Books
Kim Philby got away with it because he was posh
Kim Philby’s treachery escaped detection for so long through the stupidity and snobbery of the old-boy network surrounding him, says Philip Hensher
The Edward Snowden scandal viewed from planet Guardian
Last summer a National Security Agency (NSA) contractor called Edward Snowden leaked a vast trove of secret information on the…
The spy who came in from le Carré
The single most terrifying moment of my adult life occurred at 8.55 a.m. on the morning of Tuesday 5 August…
Lawrence of Arabia, meet Curt of Cairo
How do you write a new book about T.E. Lawrence, especially when the man himself described his escapades, or a…
Lords, spies and traitors in Elizabeth's England
There are still some sizeable holes in early modern English history and one of them is what we know —…
How Denmark’s Jews escaped the Nazis
Of all the statistics generated by the Holocaust, perhaps some of the most disturbing in the questions they give rise…
Sometimes one story is worth buying a whole book for. This is one of those times
Any new book by Lorrie Moore is a cause for rejoicing, but her first collection of short stories for 16…
Crowd Hunters of Images
remains are handled in a culturally sensitive and religiously appropriate manner presence without value is perceived as occupation today we…
What E.M. Forster didn't do
‘On the whole I think you should write biographies of those you admire and respect, and novels about human beings…
Books and Arts
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Crowd Hunters of Images
remains are handled in a culturally sensitive and religiously appropriate manner presence without value is perceived as occupation today we…
Crowd Hunters of Images
remains are handled in a culturally sensitive and religiously appropriate manner presence without value is perceived as occupation today we…
Secrets of Candleford: the real Flora Thompson
Melanie McDonagh on Flora Thompson, whose revealing account of rural Oxfordshire life at the turn of the 19th century became a literary classic
A spectacular faller in the Benghazi stakes
What an unedifying affair the war in the North African desert was, at least until November 1942 and the victory…
Fairytales of racism
A preview of Helen Oyeyemi’s Boy, Snow, Bird appeared in Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists issue in April last…
Pick of the crime novels
Stuart MacBride’s new novel, A Song for the Dying (HarperCollins, £16.99, Spectator Bookshop, £14.99), is markedly darker in tone than…
Want Hollywood's conventional wisdom? Then read Blockbusters
You can learn a lot from this book. Latin America has a smaller economy than Europe. Big companies can spend…
Sex, secrets, and self-mortification: the dark side of the confessional
I have a confession to make. I really enjoyed this book. It’s been a while since I admitted something of…
I used to like George Kennan. Then I read his diaries
George Kennan, the career diplomat and historian best known for his sensible suggestion that the United States try to resist…
From frankness to obsession - the novels of Francis King
Paul Binding reassesses the novels of Francis King, who died last year
Books and Arts
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The Artist Formerly Known As Whistler
Sam Leith on the exasperating, charismatic painter who floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee
Hillary, Obama, Osama — and a hapless Bill
The actor David Niven was once badgered by the American columnist William F. Buckley to introduce him to Marc Chagall,…
When Israel was but a dream
‘On the night of 15 April 1897, a small, elegant steamer is en route from Egypt’s Port Said to Jaffa.’…
'One warm night in June 1917 I became the man who nearly killed the Kaiser'
Daniel Swift 1 March 2014 9:00 am
The traditional story told about the first world war is that it changed everything: that it was the end of…