Reviews

Review

Raymond Aron’s search for liberal foundations

Postwar French liberals exercised disproportionate influence upon public debates, and none more so than the philosopher, historian, and journalist Raymond Aron.

Samuel Gregg March 22, 2024

Review

The magnificent unreality of Barbara Comyns

Her readership is devoted but small, and not all her novels are in print, but, once read, Barbara Comyns is never forgotten.

Oliver Soden March 20, 2024

Review

Interwar architecture was much more than modernism

A posthumous volume of the architectural historian Gavin Stamp's writing on the interwar period is the crowning masterpiece of a remarkable career.

Clive Aslet March 19, 2024

Review

Curt Bloch’s underwater resistance

A German Jewish refugee who spent the Second World War underground in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands, Curt Bloch resisted the regime with wit, bravery — and cartoons.

Malcolm Forbes March 15, 2024

Review

All hail King Zog?

The outlandish life of Albania's King Zog receives a vivid, if uncharitable, retelling.

Daniel Marc Janes March 13, 2024

Review

The shoeless violinist

Patricia Kopatchinskaja's performances have a freewheeling recklessness that feels almost improvised.

Benjamin Poore March 11, 2024

Review

In search of Kerak castle

A new study testifies to the long and remarkable history of Kerak castle, a Crusader stronghold turned major strategic asset for Saladin.

Nicholas Morton March 8, 2024

Review

Orkney: ‘the most dangerous place of all Christendom’

Orkney's sense of difference from the Scottish mainland is rooted in the distant past and the archipelago's turbulent modern history.

Katherine Harvey March 7, 2024

Review

Sargent’s brush with fashion

A delightful exhibition of John Singer Sargent's portraits at Tate Britain is worth visiting, despite its faddish curatorial decision-making.

Alexandra Wilson March 5, 2024