Reviews

Review

A new world of discovery

The Age of Discovery was a time of disasters – and surprises.

Caroline Eden May 20, 2025

Review

Countryside writing’s rebirth

In the writing of Patrick Galbraith, country life has won the observer and interpreter it needs.

Richard Smyth May 19, 2025

Review

The art of Siena: a question of perspective

The National Gallery's Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300 ‒1350 captures key developments, in elegantly curated snapshots, of the early textures of Western Europe’s artistic vitalit..

Alastair Benn May 16, 2025

Review

What Mary Shelley did in the shadows

Bath was, for Mary Shelley, a sanctuary and a retreat from the world, a place of refinement and confinement, where she wrestled with, and channelled, her private sorrows.

Malcolm Forbes May 14, 2025

Review

A bleak but brilliant take on Wagner’s epic

An austere, musically enthralling Die Walküre is the latest instalment in Australian director Barrie Kosky's new Ring Cycle for London's Royal Opera House.

Tim Bouverie May 12, 2025

Review

Britain’s man inside Hitler’s inner circle

Baron William de Ropp, one of a family of Baltic aristocrats whose fortunes produced eccentric allegiances and adventurous careers, played a significant role in MI6's efforts to ac..

Gill Bennett May 12, 2025

Review

A glimpse of Edwardian splendour

A new exhibition, curated by the King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace, provides an opulent vision of the Edwardian era that is both unapologetically upper-class and wonderfully enri..

Alexandra Wilson May 6, 2025

Review

The Second World War had its poets too

A study of the poetry of the Second World War makes for a vital, and long overdue, contribution to the historical record of the conflict.

Jeremy Wikeley May 6, 2025

Review

Decolonising Britain’s countryside

Corinne Fowler’s new book tells us precious little about the interplay between the British countryside and colonialism, and a lot about the insular, self-congratulatory worldview o..

Samuel Rubinstein May 1, 2025