Notebooks

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

Vasily Ivanovich Surikov's painting, Conquest of Siberia.

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Russia’s long imperial moment

Vladimir Putin is driven by an imperial ideology centuries in the making.

Lawrence James March 18, 2024

Restorer working inside a building along the Grand Canal, Venice, Italy.

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Italy’s weird and wonderful artisans

When it comes to the visual, Italy never does things by halves. Even its builders seek perfection.

Tobias Jones March 13, 2024

Portrait of Arthur Balfour by De László.

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De László’s portraits of society still matter

The Hungarian-born Jewish painter Philip de László was fêted by pre-war social elites, but his flourishing career foundered upon an enduring antisemitism.

Guido G. Beduschi March 12, 2024

Babylonian clay tablet with geometrical problems.

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The brilliance of Babylonian mathematics

The Babylonians did things differently. Unlike the Greeks, they treated numbers in the more abstract way we do today.

Mark Ronan March 7, 2024

A George Wallace campaign rally in 1968.

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In the shadow of George Wallace: America’s third-party challenge

Rather than just being distractions or spoilers, the success of third-party candidates in presidential elections is revealing of underlying conditions and views in American history..

Luke A. Nichter March 6, 2024

A Swedish ship partakes in a naval exercise by Götland.

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Sweden’s long and winding road to NATO

The Russian threat has put the Nordic states at the centre of global affairs. Sweden's accession to NATO is a natural consequence.

Magnus Christiansson March 1, 2024

Glow from a Russian rocket attack on Kharkiv

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Despatch from Kharkiv

Beyond the city’s fragile bubble of normality, the fight rages on.

Jade McGlynn February 26, 2024

Memorial to the Maidan protestors who died by sniper fire.

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Ukraine’s decade of war

The Ukrainian people have suffered a decade of conflict - when will the world wake up to the price to be paid for failing to deter Russian aggression?

Andrei Kurkov February 22, 2024

A performance of John Adams's opera Nixon in China.

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Nixon’s dance with the chairman

In February 1972, President Richard Nixon landed in China for a meeting that would set the stage for over fifty years of both economic integration and political antagonism.

Elisabeth Braw February 21, 2024