Reviews

Review

Zadie Smith and the perils of broad-mindedness

Criticism of Zadie Smith raises questions about whether the humanist tradition that shaped 20th-century Anglo-American letters still holds sway today.

Tomiwa Owolade December 23, 2025

Review

Camus’ life without illusion

Albert Camus’ notebooks show a mind that faced the world squarely, appreciating its strangeness and beauty even in the absence of overarching purpose or ideology.

William Fear December 22, 2025

Review

The West’s complacency over censorship

Ai Weiwei’s critique of China’s control of thought, speech and action has expanded to include western forms of government. Censorship exists everywhere, he argues, but in democraci..

Bryan Appleyard December 19, 2025

Review

Augustine’s African roots

A new biography of Saint Augustine returns this towering figure of western philosophy to his North African origins, revealing the provincial schisms that shaped his thought.

Daniel Skeffington December 18, 2025

Review

Facing Pol Pot

The story of three western visitors to Pol Pot’s Cambodia reveals how hard it is to report what one sees rather than what one wants to believe.

Michael Shorris December 12, 2025

Review

Classical music across the classes

The Choral shows how music-making can bind together a community, forging connections between people of different backgrounds, occupations and generations.

Alexandra Wilson December 2, 2025

Review

Holbein, master of images

A versatile painter of preternatural talent, Holbein rode his luck to create the most potent images of the reign of Henry VIII.

Michael Prodger December 1, 2025

Review

When the photograph took flight

Alfred Buckham combined audacious aerial photography with groundbreaking techniques to make magnificent art.

Malcolm Forbes November 28, 2025

Review

Violence according to Machiavelli

Invoking Machiavelli to legitimise bloodletting in democracies leads nowhere good.

David Wootton November 27, 2025