Notebooks

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

notebook

The spires at the heart of French history

The spire of Rouen's cathedral recently went up in flames, an event that stirred memories of the blaze that ravaged Notre-Dame-de-Paris. Both evoke deep resonances within French cu..

Muriel Zagha July 17, 2024

A statue of a young Abraham Lincoln sits in a courtyard on the campus of Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York.

notebook

Abraham Lincoln’s warning against mob rule

In 1838, a young Abraham Lincoln delivered a speech warning of the dangers of mob violence and the fragility of the rule of law.

Suzanne Raine July 17, 2024

Two soldiers patrolling the forests near the Poland-Lithuania border

notebook

Europe’s contested borders by BMW

A short drive through Poland and Lithuania reveals the dark history that continues to haunt Eastern Europe.

Juliette Bretan July 16, 2024

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is pulled off stage after shots are fired at a rally in Pennsylvania, 13 July 2024.

notebook

The dark spectacle of American political violence

Throughout American history, assassinations and attempted assassinations have been committed and treated as violent, public spectacles which blend theatricality, media fascination ..

Angus Reilly July 15, 2024

Lady Bird and Lyndon Johnson taking phone calls in their White House bedroom after he announced his withdrawal from the 1968 election.

notebook

How LBJ stepped back

Joe Biden faces a dilemma experienced by Lyndon Johnson in 1968: how does a president withdraw from an election while preserving their power and legacy?

Luke A. Nichter July 12, 2024

Supporters of the presidential candidate of the reformist camp, Peseschkian, cheer at an election rally in the capital.

notebook

Inside Iran’s election circus

Rather than presaging a reformist revival, the Iranian presidential election revealed the vast chasm between the state and society-at-large.

Ali Ansari July 11, 2024

Andy Murray at the Wimbledon Championships in 2015

notebook

The agony and the ecstasy of Andy Murray

Andy Murray played tennis more brutally, more effectively, and with greater professional success than any Englishman of the modern era, while refusing to play the game of English m..

Alastair Benn July 11, 2024

notebook

How women made Benjamin Disraeli

Hero of the 19th-century Tory party, Benjamin Disraeli's many amorous conquests, and their many complications, illuminate the startling contradictions of the man who changed Victor..

David Coates July 9, 2024

French flag at Lichtenberg Castle in Alsace.

notebook

France fragmented

Oppositional forces in French society have intensified. What were once cracks are now gaping holes.

Agnès Poirier July 8, 2024