Books

Vorsprung durch Technik R.I.P.

The vaunted German model really is kaput — bust

Life amid the ruins

Any captured, destroyed city, offers the same problems for the new owners

Sometimes it’s best to shoot the messenger

Ordinary citizens feel a greater claim than ever before to what goes on in public institutions

A book about nothing

A new collection from Adrian Chiles is certainly curious

Bursting the myth of the “people’s war”

The Home Guard was not a nation-in-arms of the Jacobin kind

Chill message of Booker shortlist

The contempt of publishers for middle-class life and values is diminishing the novel

A wealth of glorious objects and images

A new book about the discovery of classical sculptures and frescoes is itself a real treasure

Revising Roman rottenness

The monsters of old can teach us about the monsters of today

Boris: the PM who could do no wrong

This must be in competition for the most inaccurate work of non-fiction since … well, since Johnson’s last book

How Roman women were victimised twice

The victims of abuse could also be degraded by historians