Torture
Seeds of hope in the siege of Leningrad
A Russian biologist’s dream of creating the world’s first seed bank is thwarted by Stalin’s paranoia and the Nazi invasion. But the pioneering project remains a potent symbol of hope
The firebrand preacher who put Martin Luther in the shade
Andrew Drummond traces the short, turbulent career of Thomas Müntzer, the rabble-rousing revolutionary behind the peasants’ uprising in 1520s Germany
A horrifying glimpse of Syria’s torture cells
More than 100 interviews with surviving detainees and former prison workers reveal how profoundly shocking President Assad’s regime continues to be
Rocked by rebellion: the short, unhappy reign of Edward VI
As Tory writers reflected on the safe passage of the Stuart dynasty through the Exclusion Crisis of 1679-81, an anonymous…
How I narrowly escaped joining Argentina’s ‘disappeared’
A bully-boy leader. A corrupt, out-of-touch regime. A twisted reading of history. An unprovoked, military-led landgrab. A domestic disinformation blitz.…
House of horrors: Girl A, by Abigail Dean, reviewed
If the last quarter of 2020 saw a glut of novels published, of which there were winners (Richard Osman) and…
Rape has always been one of the deadliest weapons of war
Nothing prepared Antony Beevor for this devastating exposé of the systematic use of rape in war and ethnic cleansing
Do the Americans know who they’re fighting in Afghanistan — or why?
Early every morning through the spring of 2002, US troops at Bagram airfield on the Shomali plains north of Kabul…
A grand inquisitor
Hidden behind Kensington Palace, in one of London’s smartest streets, there is a grand old house which played a leading…
Chairman Mao devours his foes
Frank Dikötter, professor of humanities at the University of Hong Kong and winner of the Samuel Johnson prize in 2011,…
From Jekyll back to Hyde: the changing face of Begbie
Irvine Welsh’s 1993 debut novel Train-spotting flicked a hearty V-sign in the face of alarm-clock Britain. ‘Ah choose no tae…
Further dispatches from Syria’s maelstrom
The mechanic, blinded in one eye by shrapnel, spent three days searching for his family in the destroyed buildings and…
Britain needs a museum of communist terror
We need a museum to help us remember that
The dark comedy of the Senate torture report
Like many journalists, I’m a bit of a know-it-all — when information is touted as ‘new’, especially in government reports,…
Process of elimination: the horrors of Ravensbrück revealed
Concentration camps in Nazi Germany were originally set up in 1933 to terrorise Hitler’s political enemies; as war drew near,…
The Tudor sleuth who's cracked the secret of suspense
Some reviewers are slick and quick. Rapid readers, they remember everything, take no notes, quote at will. I’m the plodding…
Press five to report a funny man on your doorstep with strange tales of dog torture
Strangely enough, I was in the middle of writing an article about the tactics used by the RSPCA when another…
How to avoid bankers in your nativity scene
With an eye to the blasphemy underlying some of the loveliest Renaissance painting, Honor Clerk will be choosing her Christmas cards more carefully this year
