Adam Zamoyski
The shadow of the Sun King
‘It has been said that Louis XIV invented France and Napoleon made it. Like Napoleon 150 years later, Louis found a country in turmoil and determined to turn it into a functional, modern state’
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
Horse Power
Russia Against Napoleon by Dominic Lieven
How I Rewrote Polish History
Poland used to be written off as a failed state. But it has survived Nazism and communism to become a model for Europe
Duped by the Devil
Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West by Lawrence Rees
Majority rule; minority rights
It is folly to treat UK race relations as totally divorced from the rest of human experience. We need to look at the larger global picture
American revolutions: Rewriting the language of the unheard
‘Dissenting viewpoints — for example, the belief that America is not an intrinsically racist country—are shunned as further proof of racist pathologies’
The favourites
From Piers Gaveston onwards, controversial courtiers have a long history in British politics.How unusual is Dominic Cummings?