Books
To Hell in a handcart — again
Despite the offer of joy proposed in the subtitle, this is a deeply troubling book by one of Britain’s foremost…
The bravest of the brave
‘It is the task of a Patton or a Napoleon to persuade soldiers that bits of ribbon are intrinsically valuable.…
Celebrations of song and humanity
‘All my life, always and in every way, I shall have one objective: the good of Hungary and the Hungarian…
Beautiful, bedevilled island
The Arabs invaded Sicily in the ninth century, leaving behind mosques and pink-domed cupolas. In the Sicilian capital of Palermo,…
Lulzfags v. moralfags
It is almost a century since the Michelin brothers had the brainwave of supplementing their motorists’ guide with information about…
There’s no substitute for human intelligence
Spying may be one of the two oldest professions, but unlike the other one it has changed quite a lot…
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In eastern Congo years ago on a road logged into a hill I drove or was driven one evening to…
Books & arts
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In eastern Congo years ago on a road logged into a hill I drove or was driven one evening to…
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In eastern Congo years ago on a road logged into a hill I drove or was driven one evening to…
Striking Middle Sea
The Mediterranean has always been central to European civilisation — and a source of drama and conflict, says Anthony Sattin
The elite who tried to save Russia
The veteran Russian historian Dominic Lieven’s new study of Russia’s descent towards the first world war is deeply researched, highly…
In the name of the father
‘People talk about their childhood and it’s so mundane. I don’t remember much about it, if I’m honest. I can’t…
A 50-year infatuation
The subject of the least characteristic essay in this engrossing collection of meditations on painters, painters’ lives, painting and reactions…
Romance of the old kitchen garden
Considerable areas of our memory are taken up with food: it might be the taste of Mother’s sponge, the melting…
The strangest objects we know of
The idea of black holes sounds so quintessentially modern and 20th-century that it may come as a surprise to learn…
Funny things happen on the way to the Scillies
It’s a real skill, writing about a journey where nothing ever happens. We shouldn’t be surprised that Simon Armitage is…
Kultural icon
The almond eyes that rise towards their outer edges. The cheekbones that curve down to the corners of those upholstered…
Pursuing the perfect scoop
Paradise City, Elizabeth Day’s third novel, comes with an accompanying essay on The Pool — an online magazine for the…
A nation in trauma
Albania is a small country of 2.7 million people, wedged within the Balkan peninsula. Separated from both Greece and Italy…
Suffering a sea change
The rich, strange, finely balanced ecosystems of the oceans — on which our lives depend — are profoundly threatened, says Rose George
Throw away the Valium and start bragging instead
This is not a book to be read in solitude. Not for the obvious reason that it’s frightening, but because…
The frog prince
It would not have surprised their friends in the 1930s when Peter Watson had a fling with my grandfather, Robert…
Calm after the storm
I hesitate ever to criticise an author for the inappropriateness of a book’s title, since it’s more likely the fault…
It takes a thief…
In the words of one of his contemporaries ‘a man of down look, lean-faced and full of pock holes’, the…
