Significant works reviewed by Engelsberg Ideas writers.
Morten Høi Jensen’s 'The Master of Contradictions' explores the tensions at the heart of Thomas Mann’s world and shows how, in 'The Magic Mountain', he heroically struggles to reso..
It is tempting to write Blake’s visions off as mere flights of fancy, the vivid but insubstantial by-products of a peculiarly mystical imagination. But for Blake, they were the key..
Lux is a game-changer for Rosalía and for the relationship between popular and classical music.
Responding to a taste for the tropics, wild animals, and adventure, Henri Rousseau turned his dreams into fantastical, sometimes bizarre paintings.
Contributors to Engelsberg Ideas highlight the books they’ve enjoyed in 2025.
Criticism of Zadie Smith raises questions about whether the humanist tradition that shaped 20th-century Anglo-American letters still holds sway today.
Albert Camus’ notebooks show a mind that faced the world squarely, appreciating its strangeness and beauty even in the absence of overarching purpose or ideology.
Ai Weiwei’s critique of China’s control of thought, speech and action has expanded to include western forms of government. Censorship exists everywhere, he argues, but in democraci..
A new biography of Saint Augustine returns this towering figure of western philosophy to his North African origins, revealing the provincial schisms that shaped his thought.
/https%3A%2F%2Fengelsbergideas.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F01%2FThomas-Manns-art.jpg)
/https%3A%2F%2Fengelsbergideas.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F01%2FWilliam-Blake-Angels.jpg)
/https%3A%2F%2Fengelsbergideas.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F12%2FRosalia-Lux.jpg)
/https%3A%2F%2Fengelsbergideas.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F12%2FHenri-Rousseaus-snake-charmer.jpg)
/https%3A%2F%2Fengelsbergideas.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F12%2FBooks-of-the-year.jpg)
/https%3A%2F%2Fengelsbergideas.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F12%2FZadie-Smith-humanist-2.jpg)
/https%3A%2F%2Fengelsbergideas.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F12%2FAlbert-Camus.jpg)
/https%3A%2F%2Fengelsbergideas.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F12%2FAi-Wei-Wei-censorship-2.jpg)
/https%3A%2F%2Fengelsbergideas.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F12%2FAugustine.jpg)