Reviews

Review

A musical masterpiece

Jennifer Atkins' brilliant but neglected novel reminds us why classical music matters – and why it is under threat like never before

Daniel Johnson July 17, 2023

Review

The long tail of elite violence

An enthralling new study demolishes the old idea that the rise of the modern European state was a civilising process.

David Wootton July 13, 2023

Review

Banishing Pétain’s ghost

As de Gaulle’s star rose – as de Gaulle became the centrepiece of French national identity and pride – Pétain’s fell.

Samuel Rubinstein July 12, 2023

Review

Carel Fabritius: a precarious life

The art critic Laura Cumming turns her eye to the elusive Dutch golden-age painter Carel Fabritius.

Francesca Peacock July 11, 2023

Review

Venetian visions of China’s future

In the city of Marco Polo, the Venice Architecture Biennale shows us that free expression on China is both possible and salutary.

Michael Sheridan July 5, 2023

Review

Sex and death in mid-nineteenth century America

Susan Wels captures a fantastically rambunctious period in US history.

Christopher Silvester June 29, 2023

Review

This isn’t Europe

Ben Judah's uneven history of Europe has moments of thrills and revelation. But focusing on the stories of people living and working on the Continent - and beyond - leaves the narr..

Nicholas Harris June 22, 2023

Review

The many paradoxes of Bernard Mandeville

Bernard Mandeville was a satirist not a moralist; a humourist not a philosopher; an enemy of do-gooding reformers who was himself a do-gooding reformer.

David Wootton June 13, 2023

Review

The Franco-Prussian War was more than an historical event

The conflict of 1870/71 set the tone for the extreme violence of both World Wars.

Katja Hoyer June 12, 2023