Books
The atmosphere of a historic country house cannot be bought
Paintings, books and treasures collected by the same family over centuries give a historical depth that no modern plutocrat can recreate
No Sir Lancelot: A Good Deliverance, by Toby Clements, reviewed
Imprisoned in Newgate, Sir Thomas Malory spins wondrous tales of his ‘gentle acts of valour’ to the jailor’s son. And who cares whether they are true or not?
One damned thing after another: Britain’s crisis-ridden century so far
The Iraq war, the financial crisis, Brexit and Covid have seen many prime ministers blown off course. Will Keir Starmer be any luckier than his predecessors?
AI is both liberating and enslaving us
It is becoming more than a useful tool, fears Neil Lawrence. As it takes over most of our work, we grow less and less efficient at doing what remains
Cold War spying had much in common with the colonial era
Influenced by Kipling’s Kim, early CIA officers combined a love of overseas adventure with a whiff of imperial paranoia, says Hugh Wilford
Shalom Auslander vents his disgust – on his ‘grotesque, vile, foul, ignominious self’
Long derided as ‘feh’ by his Orthodox parents, the American writer admits to being his own hanging judge
An insight into the American Dream: Table for Two, by Amor Towles, reviewed
Recent short stories and a novella all feature protagonists in pursuit of an ambition that puts them in varying degrees of peril
The pleasure of reliving foreign travel through food
Russian hand pies, Polish chlodnik, Turkish fruit compote and a Latvian trifle are among the many dishes recreated in Edinburgh by the globetrotting Caroline Eden
What will we do when all our jobs are done for us?
The philosopher Nick Bostrom speculates imaginatively about the travails of extreme leisure, but we don’t get any guru-like nuggets
When it comes to krautrock, it’s impossible not to mention the war
The wild and wonderful music that exploded from West Germany in the 1970s stemmed from a young generation’s determination to escape the trauma of the Nazi past
The roots of anti-Semitism in Europe
The original blood libel, which materialised after the First Crusade in the 11th century, proved a turning point for Jews, as a wave of religious frenzy swept communities away
Distrust and resentment have plagued Anglo-Russian relations for centuries
On a visit to England in 1556, Ivan the Terrible’s envoy alienated Londoners with his extreme suspicions – and lurid insults have been exchanged ever since
Citizens of nowhere: This Strange Eventful History, by Claire Messud, reviewed
A fictionalised version of Messud’s recent family history traces the many moves of three generations forced into exile from Algeria
Paris is perhaps the greatest character in Balzac’s Human Comedy
The drama of the street is a constant theme, though Balzac himself took most pleasure in the city’s ‘gloomy passages and silent cul-de-sacs between midnight and two in the morning’
Bebop, swing and all that jazz
I can still remember the first time I heard big band jazz. I was in my twenties (too long ago!)…
The good old ways: nature’s best chance of recovery
Traditional agricultural methods still operating in pockets of Europe maintain an enviable balance of ecology and economy and an extraordinary diversity of wildlife
Disgusted of academia: a university lecturer bewails his lot
The anonymous professor rails against politicians, administrators, colleagues and students who consistently fall short of his ethical and intellectual standards
Kapows and wisecracks: Fight Me, by Austin Grossman, reviewed
A mild-manned academic with special powers joins forces with three similarly gifted friends to defeat the Dark Adversary, Sinistro
At last we see Henry VIII’s wives as individuals
Specialist knowledge of Tudor portraiture, book bindings, music and jewellery enables us to see each woman anew, possessed of a distinct life and afterlife
The diary of a dying man: Graham Caveney’s poignant cancer memoir
With months to live, Caveney looks back on his childhood, muses on favourite writers, decries NHS underfunding and rejoices in his beloved partner, Emma
Jam-packed with treasures: the eccentric Sir John Soane’s Museum
The delightfully higgledy-piggledy display of antiquities, filling walls from floor to ceiling, may have been inspired by the Piranesi prints Soane also collected
The sheer drudgery of professional tennis
The most surprising thing about Conor Niland’s bruising account of his tennis career is that he emerges with his sanity intact
The costly legacy of Margaret Thatcher’s monetarism
As Thatcher’s economic private secretary in the first years of her government, Tim Lankester is well qualified to analyse the controversial policy and its effects
A long goodbye to Berlin
Christopher Isherwood’s experiences as a young man in Weimar Germany would be reworked in his autofiction for the rest of his life
If only Britain knew how it was viewed abroad
22 June 2024 9:00 am
If the country were a person, it would need its friends to sit it down and deliver it a few home truths about its damaging behaviour to itself and others, says Michael Peel