Notebooks

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The Messianic roots of the modern settler movement

Sometimes the Israeli government and the settlers’ aims are in conflict and sometimes they intersect. Today they are as closely intertwined as they have ever been.

Michael Goldfarb November 10, 2023

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Fake Shakespeare

This year marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of one of the most important books in English literature: William Shakespeare's First Folio. Yet the history of the Folio i..

Josh Mcloughlin November 10, 2023

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Commemorating Portugal’s ambiguous revolution

Almost half a century of autocratic rule came to an end in Portugal on 25 April 1974. As the country looks forward to marking this momentous event, will its troubled socialist gove..

Tom Gallagher November 8, 2023

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Jules Verne’s paradoxes of progress

Jules Verne's exhilarating blend of science, adventure and fantasy proved a winning formula, but the prolific author was also a complex thinker, who skewed towards a deistic view o..

Patricia Fara October 31, 2023

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The many meanings of Jihad

Just because Jihad doesn’t always mean ‘holy war’, it doesn’t follow that it never means holy war.

Fitzroy Morrissey October 30, 2023

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A little history of Shin Bet

Israel’s domestic security service has a chequered history, but it will continue to play a key role in the current war against Hamas.

Ahron Bregman October 26, 2023

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Celebrating Anpanman at fifty

2023 marks fifty years since the creation of Anpanman, the Japanese superhero with a head made of bread, who has represented hope, love and kindness for generations of Japanese chi..

Christopher Harding October 25, 2023

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‘We are in the most sustained period of high crisis since 1962’ — in conversation with Philip Zelikow

EI’s Angus Reilly talks to Philip Zelikow about the crisis in the Middle East, the dangers of escalation, and the urgent need for the United States to move to a pre-war position.

Angus Reilly October 25, 2023

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Crossing America’s big country

Travelling between the states of Oklahoma and Texas reminds the visitor of how the inexplicable vastness of the American heartland is as normal as it is mythic.

Phil Tinline October 24, 2023