Notebooks

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

The cast of the BBC series 'The Fast Show'.

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In Praise of The Fast Show

The creators of The Fast Show supercharged the idea of the sketch show.

Alexander Larman May 19, 2023

Napoleon in exile on St Helena dictates his memoirs to the French writer and geographer Emmanuel Comte de Las Cases.

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Ghostwriting History

The author on the cover of a political memoir may not necessarily be the author of the work.

Andrew Mumford and Katherine Bayford May 18, 2023

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Estonia’s Musical Miracles

Estonia's musical entrepreneurship is just as impressive as its famous tech scene.

Elisabeth Braw May 11, 2023

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Sparta’s Self-inflicted Wound

Within years of attaining supremacy among Greek states, Sparta fell into rapid decline. Its fate is a cautionary tale for any polity that resists reform.

James Darnton May 11, 2023

Charles III, then Prince of Wales, visits the Parker Library at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge in 2001.

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The Gospel according to King Charles

How King Charles chose the ancient St Augustine Gospels for his Coronation.

Alastair Benn May 5, 2023

Russian President Vladimir Putin walks through the halls of the Kremlin on his way to be sworn in as the President of the Russian Federation on May 7, 2018 in Moscow.

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A Little History of Modern Russia

Western authors have contributed a vast range of insights into the state of contemporary Russia - here's a selection of the very best.

Andrew Monaghan May 2, 2023

The U.S. Navy Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge leads a formation with ships from the Netherlands, Portugal and Norway during a NATO exercise in the Baltic Sea.

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NATO’s Baltic Dilemma

The Baltic will be crucial in the event of conflict between NATO and Russia. It’s time NATO got its plans in order for the region.

Luke Coffey April 28, 2023

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The Vedic Canon

Canons usually ring-fence the cultural material that is ‘banked’ as precious by a given society. But the Vedic canon was fluid, organic, and open to ever-new possibilities.

Jessica Frazier April 26, 2023

Christine de Pizan presenting a book to Queen Isabeau of Bavaria.

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Shakespeare’s Sisters: a women’s canon

The landscape of women’s literature is far older, more extensive and much richer than is often acknowledged.

Francesca Peacock April 24, 2023