A Mania For Nymphs
Peter Lely's underrated pastorals and mythologies are erotic delights for the connoisseur
Politics, Ideas and the Arts
It’s Not Elementary, My Dear Watson
If you think that the discovery of the Higgs Boson solved all the mysteries of particle physics, think again
Blood and Lies Behind the Iron Curtain
Anne Applebaum's magisterial Iron Curtain tells the largely untold story of Eastern Europe's suppression at the hands of the Soviets after the Second World War
From Jesus Sect to Imperial Faith
Two new works by Geza Vermes and Peter Brown eloquently and enthusiastically chart the progress of Christianity from Jesus Christ to the height of the Byzantine empire
Illuminating Scripture
The philosophical basis to Hebrew scripture solves the false dichotomy of faith and reason, according to Yoram Hazony's new book
Middlebrow Tudoriana
Peter Ackroyd's Tudors is a pedestrian chronicle of the fascinating age of Reformation
Mazower’s New World Order
Reading Mark Mazower is like being lectured by the best left-wing lecturer you'll ever have: he is brilliant but tiresome
Seeing is Believing
The narrative of Will Gompertz's history of modern art faithfully follows the Serota tendency, claiming modern art always trumps that which it supplanted
What’s in a Name?
In Literary Names, Alastair Fowler describes the surprising ways authors have christened their characters
The Spy Who Tricked Me
Ian McEwan's new novel Sweet Tooth is a brilliant exercise in deception
Not for the Fastidious
Nicola Barker's The Yips is a mass-casualty train wreck. Pity her martyred readers
Eliot Agonistes: Letters to and from the editor
The latest volume of T.S. Eliot's letters provide agreeable shocks and reveals the travails of both his professional and love lives