Notebooks

Notebooks are snapshots from our writers, reflecting on current affairs and underappreciated aspects of culture and history.

Former Brazilian dictator, General Humberto Castelo Branco (left) with Airforce Minister Brigadier Francisco de Assis Correia de Mello (centre) in 1964.

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How Brazil avoided disaster in Vietnam

In the mid-1960s, Brazil's leaders were on the verge of joining the United States' war in Vietnam. The power of public opinion forced them to back down.

Ryan A. Musto July 14, 2025

The Memorial Wall in the Central Intelligence Agency Headquarters, Langley, Virginia.

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An attack on US intelligence

President Trump’s willingness to manipulate assessments of Iran's nuclear programme suggests that he prioritises his public narrative over the effectiveness of America's intelligen..

Matthew Hefler July 10, 2025

The Aurelian; a Natural History of English Moths and Butterflies, published by Henry Bohn, London, 1840.

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The first butterfly collectors

The Society of Aurelians, the first entomological society established in Britain, brought butterflies out of their undeserved obscurity, lavishly illustrated their beauty, and even..

Nigel Andrew July 8, 2025

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The new right’s hollow aesthetic

America's right-wing radical counter-elites have a problem with the preservation of culture.

Sumantra Maitra July 8, 2025

Flow map of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia.

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The importance of strategic depth

As Napoleon discovered, during his catastrophic invasion of Russia, strategic depth is among the most critical factors in the winning of wars. It remains so today.

Nadia Schadlow July 7, 2025

Israeli first responders at a site of an Iranian ballistic missile strike in Haifa.

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Twelve days that shook the Middle East

In the wake of a sudden ceasefire brokered by Donald Trump, the brief but explosive conflict between Israel and Iran has left more questions than answers.

Ali Fathollah-Nejad July 3, 2025

Edvard Munch's painting of Friedrich Nietzsche.

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Nietzsche’s manifesto for reading

Nietzsche did not write for the distracted, the hurried, or the comfortable. He believed that a book should demand effort, provoke resistance, and leave a mark.

Ioannes Chountis de Fabbri July 2, 2025

Renaudin's print of the composer Erik Satie.

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Erik Satie, prophet of the aurally overloaded world

The composer Erik Satie would have understood our era of atrophied attention spans and mass-produced music.

Richard Bratby July 1, 2025

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The unravelling of the rock festival

Despite the peace signs and pat slogans of togetherness and diversity, the rock festival, like the genre it celebrates, has, from its beginnings, had issues with ethical consistenc..

Paul Lay July 1, 2025