Patrick Bishop
The First City To Be Coventried
The Coventry raid has stuck in the collective memory for a variety of reasons
A Putrid Pact between Devils
An excellent book on the deal between Hitler and Stalin that shocked the world 75 years ago
Hard Lessons of Afghan History
Two new histories of separate conflicts in Afghanistan show that both the Victorians and a young Churchill struggled at the North-Western Frontier
Boffins and other Backroom Boys
Highlighting the importance of scientists and engineers in defeating Germany is the noble aim of Paul Kennedy’s new book, but ultimately he goes too far
No Life Was Untouched
Christy Campbell’s focused, meticulous account of the V-weapon campaign of 1944 provides a neat counterpoint to the magisterial grand narrative of Antony Beevor’s The Second World War
Remembered Ernestly
Book review of The Letters of Ernest Hemingway Volume 1, 1907-1922, edited by Sandra Spanier and Robert W. Trogdon
The Greatest and Most Terrible
Book review of All Hell Let Loose: The World at War, 1939-1945 by Max Hastings
Will the green agenda be killed off by the pandemic?
‘Will the green agenda be killed off by the longer-term coronavirus recovery? Or might the closure of so much business, and the cleaner air that results from planes not flying and factories not working, give us extra years to gain control of our environment?’
Why T.S. Eliot still matters
His contemporaries’ reputations have diminished. But Eliot’s has grown: he is the poet who shows us what can be saved from the ruins
Music’s in the house
Rappers have found a role in lockdown: chronicling coronavirus with topical tunes. Most people, though, are rushing to the safety of the past