Reviews Archive

Barren tree trunks following the bombardment at Verdun, France.

Review

Great Books: Alistair Horne’s The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916

This compelling, even-handed narrative of the gruelling ten-month battle puts human experience front and centre. It’s a valuable read in today’s world of renewed conflict.

Laurie Purnell Prynn March 17, 2023

US soldiers wait before going out on a mission under the Crossed-Sabers – a towering 160-tonne, bronze monument of two crossed swords held in Saddam's hands, at the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, December 7, 2008.

Review

The case for a geopolitics of tragedy

Robert Kaplan fuses literary criticism and international relations in a boldly interdisciplinary and richly intellectual text.

John Raine March 17, 2023

Laurence Olivier and Jennifer Jones star in Carrie, a 1952 adaptation of the novel Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser.

Review

Great Books: Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie

Theodore Dreiser’s no-frills, naturalist style puts the American dream at the turn of the century firmly under the microscope in this pointed novel about the futility of escaping o..

D. J. Taylor March 10, 2023

Review

No more worlds to conquer

This re-release of Richard Stoneman’s rich and picturesque survey of the Alexander legend, first published in 2010, reflects the enduring fascination with the world-conqueror’s fab..

Armand D'Angour March 9, 2023

Poster for the play The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek, 1929. Credit: Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo.

Review

Great Books: Jaroslav Hašek’s The Good Soldier Švejk

Hailed as one of the first anti-war novels, Hašek’s trailblazing book still packs a punch and raises a smile more than a century after publication.

Malcolm Forbes March 3, 2023

Explorer Freya Stark in Jebel Druze, Syria. Credit: Royal Geographical Society / Alamy Stock Photo.

Review

First in their field — the men and women possessed by the spirit of adventure

Alexander Maitland’s passion for discovery comes alive in this illuminating, yet uneven book, about the dauntless men and women who have explored our planet.

Tim Marshall March 2, 2023

Portrait of the author Boris Pilnyak (1894-1938)

Review

Great Books: Boris Pilnyak’s The Bare Year

Boris Pilnyak's lyrical and surreal account of life in post-Revolutionary Russia brings vividly to life the all-pervading turbulence of war and its harrowing impact on the individu..

Jade McGlynn February 24, 2023

Review

In defence of architecture

Witold Rybczynski overturns familiar Modernist orthodoxies and gives due weight to older but still vibrant traditions.

Clive Aslet February 24, 2023

Poster depicting the degeneration of blood cells.

Review

Are we ready for the new humans?

Siddhartha Mukherjee tells the story of cells, those fundamental units of life, mixing trademark reflections with historical vignettes and scientific lucidity.

Kevin Davies February 17, 2023