Essays

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

Wiring for broadband cabinet.
essays

Digital revolution: a splash in the cognitive space?

The effects of digital communication on the human brain are profound. We must understand these changes before it's too late.

Martin Ingvar October 12, 2022
Isabelle Huppert, Madame Bovary 1991. Credit: Collection Christophel / Alamy Stock Photo
essays

The truth shall set us free

Modern culture has left us ever more isolated and lonely but promises absolute liberty to pursue our desires. But to feel truly free we must rediscover a spirit of collective truth..

Marie Daouda October 7, 2022
Jesus Christ on the Cross with St. Mary and St John, painted by Albrecht Altdorfer, circa 1512.
essays

The joy of suffering

The crucifixion lodged suffering at the heart of Christianity: to suffer was to be like Christ. This reframing of suffering had far-reaching consequences for world history.

Candida Moss October 4, 2022
The Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and US Capitol building during morning twilight as seen from Arlington, Virginia. Credit: Clarence Holmes Photography / Alamy Stock Photo.
essays

The decay and renewal of the American constitutional order

By the end of the twentieth century, a new model of nationhood emerged which relied on markets. While not inherently malign, this new constitutional order has the potential to be a..

Philip Bobbitt September 28, 2022
Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev shakes hands with Russian President Boris Yeltsin in the Russian Parliament after failed coup attempt against Gorbachev in August, 1991. Credit: REUTERS / Alamy Stock Photo.
essays

The swift death of Gorbachev’s USSR set Russia on a path to chaos

Over a two year period, the Soviet leader's authority was slowly sliced away until his only choice was to resign with dignity in 1991. While the West may have thought this bloodles..

Vladislav Zubok September 28, 2022
The Square also Behind the Church, 1916, oil on canvas. Painting by Lyonel Feininger. One of the many paintings in Tekla Hess's collection.
essays

An unlikely artistic alliance: the wartime Britons who saved and celebrated German art

From Kandinsky to Klee, the Nazi party deemed entire swathes of artistic movements as worthless and degenerate. The English city Leicester provided a home to these Central European..

Juliette Bretan September 23, 2022
A miniature of the Treaty of Verdun, 843. Emperor Louis I (right) blessing the division of the Frankish Empire in 843 into West Francia, Middle Francia, and East Francia.
essays

What did it mean to belong to the Holy Roman Empire?

The Holy Roman Empire was neither a nation state nor indeed a conventional empire. Instead, its inhabitants were unified through a web of legal rights.

Peter Wilson September 23, 2022
King Charles III and the Queen Consort follow behind the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II as it is carried into St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, Berkshire for her Committal Service. Credit: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo.
essays

The Elizabethan era is laid to rest

The funeral of Queen Elizabeth II was a chance for Britons to reflect upon their national identity and consider how their nation has transformed over the past seventy years. It als..

Adam Boulton September 19, 2022
An American Mercantile Building in Yokohama, 1861.
essays

The cultural conversation of mankind

Isolationist thinking and exceptionalism is on the rise and our global culture is the poorer for it. Our civilisations thrive when in conversation with each other: ideas are exchan..

Christopher Coker September 15, 2022

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