Essays

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

essays

Being human: we were born to cooperate

The human ability to cooperate is what elevates us above apes and monkeys.

Katrin Redfern October 22, 2020

LOS ANGELES - JUNE 11: The movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", written and directed by John Hughes. Seen here from left, Mia Sara as Sloane Peterson, Alan Ruck as Cameron Frye and Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller. Initial theatrical release June 11, 1986. Screen capture. Paramount Pictures. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)

essays

John Hughes and the making and unmaking of the American dream

John Hughes's films re-established and updated the American dream for a new generation. His complex legacy helps us understand what went so wrong.

Johan Hakelius October 16, 2020

'Diptych: Philip the Handsome and Margaret of Austria', c1493. Philip the Handsome (1478-1506) became Philip I of Castile. Margaret of Austria (1480-1530) became Regent of the Netherlands. Painting housed at The National Gallery, London.

essays

Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy – true to her own self

No matter how perilous her situation, Margaret of Austria lost neither her calm nor her composure, nor even her sense of fun.

Leonie Frieda October 12, 2020

"Protome Carafa" by Donatello, part of "The Springtime of the Renaissance. Sculpture and the Arts in Florence 1400-60" exhibition is pictured in Florence on April 6, 2013.

essays

The great beauty of Donatello

Donatello, one of Florence's most distinguished sons, produced sculpture worthy of the ages.

Bruce Anderson October 9, 2020

British Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher wipes crumbs off the table at 10, Downing Street, London, circa 1990. A painting of her predecessor Winston Churchill hangs on the wall behind her.

essays

Continuity Thatcher: rescuing a complex leader from historical cliché

To argue that Thatcher attacked the post-war dream is to caricature, not illuminate, her importance to British history.

Graham Stewart October 7, 2020

Eric Clapton, John Lennon (1940 - 1980) and Keith Richards performing together at the Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus, Internel Studios in Stonebridge Park, Wembley, December 1968.

essays

History shows revolutions are a disaster

Karl Marx was wrong about revolutions - in practice, they beget Caesars and Napoleons.

Richard Whatmore September 29, 2020

Castle Howard, Yorkshire, home of the Earl of Carlisle, c1880. Castle Howard was built between 1699 and 1712 to designs by John Vanbrugh. A print from A Series of Picturesque Views of Seats of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland, edited by Reverend FO Morris, Volume I, William Mackenzie, London, c1880.

essays

Upstairs, downstairs, demolished – the changing fate of the English country house

Amid the tumult of the 1970s, it appeared the traditional country house had gone into irreversible decline - but it was too early to write it off.

Clive Aslet September 23, 2020

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Nietzsche', 1906.

essays

Between frustrated Wagnerians and unsatisfied Schopenhauerians – what does Nietzsche reveal about decadence?

For Nietzsche, decadence is more than a propensity for sexual excess or luxurious indulgence: its existence reveals a fundamental level of human disunity.

Andrew Huddlestone September 21, 2020

essays

Japanese architecture – building the impossible

'Ihyou' is a concept that runs through much of modern Japanese design - in searching for it, architects challenge the limits of form.

Blaine Brownell September 18, 2020