Reviews

Review

The elusive mind of Shakespeare

A study of England's greatest playwright questions received truths by taking an ahistorical approach. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

David Wootton June 2, 2026

Review

There was no ‘I’ in Emily Brontë

The art of biography has its limits, especially when it is aimed at a life lived through literature.

Charlotte Stroud May 29, 2026

Review

The First World War and the Habsburg state’s metamorphosis

Austria-Hungary's First World War was not the death rattle of a doomed empire. It was a period of state transformation which shaped the nations that replaced it.

Luka Ivan Jukic May 26, 2026

Review

The medieval guide to living well

Beyond the clichés of barbarity, the medieval world reveals a surprisingly sophisticated approach to health, where the pursuit of wellbeing was paramount.

Nicholas Morton May 20, 2026

Review

Russia 1917-18: what Rhoda Power saw

Rhoda Power’s remarkable eyewitness account of the Russian Revolution’s descent into chaos deserves a new generation of readers.

Jeremy Jennings May 12, 2026

Review

The art of birds

Curated by historian Simon Schama, the Mauritshuis's 'BIRDS' brings together five centuries of art exploring mankind's relationship with the avian world.

Cath Pound May 7, 2026

Review

Canaletto and Bellotto: painters of the ideal

Under the guise of selling images of a simple if picturesque reality, both Venetian artists were painters of the ideal.

Michael Prodger May 6, 2026

Review

The golden age of the don

For Oxbridge dons of old, learning was worn lightly, style mattered almost as much as substance, and a certain effortless amateurism was prized.

David Vaiani May 6, 2026

Review

The enchanting world of medieval manuscripts

The renowned medievalist Christopher de Hamel reflects on the alluring power of manuscripts, and how they allow us to illuminate both the past and the present in surprising ways.

Derek Turner May 5, 2026