Books
The two sides of Henry David Thoreau
Dominic Green considers two new books on Henry David Thoreau examining the dual nature of his character, aesthetic and politics
East haunts West in a musicologist’s dark night of the soul
As bombs fall everywhere in Syria and IS fighters destroy Palmyra, a musicologist in Vienna lies awake all night thinking…
John McEnroe’s book too far
John McEnroe’s father calls. In fact, he calls McEnroe’s manager’s phone, presumably because dad doesn’t have a direct line to…
A Christian noblewoman with clout in medieval Turkey, Tamta’s World reviewed
It might seem unlikely that a Christian noblewoman could have had influence over a Muslim city in the 13th century,…
Why the English sailed to the new world, Emigrants reviewed
What led a person in 17th-century England to get on a ship bound for the Americas? James Evans attempts to…
The struggle against Mussolini, A Bold and Dangerous Family reviewed
The details of Mussolini’s fascism are perhaps not quite as familiar in this country as they might be. Even quite…
Intensely imagined and executed, Medea revisited
Medea’s continuing hold over spinners of tall tales from Euripides to Chaucer to Pasolini needs little explanation; she’s an archetype…
Be careful what you wish for: in the country, no one can hear you scream
I’ve diagnosed myself with early onset cottage-itis. It’s not supposed to happen for another decade, but at 29 I dream…
A feminist, magic-realist trip through the Arab Spring: Women Who Blow on Knots reviewed
Imagine if Kathy Lette — or possibly Julie Burchill — had written a feminist, magic-realist saga that sent four women…
Admissions: confessions of a neurosurgeon with humility
Henry Marsh’s book Do No Harm (2014) was that rare thing — a neurosurgeon showing his fallibility in public and…
The disaster of Norway, 1940: Anatomy of a Campaign reviewed
Amid the shambles that was the Anglo-French campaign in Norway in April and May 1940, a French officer observed that…
Hitler’s glamorous high flyers
Keith Lowe on Nazi Germany’s two remarkable female pilots, both holders of the Iron Cross, First Class
Czeslaw Milosz’s highly acclaimed poetry does little for Craig Raine
Milan Kundera’s novel Immortality wryly depicts Goethe preparing for immortality — neatly laying out his life in Dichtung und Warheit…
The angry chef who’s fed up with fad diets
Anthony Warner is angry. He’s angry about diets. He’s angry about detoxes. He’s angry about pseudoscience — and he has…
The mystical appeal of Judaism
This extraordinary book has two main characters: Gershom Scholem (1897–1982), an early Zionist and the founder of the modern study…
What’s the ideal size for a city?
Trust scientists to ruin all our fun. The spectacularly beautiful 2014 film reboot of Godzilla, it turns out, is anatomically…
A murderous business: sexual trauma and child abuse
Just over halfway through this grim and gripping book, the author describes herself and her girlfriend ‘lying on my bed…
Simon Okotie’s new novel takes whimsical digression to extremes
The practical difficulties of extracting keys from the pockets of tight-fitting trousers while ascending stairs; the logistical hazards of seducing…
The latest first novels: a light approach to dark subjects
Patty Yumi Cottrell’s blackly comic and sophisticated debut Sorry to Disturb the Peace (And Other Stories, £10) opens with Helen…
Bootleggers, blackmailers and the rest of the merry Mob
In 1981, an FBI team visited Donald Trump to discuss his plans for a casino in Atlantic City. Trump admitted…
Elif Batuman’s heroine feels ill-prepared for life
It has taken much of a celebrated literary life for Elif Batuman to produce a novel. At the beginning of…
War damage to mind and body
Emma Williams salutes two books that examine close up the physical and psychological scars of war
The Koh-i-Noor: the greatest blood diamond in the world
There must be any number of self-respecting gemmologists out there on first-name terms with other diamonds, but for most of…
American-English has conquered the world
‘There is room for a very interesting work,’ Gibbon observed in a footnote, ‘which should lay open the connection between…
Adam Thorpe’s gone girl novel looks like a prizewinner
Adam Thorpe’s latest novel, Missing Fay, examines the lives of a disparate group of people in Lincolnshire, all touched in…
Books Podcast
Culture House Daily
Tennis is the real loser at Wimbledon this year
Unesco has enacted a grim piece of historical revisionism against Israel
Books Podcast: The wisdom of the zombie apocalypse
Antony Gormley has no right to complain when the public interacts with his public art
Hepworth Wakefield’s latest show is grossly irresponsible – the museum doesn’t deserve any sort of prize
Why snobs love Love Island
