Reviews

Review

Ancient India’s global reach

From trade routes to temples, ancient India’s ideas and inventions left an indelible mark on civilisations from China to the Roman Empire.

Nicholas Morton September 18, 2024

Review

Christianity’s carnal contradictions

Centuries of conflicting teachings have shaped Christianity's complex relationship with sex, balancing faith, fear, and control over human sexuality.

Katherine Harvey September 17, 2024

Review

Resurrecting Mahler

The Viennese composer Gustav Mahler's masterpiece, Symphony No.2, melds song, majestic orchestral forces and moments of plangent intimacy and emotion. It received its latest perfor..

Benjamin Poore September 16, 2024

Review

A little history of the anchovy

The anchovy’s ancient and varied story is ultimately about how food powerfully underpins our sense of identity, security and comfort.

Mathew Lyons September 13, 2024

Review

John Lavery’s lasting impressions

The Irish painter John Lavery's rich and varied career took him from rural idylls to the horrors of war, all captured with the deftest and lightest of touches.

Malcolm Forbes September 10, 2024

Review

War and the Proms

The history of the Proms, the world's largest classical music festival, has been shaped profoundly by conflict, both past and present.

Benjamin Poore September 6, 2024

Review

Why children eat books up

Children’s books draw on the energy of the oldest kind of narratives, of myths and fairytales.

Jeremy Wikeley September 4, 2024

Review

The invention of music

A new study points towards the persistence of human interest in cultivating sound.

Armand D'Angour September 3, 2024

Review

The worlds of the Japanese woodblock

One Japanese family’s mastery of the woodblock print captured generations of history in simple yet evocative masterpieces.

Christopher Harding August 29, 2024