Reviews

Review

Joseph Wright’s age of enlightenment

The English painter captured an emerging world of industry and innovation, discovery and dissemination, against the background of the Industrial Revolution.

Paul Lay November 5, 2025

Review

Secret networks behind enemy lines

Britain's intelligence networks of the First and Second World War could not have operated without the vital contributions of female agents.

John Raine November 3, 2025

Review

Paul Thomas Anderson at the movies

The American director's latest film is infused with a mass of cinematic culture.

Muriel Zagha October 31, 2025

Review

The curious case of corpse killings

Belief in the living dead arose whenever faith wavered and fear reigned supreme.

Katherine Harvey October 27, 2025

Review

The lure of Beaton’s sublime surfaces

From glittering debutantes to screen sirens, Cecil Beaton captured mid-century glamour, blurring portraiture with performance.

Alexandra Wilson October 24, 2025

Review

Being Jewish without a state

Advocates for a Jewish identity rooted in anti-Zionism must reckon with a fundamental truth: Zionism triumphed over diasporism because it was brutally vindicated by the horrors of ..

Samuel Rubinstein October 23, 2025

Review

Fate and fortune in the 21st century

Alexander Starritt's powerful Bildungsroman about 21st century capitalism explores the nature of youthful ambition and the sacrifices of entrepreneurship.

Daniel Johnson October 21, 2025

Review

Nigeria’s modernist folklore

Western modernism wanted to eliminate religion from civic life. By contrast, in 1960s Nigeria, artists and architects absorbed old patterns into the new.

Theo Weiss October 20, 2025

Review

A land without opera

In contemporary Britain, opera is endlessly apologised for, caricatured and denigrated. It is a tragic development that must be reversed.

Ioannes Chountis de Fabbri October 14, 2025