Books
An unheroic hero: Ginster, by Siegfried Kracauer, reviewed
When Kracauer’s protagonist is finally conscripted in the first world war, he starves himself to ‘general physical debility’ and is sent to ‘peel potatoes against the foe’
Stray shells and suicide bombers in Kabul’s finest hotel
Lyse Doucet describes how the Intercontinental, the journalists’ refuge for decades, is increasingly targeted by the Taliban as they gain control in Afghanistan
Auschwitz-themed novels are cheapening the Holocaust
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has spawned a host of deathcamp dramas that trivialise the Jewish tragedy, says Tanya Gold
Hell is other tourists in Antarctica
If you’ve longed to see every penguin species in the world, think about the company you’ll be keeping, warns Jamie Lafferty
Since when did the English love to queue?
Far from being an ancient trait, the ‘irksome novelty’ dates from 1939, according to Graham Robb – whose idiosyncratic history of Britain corrects many erroneous beliefs
How Charles III became the richest monarch in modern history
Valentine Low describes the financial deals struck by the Windsors with successive politicians in exchange for relinquishing political power
Is it possible to retain one’s dignity in the face of annihilation?
Lea Ypi’s moving account of her family’s experiences in 20th-century Albania addresses this and other questions involving freedom and the human spirit
Centuries of cross-currents between Christianity and Islam
Elizabeth Drayson celebrates a long and fruitful exchange of views about the arts, sciences, literature and mathematics
Nostalgia for snooker’s glory days
David Hendon recalls a time when the relative merits of Jimmy White, Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor were discussed in pubs and football wasn’t mentioned at all
Honeymoon from hell: Venetian Vespers, by John Banville, reviewed
A fin-de-siècle hack marries the daughter of wealthy oil baron but soon begins to wonder what he’s let himself in for
Hiding from the Nazis in wartime Italy
Malcolm Gaskill vividly recreates his uncle’s experience as an escaped PoW, and the courage of the peasant families who risked their lives to shelter him
Dark secrets of the British housewife
Juliet Nicolson reminds us of how difficult it was, even in the 1960s, for women to admit to sexual frustration, abuse, extramarital affairs or alcoholism
The young Tennyson reaches for the stars
Richard Holmes describes how the poet’s early fascination with science – astronomy and geology in particular – would have a lasting influence on his writing
Why would your dead daughter climb out of her grave to harm you?
John Blair investigates the bizarre phenomenon of ‘corpse-killing’, and the fear in 19th-century New England that children, post mortem, were under demonic control
A portrait of alienation: The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, by Kiran Desai, reviewed
Two lovers from wealthy families in Allahabad contend with powerful forces of ambition, corruption, neighbouring feuds and sexual violence
Even now, Nick Clegg offers too little too late
In contrast to Sarah Wynn-Williams’s tell-all memoir of life at Facebook published earlier this year, Clegg’s ponderous account of his time at Meta is barely a tell-anything
The mystery of Rapa Nui’s moai may be solved
The vast, painstakingly carved stone figures are thought to represent ancestors – and their partial destruction to signify punishment for their failure as guardians
Is China riding for a fall?
Dan Wang contrasts the dynamism of China’s physical engineering programme with the madness of its social engineering – the one-child policy threatening to prove a demographic disaster
My husband first and last – by Lalla Romano
In a touching memoir, Romano describes a shared intellectual life with Innocenzo Monti, from their first meeting in the Piedmont mountains to their final months together
The short, restless life of Robert Louis Stevenson
The frail but hugely successful writer broke away from his Presbyterian roots to pursue a life of travel before finally settling with his wife in remote Samoa
The concept of ‘the West’ seems to mean anything you like
First formulated by Auguste Comte in the 19th century, its later proponents would even embrace Japan while questioning the inclusion of belligerent Germany
What has the reparations movement ever done for victims of modern slavery?
Until now it has focused on extracting trillions from European governments in compensation for historic crimes while ignoring horrors still being perpetrated today
A simple life fraught with difficulties: Ruth, by Kate Riley, reviewed
The eponymous protagonist struggles against the strictures of her Anabaptist upbringing whereby women cook, clean and police each other’s morals
Exploring the enchanted gardens of literature
Sandra Lawrence transports us to the gnarled yews of Tom’s Midnight Garden, the scent of azaleas at Manderley and the Pillow Book’s chrysanthemums glistening with dew
The joyless rants of Andrea Long Chu
The critic’s modishly provocative takedowns of successful contemporary writers, signed off with vapid aphorisms, make for dispiriting rather than stimulating reading
