Books
Behind the Throne is a cracking read about a neglected subject – the royal household
Never judge a book by its cover. To look at, this is a coffee-table book with shiny pages which make…
It is not the masterpieces that were lost, but the collectors, Natalya Semenova rights a wrong
It is not as surprising at it sounds that two of the greatest collectors of modern art should have been…
The disaster of Vietnam and the men who can’t get over it
Many wars have outsized and enduring effects on the societies that fight them, but for Americans the Vietnam war has…
To reflect on the brilliance of your writing, you had better be sure of its brilliance
Nominative determinism is the term for that pleasing accord you occasionally find between name and profession: the immigration minister named…
A sinister feeling hangs over Sarah Moss’s claustrophobic sixth novel
Sarah Moss’s concise, claustrophobic sixth novel concerns the perils of family life. The narrator Silvie is a frustrated 17-year-old on…
![Cable and Deadpool recreate the image from the Sistine chapel (Deadpool 2) [Rex Shutterstock]](https://www.spectator.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/rexfeatures_9691437i.jpg?w=410&h=275&crop=1)
Which comes first, the events or the zeitgeist? Peter Biskind examines pop culture
Those who study culture — or think about public policy in relation to it — often wrestle with the classic…
Shashi Tharoor’s book is a polemic, says Kapil Komireddi – beware of Hindu nationalism
Most religions bind their adherents into a community of believers. Hinduism segregates them into castes. And people excluded from the…
Some novels are aptly named – Distortion is one of them
Coming 12 years after his acclaimed debut, Londonstani, Gautam Malkani’s second novel Distortion features a vivid argot, complicating and defamiliarising…
Henry Jeffreys is charmed by the irrepressible wine expert Oz Clarke
There are only two British television wine presenters taxi drivers have heard of, Jilly Goolden and Oz Clarke. Who can…
Oleg Gordievsky, the ultimate spy story — and Ben Macintyre, the best writer to tell it
Spy stories, whether the stuff of fictional thrillers or, as in the case of Sergei Skripal, the real deal —…
An old-school biography, a big subject, and a book as heavy as a house brick, Oscar reviewed
In the autumn of 1897, after two years in jail on a charge of ‘gross indecency’, Oscar Wilde absconded to…
Nietzsche’s intense friendship with Wagner forms the core of Sue Prideaux’s excellent new biography
In 1945, with the second world war won bar the shouting, Bertrand Russell polished off his brief examination of Friedrich…
Myth-making from ancient to modern – but Metamorphica doesn’t quite live up to Ovid
‘My spirit moves me to speak of forms changed into new bodies,’ proclaimed Ovid at the beginning of the Metamorphoses:…
The English clergy at their oddest – a compendium
As the wordy title of this book and the name of its author suggest, this is a faux-archaic, fogeyish journey…
Diarmaid MacCulloch delves deep into the soul of Thomas Cromwell – administrator, henchman and evangelical
The final moments of Hilary Mantel’s magnificent Wolf Hall see its central protagonist, Thomas Cromwell, trying to banish ghosts. Assailed…
Home at last – a celebration of 200 years of the Travellers Club
The Travellers Club was founded in 1819 to provide congenial surroundings for those who had ‘travelled outside the British Islands…
Two football books examine where money is taking the modern game
‘Football holds a mirror to ourselves,’ Michael Calvin asserts in State of Play. Modern football is angrier, more brutal, more…
Michael Palin follows the Erebus – an historic ‘adventure’ with a tragic outcome
In May 1845, HMS Erebus and her sister ship HMS Terror set sail for the Arctic, never to be seen…
Sarah Perry’s Melmoth is a great read, but not a great novel
‘What might commend so drab a creature to your sight, when overhead the low clouds split and the upturned bowl…
A hedge-fund protagonist – Gary Shteyngart takes aim in Lake Success
‘We lived in a country that rewarded its worst people. We lived in a society where the villains were favoured…
Ian Kershaw recounts Europe’s recovery from WWII – have the good times run their course?
When I reviewed the first volume of Sir Ian Kershaw’s wrist-breaking history of the last 100 years of Europe, To…
Self-Help goes mainstream – can Marianne Power survive her own quest?
Is there anyone left who’d still be mortified to have it known that they’d purchased, or maybe even benefited from,…
Lights – stories of the sea, and those whose mission is to save us
The story — or rather, stories — of how the British lighthouses were built has already withstood heavy and repeated…
Helen Parr’s intimate portrait of the Parachute Regiment – Our Boys – captures the essence of modern Britain
On the night of 13 June 1982, Dave Parr was hit by shellfire on Wireless Ridge. He was 19, a…
The history of Britain’s secret war on Napoleon is astonishing, inspiring and disturbing
Laws and sausages, we know, are better not seen in the making; and neither are ‘black ops’. Waterloo may have…
