Essays

Long-form writing from leading scholars and commentators on history, statecraft, warfare, philosophy and culture.

A computer's CPU.
essays

Infrastructure power

The major forces driving 21st-century change will come not just from the actions of states and corporations but from the intricate lattice of infrastructure networks that connects ..

Mary Bridges January 29, 2025
JFK and Khrushchev on the cover of 'Domenica del Corriere' dated May 27, 1962.
essays

The use and abuse of the Cuban Missile Crisis

The claim that we are now closer to nuclear war than at any time in the past is of dubious historical value. Compared to 1962, both the United States and Russia have much better pr..

Sergey Radchenko January 28, 2025
The Japanese writer Yukio Mishima (1925-70).
essays

The triumph and tragedy of Yukio Mishima

The Japanese novelist voiced nostalgia for a vanishing traditional Japan, but he also embraced the modern world’s new technologies. His dream of a nation imbued with purpose and pa..

Christopher Harding January 24, 2025
An advert on the Nike store at Oxford Circus.
essays

How advertising consumed the counter-culture

Capitalism has an extraordinary ability to assimilate and exploit the energy of any and all cultural movements. As a result, charismatic outsiders do not really exist anymore. The ..

Ian Leslie January 21, 2025
Renaissance map of Europe showing England.
essays

The lost art of chorography

Chorography is one of English literature’s most eccentric and mercurial forms, mixing antiquarianism, history, poetry, and geography into a patriotic paean to the land and its peop..

Josh Mcloughlin January 16, 2025
King Charles VI of France prepares for war.
essays

Inside the world of medieval espionage

The long series of wars between England and France from the 13th to the 15th century perfectly illustrate the techniques employed by the last generations before the creation of Eur..

Jonathan Sumption January 16, 2025
Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol shout slogans during a rally to oppose his impeachment near the presidential residence in Seoul.
essays

The roots of South Korea’s crisis

South Korea is gripped by a political crisis that is yet to run its course, with troubling ramifications both for its allies in Asia and beyond.

John Nilsson-Wright January 14, 2025
The Treaty of Versailles is finalised by delegates at the peace conference.
essays

The past, an enduring guide to the future

To navigate the uncertainty of 2025, historians should sift through the archives. By returning to the sources, we can make sense of our own tumultuous time.

Will Quinn January 10, 2025
An 1834 map of the Ottoman domains.
essays

Ghosts of the old Middle East

The true cosmopolitanism of the old Middle East is in terminal decline. The travails of Syria’s Armenian community are its latest manifestation.

Hannah Lucinda Smith January 7, 2025

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