Reviews

Significant works reviewed by Engelsberg Ideas writers.

The American writer George Kennan (1845-1924) observes Russian convicts on their way to Siberia.
Review

The Russian leopard has not changed its spots

Tucker Carlson is hardly the first American traveller to Russia who has been willingly seduced by its regime.

Will Quinn February 19, 2024
Jewish children from Vienna arriving in the UK, 1938.
Review

The Nazis’ last victims

Many Jewish children who fled Nazi-occupied Europe kept silent about their stories. As the last living links fade away, Julian Borger looks to his own father's experience to unders..

Elisabeth Braw February 13, 2024
An archivist polishes a sculpture of Milton Friedman.
Review

Friedman fighter

Milton Friedman's revolution in economic thought was so total that even his intellectual opponents would admit 'We are all monetarists now.'

Linda Yueh February 8, 2024
A comic book sketch of the Romans in Britain.
Review

We are legion

A riveting British Museum exhibition lays bare the lives of the Roman infantrymen.

Daisy Dunn February 7, 2024
Victorian engraving of London.
Review

The lost worlds of Raphael Samuel

Popular history had one of its most eloquent advocates in Raphael Samuel, who deserves recognition as a major force in English letters.

Michael Ledger-Lomas February 5, 2024
Les Noces at Woolwich Works.
Review

Stravinsky’s forever modern masterpiece

A genre-defying interpretation of Stravinsky's Les Noces, that melds bodies, music and dance, is vibrantly modern.

Benjamin Poore January 30, 2024
The Men's Bath by Albrecht Dürer.
Review

Homosexuality’s forbidden histories

Across Europe and the Christian and Muslim worlds, same-sex relations in the Early Modern world were far more disparate and complex than received wisdom would suppose.

Daniel Johnson January 30, 2024
Burial effigy of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II at Abbey of Fontevraud, Loire, France.
Review

Crusading women

Whether as companions, patrons, regents, warriors or writers, women played vital roles in the crusades of the medieval period.

Nicholas Morton January 25, 2024
Sunset over Tripoli.
Review

A Libyan love affair

Hisham Matar's latest novel is a spellbinding tale of love, loss and exile from his native Libya.

Lucy Thynne January 23, 2024

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