Lead book review
An unsuitable attachment to Nazism: Barbara Pym in the 1930s
Vicars, tea parties and village fetes were a far cry from Barbara Pym’s early enthusiasms, Philip Hensher reveals
Bob Dylan — from respected young songwriter to Voice of a Generation
Bob Dylan didn’t just assimilate the Great American Songbook – he vastly increased its size and variety, says Andrew Motion
Philip Roth — most meta of novelists, and most honest
Philip Roth was prepared to stare the soul resolutely in the face – and for that he can be forgiven most things, says David Baddiel
The making of a monster: Paul Kagame’s bloodstained past
We have all become Paul Kagame’s useful idiots, says Nicholas Shakespeare
Jordan Peterson is the Savonarola of our times
Philip Hensher feels he should be on Jordan Peterson’s side, but finds it a struggle
Edward Said — a lonely prophet of doom
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
Chips Channon’s diaries can read like a drunken round of Consequences
Chips Channon was conceited, snobbish, disloyal, voyeuristic and wrongheaded – all qualities most helpful to a great diarist, says Craig Brown
Up close and personal: voices from the Great War, week by week
As the Great War unfolds, voices we don’t usually hear describe with a terrible raw honesty the realities of their experience, says David Crane
The stuff of fiction: Elizabeth Bowen exploits her extra-marital affairs
Lara Feigel tells of the passion, pain and sexual exploitation involved in Elizabeth Bowen’s affair with a young married scholar
The serious rows at Marvel Comics
If Marvel characters seem dysfunctional, just look at their creators, says Dorian Lynskey
Imagining a future for John Keats — the novelist
Keats is a much stranger poet than we tend to realise – who shocked his first readers by his vulgarity and gross indecency, says Philip Hensher
Rescuing Elizabeth Barrett Browning from her wax-doll image
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was an ambitious, passionate, determined woman – not the sad-eyed invalid of legend, says Robert Douglas-Fairhurst
The art of the short story: what we can learn from the Russians
Viv Groskop takes a masterclass in the art of the short story
Dolly Parton represents all that’s best about America
Dolly Parton is the living embodiment of America’s best values, says Philip Hensher
The life and loves of Mary Wollstonecraft
Ruth Scurr reveals what an impulsive, life-loving individual Mary Wollstonecraft was
Will we soon see the end of conservatism as we know it?
The future of conservatism depends crucially on its ability to withstand the new hard right, says William Hague
The tug of war over the Rosetta Stone
The decipherment of the Rosetta Stone led to bitter feuding – but there was mutual curiosity and collaboration too, says Elizabeth Frood
Roy Strong’s towering egotism is really rather engaging
Stephen Bayley recalls his (mainly enjoyable) encounters with the flamboyant former museum director
Barack Obama was decidedly a man of action as well as words
Barack Obama was famous for his rhetoric, but his achievements show just what a steely political operator he was too, says Sam Leith
Harold Bloom finally betrays how little he really understood literature
Harold Bloom devoted his life to literature – but he had little feeling for words, says Philip Hensher
Books of the Year II — chosen by our regular reviewers
David Crane If nothing else, this has been a good time for catch-up. Theodor Fontane’s Effi Briest (translated by Walter…
Books of the year, chosen by our regular reviewers
Reviewers choose the books they have most enjoyed in 2020 – and a few that have disappointed them
The humble biscuit has a noble history
Prue Leith traces the biscuit’s surprisingly colourful history
Tom Bower pulls his punches with his life of Boris Johnson
The Prime Minister may have lost his bounce –but perhaps that’s no bad thing, says Lynn Barber
Behind the veil of secrecy: GCHQ emerges from the shadows
The brilliance of GCHQ can now be recognised – and about time too, says Sinclair McKay
