1,001 nights on the Tigris
A truly splendid work of erudition, storytelling and humanity
Politics, Ideas and the Arts
Capital in the 19th Century
Osterhammel's 'The Transformation of the World' shows up the work of all-too-many other historians
The Age of the Warrior Poet
It is a remarkable fact that WW1 produced a distinctive brand of poetry, and poets, and WW2 nothing comparable
Scandinavia in slow motion
Karl Ove Knausgaard is a tedious chronicler of his own life
Civilisation: Do we know it when we see it? He did
The presenter the BBC chooses to remake Kenneth Clark's seminal series has a tough act to follow
Red Pawn
How chess became a tool of totalitarian Communism
Poet of Eternal Summer
Rupert Brooke deserves to be taken seriously
Here’s to the Bauble Makers
An exhibition of folk art at Tate Britain is a reminder of the human need for creation and tradition