Why The Most Civilised Of Men Felt Like A Fraud
James Stourton's biography of Kenneth Clark offers insights into a life riddled with paradox
Politics, Ideas and the Arts
Sound, Fury and Not Much Else
Slovenia's second most famous export, Slavoj Žižek, gets full marks for effort, but his 1970s dialectic seems a bit retro
Sam-I-Am’s Final Act
The last volume of his collected letters reveals Samuel Beckett at his most Beckettian
Growth Of A New Han Dynasty
Chinese literary phenomenon (and racecar driver) Han Han's essays are funny, sharp and wryly self-aware
Friends, Romans, Courtiers
Peter Stothard's memoir of the 1980s follows a quartet of attendants at Mrs Thatcher's court
Scenes From An Abused Life
New Year's Day Is Black shows a life laid bare in delicate watercolour sketches
A Modest Man With A Lot To Be Immodest About
Clement Attlee led an exemplary life, and was the smooth-running machine at heart of the wartime government, but was never remotely vainglorious
The Limits Of Pax Americana
America's post-Cold War strategy failed with Russia — will it fail to limit Beijing's aggressiveness too?
Peace In Their Time — At A Price
Throughout the 19th century the pursuit of power permeated European society
Crusades, Spies, And Cruising
The colourful life of Steven Runciman: historian, scholar-diplomat, and possibly spy
Andalusia Was No Golden Age
The idea that Moorish Spain was a haven of tolerance for Christians and Jews is a fashionable myth
Corbyn And The Oldest Hatred
Left-wing anti-Semitism is not an invention of the Corbynistas — it's been bubbling under the surface for decades