Hitler’s Superman
Martin Heidegger's apparent denazification after the — with the help of Jewish lover Hannah Arendt — requires further examination
Politics, Ideas and the Arts
Magnus Magnetism
London's forthcoming Candidates tournament features the world's best, including the highest-ranked player in history, Magnus Carlsen
The Genius Who Beat Einstein To It
The French polymath Henri Pointcaré excelled in astronomy, physics mathematics and a lot more
No Mickey Mouse Artist
Roy Lichtenstein based his work on comic strips but his approach to painting was intellectual
The Poet To Whom Fascism Owed It All
Lucy Hughes-Hallett's Life of Gabriele D'Annunzio paints a picture of a compelling and anarchic poet-statesman
Not Hitler’s Pope, But No Saint Either
Robert A. Ventresca's attempt to dispassionately assess the divisive Pope Pius XVII's pontificate is well-meaning but a penance to read
Privileged Outsider
The cult of Benjamin Britten lives on in Paul Kildea's new biography, painting the composer as a perennial victim
Israel’s Tragic Hero-Victim
Unapologetic terrorist or revolutionary? Menachem Begin is rightly de-demonised, but not whitewashed, in Avi Shilon's new biography
The Philosopher and His Scholar
Noel Malcolm's magisterial new edition of Hobbes's Leviathan is a fine example of why, in the 21st century, scholarship still matters
Boffins and other Backroom Boys
Highlighting the importance of scientists and engineers in defeating Germany is the noble aim of Paul Kennedy's new book, but ultimately he goes too far
Thomas and the Fat Controllers
Many in the 1970s predicted the demise of the railway. A new book by Richard Faulkner and Chris Austin tells how the foresight of a select few saved the trains
From Russia, With Erudition
Mikhail Shishkin's new novel — the first to arrive in English — is ambitious, complicated and protean. And brilliant