Europe
Asia
Oceania
Americas
Africa
The failure of enlightened hopes
RITCHIE ROBERTSON
You wouldn’t guess from the cover design—three songbirds silhouetted over swatches of picturesque Englishness—but Catherine Clarke’s A History of England in 25 Poems hits one of its sweet spots with a
“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.” Antonio Gramsci’s words, written in prison near Bari almost 100 years ago, ring out to us now. The politi
Catherine Clarke A History of England in 25 Poems400pp. Allen Lane. £25. Mark Forsyth Rhyme and ReasonA short history of poetry and people (forpeople who don’t usually read poetry)368pp. Allen & Unwin
Imaobong D. Umoren Empire Without EndA new history of Britain and theCaribbean528pp. Vintage. £25. At the height of the British Empire, the idea that we needed to study the history of Britain’s coloni
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
Ray Madoff The Second EstateHow the tax code made an Americanaristocracy192pp. Chicago University Press. £19 (US$25). Vanessa S. Williamson The Price of Democracy The revolutionary power of taxation i