Books
The world destroyed by madness: Howl, by Howard Jacobson, reviewed
Apart from the atrocity of 7 October 2023 itself, it is the reaction of neighbours and even family that appals Jacobson’s protagonist in a novel that still manages to be darkly comic
Frederic Prokosch – the man who seemed to know everyone
A beguiling memoir boasts intimate encounters with many of the 20th century’s most celebrated writers – but should we believe a word of it?
Caught between Hitler and Bomber Command – the Berliners’ cruel predicament
Ordinary citizens faced two enemies in the war, and it as hard to know who was more dangerous – the Allies or their own deranged leaders
Chasing happiness: The Daffodil Days, by Helen Bain, reviewed
Leaving London with her husband and daughter to make a new home on the edge of Dartmoor, Sylvia Plath longs for ‘everything to be perfect… and hasn’t learned yet that, in life, nothing can be’
When did you last see your siblings?
By the age of 18 we will have spent far more time with our brothers and sisters than we will ever spend again – suggesting that blood ties do not guarantee intimacy
How an illiterate peasant changed the course of modern history
Grigory Rasputin was no Machiavelli but a simple, venal man who wielded an influence far more dangerous than he could ever comprehend
The curse of gold for the Asante nation
Vast quantities of gold recovered from the alluvial riverbeds of west Africa attracted the attention of British colonialists, leading to ruthless pillage throughout the 19th century
The glory and tragedy of Trafalgar
Nelson’s great naval victory may finally have delivered Britain from the threat of French invasion, but his death left the nation in deep mourning
The sorrows of the young Melvyn Bragg
His first impression of Oxford University in 1958 was of ‘effortless wealth and privilege everywhere’ and, feeling like a foreigner, he pined for the familiarity of close-knit Wigton
Seeing the trees for the wood
Coppicing and pollarding are essential if trees are to produce wood in perpetuity for any useful purpose, making woodland heavily dependent on human management
How Ulysses horrified the stuffed shirts of New York’s literary establishment
The magazine editor Margaret C. Anderson’s spirited attempts to introduce Joyce’s masterpiece to 1920s America resulted in a court case and heavy fine for disseminating obscenity
Ghastly middle-class materialism: The Quantity Theory of Morality, by Will Self, reviewed
Self’s latest satire suggests that a world where the avaricious prosper, and the meek inherit the debts of the unscrupulous, contains a limited amount of morality
A nasty little tale about a marriage: Look What You Made Me Do, by John Lanchester, reviewed
The life of recently widowed Kate is cast into further turmoil by a hit TV series which suggests that her husband had been having an affair with its scriptwriter
‘Evil visited that day and we don’t know why’ – Dunblane 30 years on
Stephen McGinty describes the stunned bewilderment of parents and teachers at the atrocity – and the powerful resistance to the campaign to ban handguns in the aftermath
‘He never drew a peaceful breath’: the tormented life of Henry VII
The challenges faced by the minor Welsh earl with tenuous claims to the English throne shattered his health, weakened his grip on affairs and eventually lost him the trust of his subjects
Nights at the Lutetia – the dark history of a luxury hotel
When the great Left Bank establishment was requisitioned by the Abwehr in 1940, the staff continued to serve the new guests with their habitual courtesy – and even welcomed them back postwar
The woke wars intensify
Nigel Biggar argues eloquently for countering ‘cancel culture’ with classical liberalism – but a far more fanatical anti-woke ideology is gathering pace
Learning from history requires sophistication and skill
While the past can never provide ‘how to’ guides for the future, Odd Arne Westad makes some interesting comparisons between the balance of power pre-1914 and the present
The Venice Ghetto was a landmark in the history of Jewish persecution
In the early 16th century, on the orders of the Doge, Jews were herded en masse to the foundry district of Venice, which became a model for segregated Jewish quarters throughout Europe
From enfant terrible to dame: Tracey Emin in her own words
Steeped in the seascape of Margate, Emin is above all a Romantic, for whom dreams are a vivid source of inspiration and art is a kind of salvation
Streamlined chic or lacy froth: royal style wars of the 1930s
Nothing signalled the personalities of the warring sisters-in-law more clearly than the contrasting fashion sense of Wallis Simpson and Queen Elizabeth
Revelling in reading: The Enchanting Lives of Others, by Can Xue, reviewed
A group of young fiction enthusiasts and intellectuals channel their energies into devouring novels – and marvel at how enlightened it makes them feel
Double trouble: As If, by Isabel Waidner, reviewed
Two near-identical middle-aged men, adrift and purposeless, are revitalised when they spontaneously decide to swap lives
Everybody needs ‘good neighbours’: fairy folklore from time immemorial
From ancient Greek dryads to Tolkien’s elves, fairies have had a fantastical past and seem destined for a fabulous future
Women have never had it so good as now
Sarah Ditum 28 February 2026 9:00 am
Rather than feeling angry or afraid, or viewing their bodies as a source of pain, women should embrace the benefits of the sexual revolution and ‘grab life by the ovaries’, says Zoe Strimpel