Books
How on earth did North Vietnam prevail against the world’s greatest power?
The 50th anniversary of the Vietnam war has produced an outpouring of books, along with Ken Burns’s 18-hour television spectacular,…
Josef Albers: the Bauhaus artist whose pupil designed Auschwitz
The German-born artist, Josef Albers, was a contrary so-and-so. Late in life, he was asked why — in the early…
Were the Highland Clearances really a byword for infamy?
There is a degree of irony in the opening chapter of T.M. Devine’s history, lambasting popular previous depictions of the…
Lonely hearts and guilty minds: the world of Pamela Hansford Johnson
The revival of interest in mid-20th century novelists is one of the most positive and valuable developments of our time.…
The circus visits every corner of the globe — even Antarctica
We’re celebrating 250 years of circus this year. In 1768, the retired cavalryman and entrepreneur Philip Astley, together with his…
Pithy and profound: the beauty of aphorisms
It’s not surprising, perhaps, that Emil Cioran isn’t much read in England. Born in Romania, but winning a scholarship to…
Secrets and lies: Berta Isla, by Javier Marías, reviewed
A novel by Javier Marías, as his millions of readers know, is never what it purports to be. Spain’s most…
Gandhi on Hitler: ‘I do not believe him to be as bad as he is portrayed’
‘It’s a beautiful world if it wasn’t for Gandhi who is really a perfect nuisance,’ Lord Willingdon, Viceroy of India,…
The passions of Paulo: Enigma Variations, by André Aciman, reviewed
André Aciman’s 2007 debut novel, Call Me By Your Name, was a sensuous, captivating account of the passionate love a…
Stitches in time: The history of the world through the eye of a needle
I recently read a book in which the author, describing rural life in the early 19th century, casually mentioned clothing…
How indiscretions over Suez ruined Rab Butler
I bet that you are at best dimly aware of the Progress Trust, and that is what the members of…
Rollicking Ruddick?
I first saw John Ruddick speak about party reform in 2011 as part of his quixotic run for NSW State…
![Giving the famous V-sign at the opening of RAAF headquarters, Croydon, 1948 [Getty]](https://www.spectator.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/churchill.jpg?w=410&h=275&crop=1)
Andrew Roberts’s generous new biography of the man who saved us in our darkest hour, Churchill reviewed
Churchill must be the most written-about figure in public life since Napoleon Bonaparte (a subject, incidentally, to which Andrew Roberts…
Love is blind, but lust is not; William Boyd’s 15th novel reviewed
William Boyd’s 15th novel begins well enough. In 1894 Edinburgh, a 24-year-old piano tuner is promoted to the Paris branch…
Behind the Throne is a cracking read about a neglected subject – the royal household
Never judge a book by its cover. To look at, this is a coffee-table book with shiny pages which make…
It is not the masterpieces that were lost, but the collectors, Natalya Semenova rights a wrong
It is not as surprising at it sounds that two of the greatest collectors of modern art should have been…
The disaster of Vietnam and the men who can’t get over it
Many wars have outsized and enduring effects on the societies that fight them, but for Americans the Vietnam war has…
To reflect on the brilliance of your writing, you had better be sure of its brilliance
Nominative determinism is the term for that pleasing accord you occasionally find between name and profession: the immigration minister named…
A sinister feeling hangs over Sarah Moss’s claustrophobic sixth novel
Sarah Moss’s concise, claustrophobic sixth novel concerns the perils of family life. The narrator Silvie is a frustrated 17-year-old on…
![Cable and Deadpool recreate the image from the Sistine chapel (Deadpool 2) [Rex Shutterstock]](https://www.spectator.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/rexfeatures_9691437i.jpg?w=410&h=275&crop=1)
Which comes first, the events or the zeitgeist? Peter Biskind examines pop culture
Those who study culture — or think about public policy in relation to it — often wrestle with the classic…
Shashi Tharoor’s book is a polemic, says Kapil Komireddi – beware of Hindu nationalism
Most religions bind their adherents into a community of believers. Hinduism segregates them into castes. And people excluded from the…
Some novels are aptly named – Distortion is one of them
Coming 12 years after his acclaimed debut, Londonstani, Gautam Malkani’s second novel Distortion features a vivid argot, complicating and defamiliarising…
Henry Jeffreys is charmed by the irrepressible wine expert Oz Clarke
There are only two British television wine presenters taxi drivers have heard of, Jilly Goolden and Oz Clarke. Who can…
Oleg Gordievsky, the ultimate spy story — and Ben Macintyre, the best writer to tell it
Spy stories, whether the stuff of fictional thrillers or, as in the case of Sergei Skripal, the real deal —…
An old-school biography, a big subject, and a book as heavy as a house brick, Oscar reviewed
In the autumn of 1897, after two years in jail on a charge of ‘gross indecency’, Oscar Wilde absconded to…
