Notebooks

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

A Portrait of Napoleon and his nieces and nephews. Credit: ClassicStock / Alamy Stock Photo.
notebook

Napoleon’s trouble on the home front

Building an empire is easier than constructing a dynasty. The famous French leader was bedevilled by unintelligent and uncooperative family members.

Katherine Bayford January 4, 2023
Pope Benedict XVI greets pilgrims attending a papal audience. Credit: Marion Kaplan / Alamy Stock Photo.
notebook

Benedict XVI: God’s Rottweiler, the Pope who retired

The first Pope to retire for six centuries has died aged 95.

Elisabeth Braw December 31, 2022
An open plan office in the City of London.
notebook

The roots of cyber security lie in the City of London

From the 1950s to the 1970s, the City of London, Britain’s historic and global financial centre, was a hotbed of technological advancement. Many of the discussions, motivations and..

Ashley Sweetman December 19, 2022
Argentina's Lionel Messi celebrates scoring their side's first goal of the game during the 2022 FIFA World, Qatar. Credit: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo.
notebook

World Cup has revealed the real Lionel Messi

There has long been a certain amount of scepticism among Argentina fans about their nation's captain. At this year's World Cup his uniquely Argentinian performance has turned him i..

Andreas Campomar December 19, 2022
A poster of the Red Army Faction from the German Federal Criminal Office.
notebook

Germany’s 1960s slide into political violence is a warning

Today's disruptive protests are non-violent, so far. The West German experience of the late 1960s shows what can happen when marches and sit-ins escalate.

Elisabeth Braw December 16, 2022
Sunset over Mount Everest.
notebook

Sharing Everest a tall order

The peaks and troughs of Nepal’s and China’s competing claims to the world’s highest mountain.

Amish Raj Mulmi December 13, 2022
Lviv National Opera and Ballet Theatre.
notebook

Show goes on for Ukrainian opera

Ukrainian artists are bravely defending their heritage, tradition and culture against an outside aggressor.

Gerald Malone December 12, 2022
Muscovites queue up outside a shop selling milk and dairy products in Moscow during difficult economic times just before the dissolution of the USSR.
notebook

Soviet socialism was no good at groceries

The collapse of the Soviet Union has been forensically studied by academics and economists for decades, but for an insight into the day-to-day life of ordinary Russians in the 1980..

Catherine Merridale December 8, 2022
A message is received at the palace, a print painted in Ming dynasty China. Credit: Chronicle of World History / Alamy Stock Photo.
notebook

The Chinese spying game has a long history

Alongside Confucian ideals of exemplary leadership, the Chinese tradition nurtured an equally influential alternative figura: that of the commander or strategist bent on conquering..

Roel Sterckx December 8, 2022

Download The Engelsberg
Ideas app

The world in your pocket. The app brings together – in one place – our essays, reviews, notebooks, and podcasts.

Download here

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play