I sent this letter off to the New York Times two weeks ago. They have not published it. But I thought some of you might find it of interest. Thomas Friedman in his column “Trump…

Here is what I think of when I imagine the German invasion of Poland in September 1939: brave Polish cavalrymen with sabres drawn, charging against modern German tanks. Horses versus steel. The problem with that…

In the aftermath of the disappointing results for the Sanders campaign in the primaries following Nevada, supporters of the self-described “democratic socialist” Senator from Vermont have been discussing what happens next. If Sanders chooses to…

This is a seriously creepy book. It takes place sometime in the near future, though we learn very little about it. The narrator gives little away, and often seems to understand even less than we…

“The history of communism in America is bitterly contested terrain,” writes Maurice Isserman on the first page of his 1982 book. Nearly four decades later, it remains bitterly contested. Isserman falls into the category, I…

This is how history should be written. Roger Moorhouse has taken a subject rarely covered in detail despite its obvious importance and done a very thorough job of it. He begins the book by pointing…

The Kurds currently under attack by Turkish forces “didn’t help us in the second world war, they didn’t help us with Normandy as an example,” said US president Donald Trump this week. “They mention the…

Five years ago, the Kurdish enclave of Kobane in Northern Syria was besieged by Islamic State fighters, who then seemed to be on an unstoppable march through Iraq and Syria, with cities and towns falling…

Robert Harris often has the very best ideas for his books, but sometimes the book itself is a real let-down. The Second Sleep is an example of this. First of all, his good idea —…