Reviews

Review

King James’ secret passions

Gareth Russell's humane biography of James Stuart offers a refreshing take on the first monarch to wear the crowns of both England and Scotland, exploring his sexuality with a comb..

Helen Carr April 28, 2025

Review

How monks shaped Christendom

A subtle and profound history explores how monasticism influenced Christian life for over a millennium, providing places where heaven met earth and flawed human spirits might soar,..

Mathew Lyons April 22, 2025

Review

Europe’s lost peasant utopias

Eastern Europe’s 20th century was defined by an epic march of the peasants into the cities. And yet the world they left behind, and the organised resistance put up by millions to i..

Luka Ivan Jukic April 16, 2025

Review

Mental health’s expanding empire

Greater well-being comes not from expanding medical categories but from adjusting our expectations of normal human experience, with all its inevitable discomforts, challenges, and ..

Tiffany Jenkins April 14, 2025

Review

The ballad of John and Paul

An imaginative account of the unique friendship between the Beatles' two creative geniuses provides an intriguing reinterpretation of their personal bond, but too often strays into..

Mathew Lyons April 8, 2025

Review

Suetonius’ spectacle of the Caesars

Tom Holland's excellent new translation of Suetonius' The Lives of the Caesars will introduce the ancient historian's peerless studies of power to a new generation of readers.

Armand D'Angour April 2, 2025

Review

Is this free speech?

A new, global history of free speech fails to capture its essential qualities.

Peter Hoskin March 28, 2025

Review

How a Republic falls

As our own societies grapple with the tension between civil liberty and state authority, the lessons of Ancient Rome endure.

Ioannes Chountis de Fabbri March 26, 2025

Review

What the Taliban did next

After the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban were left with massive quantities of western military hardware, creating both problems and opportunities for the Islamis..

Christopher Silvester March 21, 2025