Tag Archives: History

LITERARY REVIEW —- FEBRUARY 2026

LITERARY REVIEW : The latest issue features Norma Clarke on Charlie Chaplin’s London; Richard Bourke on revolution; Lucasta Miller on George Sand; Peter Davidson on Constable; Philippe Marlière on far-right France; Munro Price on the Marquis de Morès; Piers Brendon on Trotsky’s demise; Mark Glancy on Hitchcock’s scores

High-Builded Clouds – Constable’s Year: An Artist in Changing Seasons By Susan Owens

Where Fry Met Laurie – The Cambridge Footlights: A Very British Comedy Institution By Robert Sellers

Partners in Suspense – Hitchcock and Herrmann: The Friendship and Film Scores That Changed Cinema By Steven C Smith

APOLLO MAGAZINE – FEBRUARY 2026 PREVIEW

Apollo cover image 1

APOLLO MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Miquel Barceló’s Mutant Art’….

The Asia Society Turns 70

Los Angeles After The Fires

Hans Holbein’s Big Break

On Viollet-le-Duc, the punchbag of Notre-Dame

While the architect’s approach to restoring France’s medieval buildings remains controversial, his many and varied talents are still utterly awe-inspiring by Tim Smith-Laing

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY – JANUARY 30, 2026 PREVIEW

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY: The latest issue features ‘Showdown’ – Minneapolis, Ice and A Moment of Truth.

Is the worm turning against Trump? Last week saw a concerted pushback against the US president by western allies over Greenland. This week, it is on the domestic front where the Trump administration seems to be buckling – this time under intense criticism after the killing of another American citizen by federal agents in Minneapolis.

The massive winter storm that swept across North America last weekend could not obscure from the nation video footage of an ICE agent shooting dead Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse and father of three who was seemingly rushing to protect a woman as she was pepper-sprayed by Border Patrol personnel.

As our Washington bureau chief David Smith writes in this week’s big story, the events were seen by many as clear evidence of fascistic overreach and a potential moment of reckoning for Trump in the US. A wave of condemnation from politicians across the political spectrum led to a swift softening of tone from the White House, though not before leading administration figures had wrongly tried to pin the blame on the victim.

From Minneapolis, Rachel Leingang reports on the sense of shock and fury in the city, while in a stark commentary, Francine Prose voices her fears that the US may be on the brink of an authoritarian takeover.

Spotlight | Are Trump’s tantrums pushing America’s allies closer to China?
After a week of diplomatic turmoil, some western nations are turning to a country that many in Washington see as an existential threat. Amy Hawkins reports

Science | Fly me to the moon, again
Nasa is readying its most powerful Artemis II rocket for a new, 1.1 million km lunar circumnavigation flight – and lift-off could come as soon as next week. Science editor Ian Sample sets the scene

Feature | Secrets of the superagers
Why do some people age better than others? Five extraordinary individuals – who scientists are studying – share their tips with Isabelle Aron

Opinion | It’s now clear. Labour needs a new leader – and quickly
UK prime minister Keir Starmer’s dismal decision to block likely leadership challenger Andy Burnham from standing in a byelection has bought him time, but it won’t change his fate, says Polly Toynbee

Culture | Has Netflix killed our attention spans?
Matt Damon has got it right, argues Stuart Heritage: the streaming giant knows we all just watch TV with one hand gripping our smartphones, which is why we need plotlines explaining to us over and over again

LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS – FEBRUARY 5, 2026 PREVIEW

LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS: The latest issue features ‘Visions of America’

Made in Tehran

Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi

Iran’s Grand Strategy: A Political History  by Vali Nasr.

No King

Daisy Hay

Friends until the End: Edmund Burke and Charles Fox in the Age of Revolution by James Grant.


One Life to Lead: The Mysteries of Time and the Goods of Attachment by Samuel Scheffler


El Cid: 
The Life and Afterlife of a Medieval Mercenary by Nora Berend



The American Scholar Magazine – Winter 2026

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THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR: The latest issue features ‘The Chronicler of Harlem’ – Rudolph Fischer’s singular legacy…

Renaissance Man

Doctor, writer, musician, and orator: Rudolph Fisher was a scientist and an artist whose métier was Harlem By Harriet A. Washington

Acid Blues (Slight Return)

The music of Jimi Hendrix continues to strike a chord By James McManus

Netflix Goes to Vietnam

When a filmmaker wanted to understand the war that changed his father, he decided to make a documentary By Thomas A. Bass

Back to Bellevue

Two deaths nearly five decades apart and the hospital that felt like a nightmare By Natalie Angier

History Today Magazine – FEBRUARY 2026 Preview

History Today | The World's Leading Serious History Magazine

HISTORY TODAY MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Life and Death in the Thirty Years War’ – Refugees in the Thirty Years War, the Trojan myths of medieval Wales, Russia in the 1990s, the godless students of London University, brothels of the British Empire, and more.

Fight and Flight in the Thirty Years War

The Thirty Years War devastated continental Europe, killing millions and creating as many refugees. How did they experience the conflict?

When Did the Reformation End?

From 1517, when Luther’s 95 Theses sparked schism and bloodshed, the Protestant Reformation divided Europe. Can we say when – or if – the conflict concluded?

‘Demosthenes’ by James Romm review

Demosthenes: Democracy’s Defender by James Romm looks for hope amid the sound and fury surrounding the great orator of ancient Athens.

THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS – FEBRUARY 12, 2026

Table of Contents - February 12, 2026 | The New York Review of Books

THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS: The latest issue features Alma Guillermoprieto on the US’s mad invasion of Venezuela; Fintan O’Toole on the nightmare of Trumpian imperialism; Hermione Lee on Gertrude Stein; Ian Frazier on the sea of chicken; Jérôme Tubiana on the crisis in Darfur; Jenny Uglow on precious stones; Beatrice Radden Keefe on Gothic fever; Aryeh Neier and Gara LaMarche on the dire state of philanthropy in Trump’s America; Regina Marler on Jane DeLynn; Laurence H. Tribe on Jill Lepore; poems by Fernando Pessoa, Ben Lerner, and Kathleen Ossip; and much more.

A More Pliant Chavista

President Trump’s decision to support Delcy Rodríguez as Venezuela’s new leader makes clear that oil, not democracy, is his main concern.

Whose Hemisphere?

The US capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro reinforces the Trump administration’s capacity to invent any pretext to justify the use of armed force.

Epic Ambitions

A new life of Gertrude Stein treats her as a philosopher of language to trust, not explain—and gathers force from archival discoveries and intriguing plots of her reception and reputation.

Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife by Francesca Wade

Is the Constitution ‘Dead, Dead, Dead’?

The difficulty of amending the Constitution does not mean that it is a flawed and outdated relic of a distant past.

We the People: A History of the US Constitution by Jill Lepore

TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT – JANUARY 23, 2026 PREVIEW

Fluff and puff' at the TS Eliot Prize

TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT: The latest issue features ‘The state of British poetry’ by Tristram Fane Saunders…

Anon and on

The forward march of British poetry

By Tristram Fane Saunders

First class delivery?

A history of childbirth and a defence of the C-section

By Leah Hazard

Portraits of the ‘Black Venus’

Newly discovered photographs of Baudelaire’s muse

By Maria C. Scott

Fathoms deep

The thrill of marine archaeology

By Alan Jenkins

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY – JANUARY 23, 2026 PREVIEW

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY: The latest issue features ‘On Thin Ice’ – Why Trump wants Greenland – and what it means for the western alliance.

The dystopian nightmare of 2026 continued apace this week with Donald Trump seemingly hell-bent on taking over Greenland, either by purchase or military force if necessary, while potentially collapsing the entire western security alliance in the process.

Updates were delivered by the US president to European leaders in a trademark stream of social media insults and invective. As ever with Trump, it’s hard to tell if it all should be read as maximalist positioning ahead of a negotiation, or a genuine precursor to a military attack. But as Patrick Wintour and Jennifer Rankin write in this week’s Big Story, the damage among fellow Nato members already looks to have been done.

Melting sea ice has much to do with Greenland’s increasing strategic desirability. With the help of some great graphics, visuals editor Ashley Kirk explains what’s changing in the Arctic and who lays claim to what.

Spotlight | The man who trusted Trump – and paid with his life
Many Iranian protesters believed a US president would – for the first time – rescue them, but now people can only despair after mass arrests and brutality. Deepa Parent and William Christou report

Environment | Where have all Thailand’s dugongs gone?

The Andaman coast was one of few places in the world with a viable population of the marine mammals, but then dead ones began washing up. Now half have gone. Gloria Dickie reports from Phuket

Feature | Cuba edges closer to collapse
Disillusioned with the revolution after 68 years of US sanctions and a shattered economy, one in four Cubans have left in recent years. Can the regime, and country, survive? By Andrei Netto in Havana

Opinion | Take a lesson from the past, and light the way forward
As Martin Kettle writes his last regular column for the Guardian, his thoughts turn to the examples and hope we can take from history

Culture | Michael Sheen on launching Welsh National Theatre
As the newly founded national company’s first show comes to the stage, the proudly Welsh actor tells Kate Wyver about his plan to bring big productions back to his homeland

National Geographic Magazine – January 2026

February 2026 Issue | National Geographic

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Can Science Build a Better Beer?’ – How breakthroughs in the lab could upend a global industry…

Revealing the hidden kingdom of seahorses

On a Bahamian island, in a landlocked lagoon, the planet’s densest collection of seahorses is offering scientists new insights into the secret lives of one of the world’s most mysterious fish.

Inside the sacred wolf hunts of western Mongolia

The mission to keep the borderlands wild

Searching for life across the planet’s frigid frontiers

Is the grumpy-faced Texas horned lizard cute enough to survive?

These sunken ceramics ushered in a new era for archaeology