Reviews

Significant works reviewed by Engelsberg Ideas writers.

People try to save their belongings from their destroyed houses in the Marienstrasse (Marien street) after an airstrike during the Second World War in Hamburg, 25 October 1944. Credit: dpa picture alliance / Alamy Stock Photo
Review

A hook to uncover hidden histories — My Grandfather’s Knife: And Other Stories of War and Belongings by Joseph Pearson review

By placing objects at the centre of his research, Pearson allows the complexities and conflicts of the Second World War to co-exist.

Katja Hoyer February 11, 2022
Soviet War Memorial in Berlin
Review

A ship without a captain — Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union by Vladislav Zubok review

Zubok's mammoth work is a provocative, honest examination of the dissolution of the Soviet empire and Gorbachev's failings. At the end, it strikes a note that is intriguingly perso..

Sergey Radchenko February 11, 2022
Bookstall by the Seine
Review

The joy of books

The joy of reading does not emerge in silent reflection, grand old libraries and the hallowed halls of academe. It's something more elemental than that - books are like keys in a l..

Peter Frankopan February 11, 2022
The Mehmed Paša Bridge over the river Drina, Visegrad. Credit: Sirio Carnevalino / Alamy Stock Photo
Review

Great Books: Ivo Andric’s The Bridge on the River Drina

The 1945 novel presents the ancient bridge as a metaphor for Bosnia’s suffering, its fragility and the country's role as a link between the East and the West.

Edward Thicknesse February 11, 2022
'Melancholy', 1894-1895 by Edvard Munch. He played a leading role in German expressionism. Credit: Universal History Archive via Getty
Review

Great Books: Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy

First published in 1621, Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy is a treatise, an encyclopedia, a self-help manual and more besides. Remarkably ahead of its time, this treasure ..

Malcolm Forbes November 16, 2021
LBJ points to the camera on the campaign trail
Review

Great Books: Billy Lee Brammer’s The Gay Place

Billy Lee Brammer's The Gay Place is a masterpiece, providing an insight into the imaginative world of LBJ's America.

Bruce Anderson July 28, 2021
The signature of Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly. Credit: Getty Images.
Review

Great Books: ‘L’Ensorcelée’ by Jules Barbey d’Aurevilly

Set amidst the ruins of the ancien régime in his native Normandy, Barbey’s masterpiece is bewitched by the spectre of dead priests and a community torn by struggle.

Gerald Warner March 19, 2021
Terrorist attack Paris memorial
Review

An innovative analysis of global terrorism — Western Jihadism: A Thirty Year History by Jytte Klausen review

The development and evolution of jihadi groups in the West is examined here in forensic detail – and although focused rather narrowly in places, it lends readers a deeper and broad..

Suzanne Raine February 25, 2021
Portrait of Patrick Hamilton, expert chronicler of London’s browbeaten and downtrodden in the interwar and post-war years. Credit: Public Domain
Review

Patrick Hamilton’s reversals of fortune

Once admired by contemporaries like Graham Greene, Patrick Hamilton’s gritty tales of down-and-out London are finally receiving the praise they deserve.

Malcolm Forbes February 20, 2021

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