Dallying with Il Duce
Iris Origo's diary of the runup to Italy entering WW2 is a fascinating record which cuts through Fascist propaganda
Politics, Ideas and the Arts
Human rights — all things being equal
Two books attempt to tackle the fundamental basis of equality: whence do we derive human rights?
Last days of hope and glory
The years 1880-1914 were just as much an Age of Improvement as an Age of Decadence
The Polish Pope and his Boswell
George Weigel's Lessons in Hope tells the story of the "pivot" of his life: his relationship with John Paul II. But what is the future for the Polish Pope's style of conservatism?
Witty and readable — but mind the gaps
The second instalment of Simon Schama's history of the Jewish people is typically energetic but has some serious failings
Dead horse, the flogging of
A collection of Martin Amis's essays caresses the bottom of the barrel
Into the vortex of Widmerpool
"Everyone has their Widmerpool . . . Who is your Widmerpool? — awesomely, whose Widmerpool are you?"
Liberalism’s identity crisis
The American Left has taken refuge in an intellectual dead end, argues Mark Lilla
Only connect
Niall Ferguson's big theory of history is stimulating, arresting, but only half-convincing
Heartless Hero for the Hipster Generation
It is a fact that a high proportion of unreliable narrators of novels are intelligent, arrogant, badly-behaved, young males.
Deep History Or Just Conspiracy?
Built on misreadings and deceptive elisions, Nancy MacLean's Democracy In Chains reframes the colourful tale of the American Right as a dank, dark conspiracy
Gullible Guests of the Nazis
Julia Boyd's meticulously-researched Travellers in the Third Reich shows visitors to Hitler's Germany saw only what they wanted to see