Reviews

Members of the Iranian armed forces commemorate the 2,500th anniversary of the Persian Empire, Persepolis, October 1971. Popperfoto/Getty Images.

‘The Shah’s Party and the Iranian Revolution That Followed’ review

In The Shah’s Party and the Iranian Revolution That Followed Robert Templer reveals the hubristic high point of the Pahlavi regime’s self-regard.

An Allegory of the Triumph over Heresy, with St. Domenic to the Fore, Abraham van Diepenbeeck, c.1650-60. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.

‘The Cheese and the Worms’ by Carlo Ginzburg review

A new translation marks the 50th anniversary of Carlo Ginzburg’s pioneering microhistory The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller.

‘Hail Germania!’, First World War sheet music, Josef Spary, 1916. Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz. Public Domain.

‘Charismatic Nations’ by Joep Leerssen review

Charismatic Nations: A Cultural History of Nationalism in Europe from 1800 to the Present by Joep Leerssen looks to art and not politics for the birth of the nation.

Middleham, Yorkshire, Peter DeWint, undated. Yale Center for British Art. Public Domain.

‘This Dark Night’ by Deborah Lutz review

This Dark Night: The Life of Emily Brontë by Deborah Lutz vividly reconstructs the world that produced Wuthering Heights. Are there limits to this approach?

The great seal of king Henry I on a charter for Holy Trinity Prior established by Matilda, c.1108. The National Archives. Public Domain.

‘Empress Matilda’ by Elisabeth van Houts review

Empress Matilda: Queen of the Romans, Ruler of the English by Elisabeth van Houts is a sympathetic biography of the woman who would be king.

Margaret Bondfield gives a speech to the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, 1932. LSE Library. Public Domain.

‘Margaret Bondfield’ by Nan Sloane review

Margaret Bondfield: The Life and Times of Britain’s First Female Cabinet Minister by Nan Sloane illuminates an overlooked trailblazer of the Labour movement.

European couple and a child playing with parrot, Qing dynasty hanging scroll, 18th century. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.

‘The China Question’ by Ho-fung Hung review

In The China Question: Eight Centuries of Fantasy and Fear Ho-fung Hung watches the West swing from Sinophilia to Sinophobia and back again.

A Dutch Factory in Bengal, probably Cossimbazar, Hendrik van Schuylenburgh, c.1665. Rijksmuseum. Public Domain.

‘Capitalism: A Global History’ by Sven Beckert review

Capitalism: A Global History by Sven Beckert looks beyond the cities to the coffee and cotton that fuelled a global market.

James Bryce with Arthur, Duke of Connaught, 1911. Library of Congress. Public Domain.

‘Liberal Worlds’ by H.S. Jones review

Liberal Worlds: James Bryce and the Democratic Intellect by H.S. Jones explores the lost world and writing of a formerly eminent Victorian.

Japanese soldiers marching into Beijing on the cover of Asahigraph magazine, 1 September 1937. Private Collection. Public Domain.

‘Blood Dawn’ by Hans van de Ven review

Blood Dawn: World War II and the Making of Modern Asia by Hans van de Ven finds Japanese grievance and ambition in the eye of the storm.