick’s and Robert Lowell’s remarkable correspondence throughout the 1970s
Since Robert Lowell’s sudden death in 1977 his critical reputation has suffered from the usual post-mortem slump. Interest in Lowell’s…
The Tudor dynasty owed everything to Margaret Beaufort’s machinations
Of the clutch of female powerbrokers who emerged during the civil wars of the English 15th century, the diminutive figure…
Who are today’s fictional heroes?
What’s a hero? There are probably at least two answers to that. One is that heroism is a moral quality:…
More juicy gossip from Kenneth ‘Climbing’ Rose
When this second volume of diaries begins in 1979, Kenneth Rose is 54 and well established as the author of…
As English spread over the subcontinent, India lost forever its rich Persianate literary heritage
In the seventh century, the Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang made an epic journey through the Gobi desert and over the…
When Cartier was the girls’ best friend
The word ‘jewel’ makes the heart beat a little faster. Great jewels have always epitomised beauty, love — illicit or…
The carnage inside Charlie Hebdo: an eyewitness’s account of the attack
It is almost five years since two trained jihadists went into the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris and killed…
