More from Books
Will the bad luck of the Philippines ever turn?
The Philippines is the odd man out in Asia, a predominantly Catholic country colonised first by Spain, then the United…
Gardening’s bad girl: the genius – and malice – of Ellen Willmott
In October 1897, the grandees of the Royal Horticultural Society gathered to bestow their highest award, the Victoria Medal of…
The pacifists of the 1930s deserve greater understanding
As I’ve occasionally come to think is the case with The Spectator, this book is perhaps best begun at the…
A visit from Neanderthals: The Red Children, by Maggie Gee, reviewed
This is the kind of novel that will be discussed jubilantly in the book clubs of places like Lib Dem…
Is Mark Twain’s old age best forgotten?
Mark Twain conquered almost every challenge that came his way except old age. Living well into his seventies, he was…
Poor parenting is at the root of our failing schools
When it comes to education, I’m in two minds, maybe three. I was sent to private schools, including, for my…
Boris Iofan – cunning apparatchik of a loathsome regime
The invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces has rendered what might otherwise have seemed a fairly niche study of a…
The musical note that can trigger cold sweats and sightings of the dead
Imagine that all the frequencies nature affords were laid out on an extended piano keyboard. Never mind that some waves…
Murder, suicide and apocalypse: Here Goes Nothing, by Steve Toltz, reviewed
Angus Mooney is dead. Freshly murdered, he’s appalled to find himself in an Afterworld, having always rejected the possibility of…
Momentous decisions: Ruth & Pen, by Emilie Pine, reviewed
Emilie Pine writes about the big things and the little things: friendship, love, fertility, grief; waking, showering, catching the bus.…
The effortless magnetism of Marcel Duchamp
One could compile a fat anthology of tributes to Marcel Duchamp’s charm – especially what one friend called the artist’s…
Boy wonder: The Young Pretender, by Michael Arditti, reviewed
During his brief stage career Master Betty, or the Young Roscius, was no stranger to superlatives: genius, unparalleled, superior, Albion’s…
The murky history of Germany’s top family businesses
It was a clear cold morning in January 1936 when Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler arrived at the luxurious Regina Palast Hotel…
The case of the ‘Hay Poisoner’ inspired many a cosy murder mystery
The case of the retired major Herbert Rowse Armstrong, a Hay-on-Wye solicitor hanged in 1922 for killing his wife Katharine…
We must all become Doctor Dolittles and listen to the wisdom of animals
One day the writer and artist James Bridle rented a hatchback, taped a smartphone to the steering wheel and installed…
Michel Houellebecq may be honoured by the French establishment, but he’s no fan of Europe
For many years, Michel Houellebecq was patronised by the French literary establishment as an upstart, what with his background in…
Memory test: The Candy House, by Jennifer Egan, reviewed
On page 231 of The Candy House, a sequel – no, a ‘sibling’ says Jennifer Egan – to the Pulitzer…
A tale of forbidden love: Trespasses, by Louise Kennedy, reviewed
Kenneth Branagh’s Oscar-winning recent film Belfast chronicles the travails of a Protestant family amid sectarian conflict in 1969. Louise Kennedy’s…
Jonathan Bate weaves a memoir around madness in English literature
There is a trend for books in which academics write personally about their engagement with literature. Examples include Lara Feigel’s…
A universal language will always be an unattainable dream
The comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, in his stage persona as the dim-witted interviewer Ali G, once asked Noam Chomsky if…
Bitter harvest – how Ukraine’s wheat has always been coveted
Publishers love books with ambitious subtitles such as ‘How Bubblegum Made the Modern World’, and this one’s, about American wheat…
Stewart Brand: man of ideas and infuriating contrarian
In his 2005 book What The Dormouse Said John Markoff traced the roots of the personal computer industry to the…
Will there ever be a reliable lie detector?
For as long as we have been human we have looked for some way of telling when we are being…
Arnold Bennett’s success made him loathed by other writers
Virginia Woolf admitted to her journal: ‘I haven’t that reality gift.’ Her contemporary Arnold Bennett had it in spades. He…
Accusations of racism have lost all meaning
Tibor Fischer 23 April 2022 9:00 am
The War on the West is Douglas Murray’s latest blast against loony left wokery, chiefly in the areas of race…