Books
Voicing doubt
When it comes to the Voice, Anthony Albanese is breaking all the rules for successfully changing the constitution. First, he…
How hardboiled detective fiction saved James Ellroy
After his mother’s murder, the teenage Ellroy seemed lost to speed and alcohol – until his discovery of crime writing led to a different addiction
Strange meeting
When distraught teenage Orla embarks on a secret pilgrimage to her mother’s grave, she meets a ‘mad hairy’ man with miraculous powers
The long journey from Lindisfarne: Cuddy, by Benjamin Myers, reviewed
St Cuthbert’s body, rescued from the ‘devilish Danes’, is carried for hundreds of years to its eventual shrine in Durham cathedral
The wiliest politician in the Middle East is back – but not in charge
Benjamin Netanyahu has won a staggering sixth term in office – but his alliance with the disreputable right is inching Israel close to catastrophe
Carry on curate: scenes of modern clerical life
The Revd Fergus Butler-Gallie regales us with stories of mistaken identity, hymns with erotic undertones and an archbishop’s surprising take on Lenten penance
Nothing really matters
A mathematics professor, who specialises in the idea of nothing, is approached by a would-be Bond villain with a dastardly plan of annihilation
Promises, promises
But the big ideas seem mainly to consist in acquiring new skills – like boxing and baking – and flexing the imagination muscle
The age-old debate continues: are science and religion compatible?
Nicholas Spencer insists they are – and his scientific knowledge is impressive. But do his religious arguments carry weight?
The biography Noël Coward deserves
Philip Hensher follows Noël Coward from precocious childhood to the vortex of fame
Faking it
When a radical feminist publisher suggested I review some of their books, I wasn’t quite sure I would enjoy the…
Living with the Xingu in deepest Amazonia
The Brazilian journalist Eliane Brum moves from São Paulo to ‘reforest’ herself in the Amazon, and slowly gains the trust of a wary, isolated tribal people
In the fascist grip
A French widower’s horror at his elder son’s involvement with the Front National grows ever deeper as violence escalates
The trials of England’s first ambassador to India
After landing in Surat in 1615, Sir Thomas Roe was studiously ignored, and months passed before he was finally received by the Mughal emperor
What possessed the Duke of Windsor to visit Nazi Germany in 1937?
Whether it was from hurt, spite or genuine fascist sympathies, his surprise at his family’s response simply confirms his stupidity
Mass poisonings in a small town in Hungary
When a midwife in Nagyrév started doling out arsenic in 1911, dozens more women followed suit, until the death toll became impossible to ignore
The European influence on modern American art
New York’s Atelier 17 became a creative hub in the 1940s, where émigré Surrealists shared ideas with artists such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Robert Motherwell
Voyages into the unknown
A marine biologist attempts to explore a newly discovered mid-Atlantic trench, but finds its destructive power both attracts and repels all who approach it
A sister’s quest for justice
Ten women, on average, are killed there every day – and Cristina Rivera Garza’s investigation of her sister’s murder is met with the usual ‘silence of impunity’
Is this the end of travel writing?
Viv Groskop shares Sara Wheeler’s fears that modern sensibilities are fatally threatening a centuries-old genre
His own best creation
Once a beacon at events with his sunglasses and white ponytail, the designer who revived many failing fashion houses has left nothing of himself behind
A passion for painting at the early Stuart courts
Charles I’s patronage of the arts, in particular, inspired his courtiers to commission their own family portraits and spend fortunes on acquiring Venetian masterpieces
Inside the Factory
When two teenage typists employed by Andy Warhol start tagging along to his amphetamine-fuelled parties, their lives spiral out of control
Why Anaximander deserves to be called ‘the first scientist’
A mere fragment survives of the Greek philosopher’s work, but other sources attest to his bold ideas about the universe, human evolution and the weather
Ghosts of the past
Painful memories resurface for a retired detective when his help is sought with a cold case murder
