Reviews

Review

Entering the world of Tojo Hideki, wartime Japan’s apex political predator

Peter Mauch's biography treats Tojo as neither hero nor villain, but as the embodiment of Japanese militarism that brought catastrophe upon the country.

Iain MacGregor April 22, 2026

Review

The ‘good slut’ and the question of the good life

What passes for sexual freedom in contemporary culture is often a retreat from moral judgment.

Tiffany Jenkins April 21, 2026

Review

Hitler’s architect of illusions

Hitler’s chief architect, Albert Speer, cultivated an image as the 'good Nazi' – a calculated reinvention of his role in the Third Reich.

Morten Høi Jensen April 20, 2026

Review

The art of photographic deception

Long before AI-generated images, photographers and entrepreneurs manipulated photographs, blending fiction and fact to often mesmerising effect.

Cath Pound April 17, 2026

Review

The making of modern science

Any history of the West's scientific revolution must explain how science generates new discoveries and ways of thinking about the natural world. Social-constructivist approaches ha..

David Wootton April 16, 2026

Review

How Communism conquered China

The Chinese Communist Party defeated its rivals because it was a formidably effective political organisation that captured the hearts and minds of China's elites.

Clark Aoqi Wu April 14, 2026

Review

The strange decline of London

A thrilling investigation into the demise of a young Londoner casts a spotlight on how Britain's once-great metropolis has been warped by corruption, hot money and speculative gree..

Bryan Appleyard April 13, 2026

Review

The plants that made the modern world

From tulip mania to opium, plants carried across oceans by empire have shaped wealth, power and everyday life for centuries.

Alexandra Wilson April 10, 2026

Review

The roving mind of Jan Morris

Morris was hungry for the world – all of it – and that made her interminably restless.

Bryan Appleyard April 8, 2026