More from Books
When Stalin was the lesser of two evils
Churchill detested Stalin, but Britain and the US needed his help against an even worse enemy. Giles Milton reveals the true nature of the Big Three’s dysfunctional relationship
Haunted by the past: Winterberg’s Last Journey, by Jaroslav Rudis, reviewed
A garrulous nonagenarian and his patient carer make a long train trip to Sarajevo, hoping to solve a decades-old murder mystery
China’s role in Soviet policy-making
Stalin and his successors’ struggle with the US and China reflected conflicting Soviet ambitions to be a superpower and to lead world revolution, says Sergey Radchenko
A tragedy waiting to happen: Tiananmen Square, by Lai Wen, reviewed
A moving coming-of-age novel sees a shy, introverted girl finding friends and freedom at Beijing university – until the authorities begin their murderous clamp-down
Heroines of antiquity – from Minoan Crete to Boudica’s Britain
Daisy Dunn’s ‘history of antiquity written through women’ includes warrior princesses, scheming matriarchs, poets, priestesses and tragic nymphs
Visitants from the past: The Ministry of Time, by Kaliane Bradley, reviewed
An experimental project transports people across centuries. Lieutenant Graham Gore, an Arctic explorer whisked from the 1840s to present-day London, is not overly impressed
My summer of love with God’s gift
Studying in Russia in 1994, Viv Groskop falls in love with a Ukrainian rock guitarist named Bogdan Bogdanovich and accompanies him on a visit home
The lion and the unicorn were fighting for the crown
Elizabeth I’s refusal to name an heir resulted in many claimants to the English throne in 1603 – with the son of the Queen of Scots finally prevailing
Will the photo of your lost loved one be replaced by a chatty robot?
It seems entirely possible that AI simulacra could be fashioned from the digital remains we now inadvertently leave behind, says Carl Öhman
My brilliant friend and betrayer, Inigo Philbrick
Orlando Whitfield remains tortured by his association with the charming art dealer convicted of wire fraud worth $86 million in 2022. But whose story is it to tell?
The glamour of grime: revisionist westerns of the 1970s
The success of Bonnie and Clyde in 1967 sparked Hollywood’s interest in making more modern-day westerns and road movies, with no clear boundaries between good and evil
How Margaret Thatcher could have saved London’s skyline
If, like Prince Albert, the then Prince Charles had been appointed head of the Royal Fine Art Commission, we might have been spared many architectural outrages
Was the flapper style of the 1920s so liberating?
Women certainly found the bob a welcome change – but with shorter skirts came agonising over diets, depilatories, make-up and dangerous cosmetic surgery
A walled garden in Suffolk yields up its secrets
When Olivia Laing began restoring the former property of a garden designer, she had no idea of the beauty that lay hidden by rampant weeds
Abba’s genius was never to write a happy love song
Benny and Björn may have composed some of the catchiest tunes ever, but even their bounciest melodies are ballasted with melancholy
A haunting mystery: Enlightenment, by Sarah Perry, reviewed
The story of the disappearance from an Essex manor house of a Romanian astronomer named Maria Vaduva starts to obsess a local journalist a century later
From Cleopatra to Elizabeth Taylor, women have found jewels irresistible
Helen Molesworth has produced a magnificent history of gemstones – their symbolism, provenance, and the legends surrounding the best ones
A middle-aged man in crisis: How to Make a Bomb, by Rupert Thomson, reviewed
Travelling home from an academic conference, Philip Notman suddenly feels sick and disorientated. But it will take a long time for him to identify the cause, and possible cure
Learning the art lingo: the people, periods and -isms
An aspiring artist turned journalist, Bianca Bosker wheedles her way into the New York art scene – of gallerists, collectors, glamour and gossip
The recklessness of George Mallory
Having quarrelled with his adept former fellow climber, Mallory attempted Everest in 1924 seriously ill-equipped, and taking an inexperienced 22-year-old with him instead
Women on a wind-swept island: Hagstone, by Sinéad Gleeson, reviewed
Nell, an artist, lives peacefully on an island, presumably off the west coast of Ireland. But all changes when a group of women occupy a crumbling convent overlooking the sea
Reading pulp fiction taught me how to write, said S.J. Perelman
The great humourist ascribes his success to the hours he spent deep in the adventures of Tarzan and Fu Manchu – and watching lurid B movies in afternoon cinemas
Why are the German authorities so reluctant to believe in neo-Nazi attacks?
When two fascist skinheads were seen fleeing from the murders of several Turkish shopkeepers in Nuremberg, the police continued to blame the ‘Turkish mafia’
Between the Iron Lady and the Wedding Cake: conflict in Belle Époque Paris
Two 19th-century buildings perfectly symbolised the growing friction between the capital’s progressives and traditionalists – the Eiffel Tower and Montmartre’s Sacré Coeur
Western economies are failing – but capitalism isn’t the problem
Matthew Lynn 25 May 2024 9:00 am
Left-wing polemicists accuse neoliberals, inspired by Friedrich Hayek, of secretly running the world – but if so, they’re not concealing the whole sinister project very well