History
The two people who brought us The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck (1902–1968), an ardent propagandist for the exploited underdogs of the Great Depression, had barely enough money for subsistence…
The Spectator book review that brought down Macmillan's government
Did Macmillan stitch up his succession – or did Iain Macleod’s famous Spectator piece, 50 years old this week, stitch up Macmillan?
Harry Shearer on bringing out Richard Nixon’s feminine side
Simpsons star Harry Shearer on what it takes to play the president
William Astor: My father, his swimming pool and the Profumo scandal
I was ten when the Profumo affair began at my home, Cliveden. Andrew Lloyd Webber has captured some of the story – but not all
How we lost the seasons
... for tomorrow traditional seasonal rituals may just be ghostly memories of a vanished world, says Melanie McDonagh
To see how good Journey's End is, just look at who it's offended
‘You have no idea,’ wrote the publisher Ralph Hodder-Williams in 1929 to one of his authors, what terrible offence Journey’s…
A book that's inspired by a movie (for a change)
Books become films every day of the week; more rarely does someone feel inspired to write a book after seeing…
Profumo. Chatterley. The Beatles. 1963 was the year old England died
If you’re looking for the year when the old England died, this was it
The wounded Kennedy – and the people who gave him strength
Ten years ago, a determined historian transformed our picture of John F. Kennedy. Robert Dallek had finally got his hands…
The men who demolished Victorian Britain
Anyone with a passing interest in old British buildings must get angry at the horrors inflicted on our town centres…
Look! Shakespeare! Wow! George Eliot! Criminy! Jane Austen!
Among the precursors to this breezy little book are, in form, the likes of The Story of Art, Our Island…
The Briton whose achievement equals that of the Pharaohs'
We constantly need to be reminded that the consequence of war is death. In the case of the first world…
Blonde, beautiful — and desperate to survive in Nazi France
Around 200 Englishwomen lived through the German Occupation of Paris. Nicholas Shakespeare’s aunt Priscilla was one. Men in the street…
Why do the British love cryptic crosswords?
Everyone loves an anniversary and the crossword world — if there is such a thing — has been waiting a…
A place of paranoia, secrecy, corruption, hypocrisy and guilt
‘Is he a good writer? Is he pro-regime?’ an Iranian journalist in London once asked me of Hooman Majd. Majd…
Why do we pounce on Wagner's anti-Semitism, and ignore that of the Russian composers?
Philip Hensher on how an impassioned, chaotic group of amateur 19th-century composers created the first distinctively Russian music
Can virgins have babies?
Mrs Christabel Russell, the heroine of Bevis Hillier’s sparkling book, was a very modern young woman. She had short blonde…
Portobello's market mustn't be allowed to close
After reading Portobello Voices, I feel more strongly than ever that the unique Portobello market mustn’t be allowed to close.…
Bill Bryson's 'long extraordinary' summer is too long
Hands up Spectator readers who can remember the American celebrities Charles Lindbergh, Babe Ruth, Al Capone, Jack Dempsey, Zane Grey,…
How we beat Napoleon
We are accustomed to the thrill and glamour of the grands tableaux, but a nuts-and-bolts study of Napoleonic warfare makes for equally gripping reading, says David Crane
Why Jeremy Paxman's Great War deserves a place on your bookshelf
The Great War involved the civilian population like no previous conflict. ‘Men, women and children, factory, workshop and army —…
Hogarth and the harlots of Covent Garden were many things, but they weren't 'bohemians'
It was Hazlitt who said of Hogarth that his pictures ‘breathe a certain close, greasy, tavern air’, and the same…
Hitler didn't start indiscriminate bombings — Churchill did
‘I cannot describe to you what a curious note of brutality a bomb has,’ said one woman who lived through…
Clash of the titans
This is an odd book: interesting, informative, intelligent, but still decidedly odd. It is a history of the Victorian era…
Tristram Hunt's diary: Why has Gove allowed a school that makes women wear the hijab?
ONE OF THE MINOR sociological treats of being appointed shadow education secretary is a frontbench view of David Cameron’s crimson…
