Books
Books you might have missed
Jeremy Black recommends three history books that have been neglected by literary reviewers
The bracing blast of a dissident
In his coverage of Northern Ireland in this memoir, Kevin Myers was unflinchingly critical of British ineptitude
Thick as Thebans
Frederic Raphael reveals how Paul Cartledge makes the case for a central historical role for Oedipus’s home town
Labouring unloved
In the West we’ve yet to make the acknowledgment that overwork can be deadly, says Katrina Gulliver
Wolverhampton wonderer
There is a lesson here for those who prefer to sharpen their knives on the whetstone of grievance
Tragedy of the little Darlings
The relationship between J.M. Barrie and the real life Peter Pan was fatherly, friendly and perhaps something else
World-class snob, first-class diarist
Andrew Roberts says that in these diaries, Channon takes snobbery to a truly pathological level
You can’t make it up
Lisa Hilton asks whether Twitter mobs should be able to police the imagination of novelists and playwrights
Rehabilitation of a great stylist
Christopher Bray thinks Roth’s “novelist’s autobiography” is one of his most fizzing examinations of the stories that construct our various selves
Deeply flawed life of Cap’n Bob
Christopher Silvester reveals how this biography of Robert Maxwell is a skilfully constructed page-turner