Lead book review

‘Jerusalem’ is a rousing anthem – but who knows what the words mean?

9 July 2022 9:00 am

‘Jerusalem’ may be our unofficial national anthem, but don’t ask anyone who sings it to tell you what it means, says Philip Hensher

Is Gone with the Wind to blame for Trumpism?

2 July 2022 9:00 am

Selfish, acquisitive, ignorant and vain, Gone with the Wind’s heroine not only resembles Donald Trump – she may even be his role model, says Greg Garrett

Fish that swim backwards – and other natural wonders

25 June 2022 9:00 am

With the technologies at our disposal, we can in fact now know what it’s like to be a bat, says Caspar Henderson

Was Jane Morris a sphinx without a secret?

18 June 2022 9:00 am

Jane Morris, the Pre-Raphaelites’ favourite model, remains as enigmatic as ever, says Frances Wilson

A glimmer of hope for the blue planet

11 June 2022 9:00 am

David Profumo wonders whether newly created marine reserves can really reverse decades of devastation

Is T.S. Eliot’s great aura fading?

4 June 2022 9:00 am

Cracks are beginning to appear in T.S. Eliot’s once unassailable reputation, says Philip Hensher

The lonely genius of Bronislava Nijinska

28 May 2022 9:00 am

Bronislava Nijinska was constantly undermined in her lifetime – most cruelly by her brother, says Sarah Crompton

For ruthless inhumanity, the Bolsheviks were unbeatable

21 May 2022 9:00 am

Sara Wheeler describes the appalling brutality of the Russian Revolution and its far-reaching aftermath

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

Disregarded for decades, Jean Rhys stayed true to her vision of life

7 May 2022 9:00 am

Jean Rhys lived a vagabond life – but she wrote about gloom and squalor with luminous purity and a poet’s care, says Lucasta Miller

You can make anything up about the royal family and it will be printed as a matter of fact

30 April 2022 9:00 am

Royal gossip is largely invented, says Philip Hensher – but Tina Brown repeats it regardless

Nymphomaniac, fearless campaigner, alcoholic – Nancy Cunard was all this and more

23 April 2022 9:00 am

Nancy Cunard’s defiance of convention began early, fuelled by bitter resentment towards her mother, says Jane Ridley

A pure original: the inventive genius of John Donne

16 April 2022 9:00 am

John Donne sounds like nobody else, and his poems invite us to feel that we might know him, says Daniel Swift

Norman Scott has the last word on a very English scandal

9 April 2022 9:00 am

Norman Scott’s long-anticipated memoir reveals the British Establishment at its worst, says Roger Lewis

Pablo Picasso in love and war

2 April 2022 9:00 am

As Europe descended into chaos, the middle-aged Picasso remained as bullish as ever, says Craig Raine

Another fallen idol: the myth of Ferdinand Magellan debunked

26 March 2022 9:00 am

Ferdinand Magellan’s fame was largely undeserved. Horatio Clare sees the explorer cut down to size

When Oxford life resembled a great satirical novel

19 March 2022 9:00 am

Paula Byrne describes life at Oxford University in its eccentric heyday

Graham Robb deserves to be a French national treasure

12 March 2022 9:00 am

Philip Hensher is enthralled by Graham Robb’s evocative new history of France

The fuss over Mary Seacole’s statue has obscured the real person

5 March 2022 9:00 am

Mary Seacole may not have qualified as a nurse in the modern sense, but British troops benefited greatly from her healing skills, says Andrew Lycett

Truly magnificent: the splendour of Suleiman I

26 February 2022 9:00 am

Suleiman I richly deserved his epithet, as this vivid account of his early years illustrates, says Jason Burke

Masters of the opium trade: the fabulous wealth of the Sassoons

19 February 2022 9:00 am

David Abulafia admires the shrewdness, generosity and panache of the Sassoons over many generations

Watcher of the skies: John Constable, painter and meteorologist

12 February 2022 9:00 am

Philip Hensher describes how John Constable’s energy and imagination freed British art from the constraints of the past

Eugenics will never work — thankfully

5 February 2022 9:00 am

The creation of a master race is an ancient idea which, thankfully, can never work, says Sam Leith

The women who challenged a stale, male philosophy

29 January 2022 9:00 am

Kathleen Stock describes how four women undergraduates in 1940s Oxford challenged an arid, modish philosophy

Formidable woman of letters: the grit and wisdom of Elizabeth Hardwick

22 January 2022 9:00 am

Elaine Showalter celebrates the grit and wisdom of Elizabeth Hardwick