A pithy retelling of Europe’s darkest days
Norman Stone's new history of World War Two Manages to cover the conflict comprehensively in fewer than 200 pages
Clive’s Indian Summer
Book review of A Point of View by Clive James
The Reign of Spain
Book Review: The Golden Age: The Spanish Empire of Charles V by Hugh Thomas
Lennie Has the Last Laugh
Sylvie Simmons's biography of Leonard Cohen uncovers the importance of his Jewish identity in understanding the troubadour's great output
Liberty Here, Tyranny There
The apologetics over John Stuart Mill’s shocking attitudes towards foreigners is the only thing that lets down Georgios Varouxakis’s otherwise excellent study of the political philosopher You can make a passable case
The Old Men Who Made Paint Itself Expressive
It is rare for great artists to keep producing well into old age. Two biographies of Titian and Cézanne reveal masters who saved their best until last
Elegy to a Country’s Church
The Church of England is part of this country's identity and the key to its past, according to Roger Scruton in his superb new book, Our Church
Bombarded By White Noise
Camille Paglia's Glittering Images is a bewildering nightmare of frenzied distraction, precisely the modern condition the author hoped to combat
More Than a Curmudgeon
R.S. Thomas is frequently characterised as a misanthropic ogre. On the centenary of his birth, the publication of his humane Uncollected Poems belies this misplaced view
Our Island’s Storytelling
How Britain discovered a lucrative new role as a global cultural powerhouse