Camera Bravura
The National Gallery's new show, Seduced by Art, celebrates the lasting influence of photography's earliest pioneers
Politics, Ideas and the Arts
Hidden Sanctuary Of Byzantine Art
A closed-off dark age church in Rome reveals the true majesty of an often under-appreciated Byzantine tradition
Chronicle Of History’s Greatest Carnage
Tombstone, by Yang Jisheng, is an uncomfortable read but a brave and important account of the huge human cost of Mao's Great Leap Forward
The Fate Of A Forgotten Ally
Halik Kochanski's magisterial work on the cruel and chaotic legacy of World War II in Poland is history at its best
Last Burst of Creative Genius
Mozart's wide-ranging genius and phrenetic final phase are the focus of two excellent new studies on classical music
Romney’s People
Two new works on the history of Mormonism by Paul C. Gutjahr and John G. Turner elucidate an element of 19th century American life too easily neglected
The Dreyfus Affair Of Our Age
Salman Rushdie's account of the life under a fatwa highlights the moral cowardice of establishment figures of the Left and the Right
The Art of the 64 Squares
While not all artists are chess players, all chess players are artists. So said Marcel Duchamp, a mean player himself
A Mania For Nymphs
Peter Lely's underrated pastorals and mythologies are erotic delights for the connoisseur
Blood and Lies Behind the Iron Curtain
Anne Applebaum's magisterial Iron Curtain tells the largely untold story of Eastern Europe's suppression at the hands of the Soviets after the Second World War
From Jesus Sect to Imperial Faith
Two new works by Geza Vermes and Peter Brown eloquently and enthusiastically chart the progress of Christianity from Jesus Christ to the height of the Byzantine empire
Illuminating Scripture
The philosophical basis to Hebrew scripture solves the false dichotomy of faith and reason, according to Yoram Hazony's new book