Reviews

Review

Republics fall when they forget the past

A tour of history's great republics, ancient and modern, shows that civic education is the best defence against decay.

Max Skjönsberg August 20, 2026

Review

Jonathan Swift’s literary world

The summer of 1726 saw a unique meeting of three great literary minds, whose dazzling works of poetry, prose and satire would redefine the possibilities of the English language.

Derek Turner August 18, 2026

Review

The noble failure of Russia’s liberal reformers

Russia’s rapid economic decline in the 1990s was the result of too little, rather than too much, ‘shock therapy’.

Friedrich Asschenfeldt August 17, 2026

Review

Christian Kracht against minimalism

The Swiss writer's latest novel sends up Nordic and Japanese minimalism via the mad and joyful world of fairy tale.

Morten Høi Jensen August 10, 2026

Review

The embodied life of an early modern woman

Many troubling attitudes towards the female body have their roots in the early modern period, argues Erin Maglaque.

Katherine Harvey August 7, 2026

Review

Asia’s long war against Imperial Japan

A new history of the Second World War promises to provide a vital Asian perspective on the conflict, but ends up flattening complex events into a simplistic caricature.

Robert Lyman August 6, 2026

Review

An ode to the humble herring

Who knows what tomorrow holds for herrings and the fleets that chase them, but what a bright trail the silver darlings have cut through history.

Mathew Lyons August 5, 2026

Review

Why Kurdish militancy went into retreat

Abandoned by its erstwhile American allies and outmanoeuvred by the Turkish government, can the Kurdistan Workers' Party move beyond armed struggle and adjust to new geopolitical r..

Hannah Lucinda Smith July 31, 2026

Review

Inside Trump’s American regime change

The second Trump administration is defined by centralised power and a hubristic pursuit of personal legacy.

Matthew Hefler and John Sipher July 28, 2026