Reviews

Review

Russia’s Scramble for Africa

Intensified activity across the African continent is part of Russia's quest to construct a multipolar world.

Andrew Monaghan April 21, 2023

Review

On the Road with Alexis de Tocqueville

Without Tocqueville the traveller, Tocqueville the sage of democracy is difficult to conceive of at all.

Samuel Gregg April 13, 2023

Review

Larkin, prophet of postmodernism

The Oxford Anthology of Twentieth Century English Verse, published fifty years ago this year, is the best expression we have of what Larkin thought poetry could and should be.

Jeremy Wikeley April 13, 2023

Review

A Roman Feast

A knotty and complex portrait of life under the early Roman emperors, written with delightful abandon.

Daisy Dunn April 7, 2023

Review

Giovanni Bellini, the soul of Venice

The style of the Venetian painter Giovanni Bellini became that of the city, whose cosmopolitanism during its ‘imperial age’ inspired his breadth of vision.

Alexander Lee April 6, 2023

Review

Leo Africanus’ uncertain world

A much-needed new translation of one of the great works of the Renaissance, the first book by an African author to appear in print, shines a light on the complex allure of historic..

Fitzroy Morrissey March 31, 2023

Review

Czechoslovakia at the centre of history

Eminent writer Milan Kundera celebrates the fragility of Eastern Europe's ‘small countries’ while making a powerful case for the transformative, political power of their Western cu..

Anna Parker March 31, 2023

Review

Michael Baxandall’s Renaissance ecstasy

Fewer than 200 pages long, the classic 1972 study, 'Painting & Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy', turned Michael Baxandall into a global academic celebrity.

Paul Lay March 24, 2023

Review

Getting the CIA in working order

Using intelligence to foresee threats and forestall them, the CIA is finally working as intended.

Jamie Gaskarth March 24, 2023