Kenneth R. Rosen Polar WarSubmarines, spies, and the struggle forpower in a melting Arctic320pp. Profile. £22. The Norwegian government once invited me on a guided tour of the country’s far north, inc

Lizzie Wade Apocalypse How catastrophe transformed our world and can forge new futures 320pp. William Collins. £20. Luke Kemp Goliath’s Curse The history and future of societal collapse 592pp. Viking.

A Russia of trees and liberty and peace: ...

Andrew Kahn and Mark Lipovetsky, editors All the World on a Page A critical anthology of modern Russian poetry 560pp. Princeton University Press. £35 (US $39.95). Russian modernist poetry has long bee

Sometimes, a single narrative comes to dominate how we remember a year. So it is with 1776. This, as every history lover knows, was the date that the American colonies declared their independence, beg

RAIL Columnist