Book review – History
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…
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…
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.’…
The enlightened king of Iraq
Alan Rush admires the humane, enlightened Faisal I, who fought with T.E. Lawrence and devoted his life to Arab rights, independence and unity
Where did the Right and the Left come from?
What is the origin of left and right in politics? The traditional answer is that these ideas derive from the…
Has land ownership changed our lives for better or for worse?
The highly profitable — and intrinsically selfish — system of land ownership that replaced medieval feudal tenure had profound moral consequences that continue to this day, says John Adamson
Why you shouldn't keep elephants
On 15 September 1885, the world’s most famous elephant, Jumbo, was killed by a train. Jumbo, the star attraction at…
When intellectuals are clueless about the first world war
No one alive now has any adult experience of the first world war, but still it shows no sign of…
From Nasser to Mubarak — Egypt's modern pharaohs and their phoney myths
Jonathan Rugman is foreign affairs correspondent for Channel 4 News.
Where the Whigs went
A book about one of the London clubs, published to mark its 250th anniversary, might be regarded as of extremely…
Hope for one of the most turbulent, traumatised regions in the world
John Keay’s excellent new book on the modern history of South Asia plunges the reader head first into some wildly…
My family's better days
Simon Blow recalls the wealth, recklessness and beauty of his family’s better days
Shostakovich, Leningrad, and the greatest story ever played
The horrors of the Leningrad siege — the 900 Days of Harrison Salisbury’s classic — have been pretty well picked…
Secrets of the Kremlin
A building bearing testimony to the power of eternal Russia; a timeless symbol of the Russian state; a monument to…
When we dropped the Bomb by mistake
In January 1976 New York’s late-lamented National Lampoon produced a bicentennial calendar as a contribution to the general rejoicing. For…
The pirate myth
Hear the word ‘pirate’ and what picture springs to your mind? I see a richly-bearded geezer in a tricorne hat…
Did Hollywood moguls really make a pact with Hitler?
At the recent Austin Film Festival, at every ruminative panel or round-table discussion I attended, I slapped my copy of…
The Girl Who Loved Camellias, by Julie Kavanagh - review
Verdi’s La Traviata is the story of a courtesan who is redeemed when she gives up the man she loves…
