Gulliver’s Warning
Like Gulliver in Lilliput, “greatness” in the political realm depends on the existence of a group deemed puny or weak.
THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS – JUNE 25, 2026
Tag Archives: Literature
LITERARY REVIEW MAGAZINE – JUNE 2026 PREVIEW
LITERARY REVIEW : The latest issue features Peter Moore on George Forster * Anne Perkins on the Balfour family * William Whyte on British dons * Ian Thomson on the fall of the USSR * Joe Moshenska on Spinoza * Jeremy Treglown on Juan Carlos of Spain * D J Taylor on Henrietta Moraes * Howard Davies on recession * Martin Vander Weyer on Goldman Sachs * Piers Brendon on disinformation * Richard Vinen on Kissinger * Bettina Bildhauer on medieval health * John Mullan on Emily Brontë* Joseph Hone on Jonathan Swift * Duncan Fallowell on Lady Chatterley *
The Traveller: The Revolutionary Life of George Forster and his Search for Humanity
By Andrea Wulf
An exemplary tour of the High Enlightenment might go something like this. You’d begin in the streets of 1760s London to feel the pulse of Georgian commerce. You’d then hop aboard one of Captain Cook’s colliers and cruise through the Pacific, having encounters every day. Returning to Europe you might watch Benjamin Franklin in diplomatic action at Passy and dine with Casanova in Vienna, before sailing up the Rhine with Humboldt. Having inspected the Soho Manufactory in Birmingham and admired the picturesque scenery of the Peak District, you’d cross the Channel just in time for the grand and bloody finale in Paris.
Twilight of the Dons: British Intellectuals from World War II to Thatcherism
By Colin Kidd
Arriving as an undergraduate at Cambridge in 1961, Terry Eagleton was both overawed and underwhelmed by his supervisor, a man he calls Greenway in his memoir. ‘Greenway was the first truly civilised man I had ever encountered,’ Eagleton recalls.
This Dark Night: The Life of Emily Brontë
By Deborah Lutz
We know so little about Emily Brontë. There are just a few snapshots, like the vivid recollection of her sister Charlotte’s great friend Ellen Nussey: ‘Her extreme reserve seemed impenetrable, yet she was intensely loveable … one of her rare expressive looks was something to remember through life, there was such a depth of soul and feeling..
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE – JUNE 8, 2026 PREVIEW
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest issue cover features ‘Sergio García Sánchez and Lola Moral’s “The Secret Life of Books” – A living library. By Françoise Mouly
Maggie O’Farrell and the Art of Inventing the Past
Why read historical fiction? A new novel by the author of “Hamnet” offers one answer: because it’s fun. By Katy Waldman
Why the American Novel Refused to Grow Up
For the critic Leslie Fiedler, the country’s best and worst fiction was shaped by visions of escape from society—and therefore from maturity. By Becca Rothfeld
The World Cup According to Gianni Infantino
FIFA’s powerful president is remaking global soccer in his own image. Can the sport survive him? By Sam Knight
TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT – MAY 29, 2026 PREVIEW
TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT: The latest issue features ‘Is DNA destiny?’ – Matthew Cobb on engineering humanity.
Examining poets
J. H. Prynne and Geoffrey Hill’s clash over ‘hazards in rubric’ By Gabriel Rolfe
Metalheads and quilters
‘Aside from writing, what is your chief distraction, obsession or side-hustle?’ Writers at the Hay Festival reveal their private passions
The traitors
Cold War double agents, their lives and motives By Richard Davenport-Hines
‘I shall feel again, as soon as I dare’
Addictive anthologies of letters and diaries By Dinah Birch
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE – JUNE 1, 2026 PREVIEW
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest issue cover features ‘Mark Ulriksen’s “Kings of New York” – A historic season for the Knicks.
How Prepared Are We for a Public-Health Emergency?
The outbreaks of hantavirus and Ebola expose the shortsightedness of America’s retreat, under the Trump Administration, from its role as a global-health leader. By Dhruv Khullar
The Trump-Epstein Files: Look but Don’t Touch
The Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room, in Tribeca, housed three and a half million bound files, along with a handy time line charting the ickiness. By Charlotte Goddu
How Problematic Is Patriotism?
National pride in America has plummeted in the Trump era. Is it worth trying to salvage? By Arthur Krystal
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE – MAY 25, 2026 PREVIEW
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest issue cover features ‘Kadir Nelson’s “Plein Air” – Impressions of spring.
Can the Democrats Take Back the Senate?
Their electoral prospects are finally improving, but opportunities can quickly give way to divisions. Does the Party have a plan? By Amy Davidson Sorkin
The Human-Trafficking Victim Next Door
A young girl was brought from Guinea to a wealthy suburb near Dallas. She spent the next sixteen years of her life in forced servitude. By Yudhijit Bhattacharjee
Can Hakeem Jeffries Lead a Democratic Takeover of the House?
An unprecedented gerrymandering effort led by Donald Trump—and internal divisions among Democrats—has made the Minority Leader’s path to victory harder than ever. By Jason Zengerle
Mary Todd Lincoln Has Long Been Derided. Is Her Reputation Salvageable?
History knows the First Lady as a hysterical widow and a lavish spender. Her most recent biographer chooses to highlight her mental fortitude and political prowess. By Thomas Mallon
LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS – MAY 21, 2026 PREVIEW
LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS: The latest issue features…
Lead Essays & Politics
- “America’s Afghanistan Delusion” by Tom Stevenson: Stevenson examines the legacy of the War on Terror, arguing that the 2021 withdrawal from Kabul was viewed by the Western establishment as a “mistake” or “cautionary tale” rather than the “crime” he suggests it was. He traces the expansion of American power through “black sites” and military advisers across the globe.
- “Short Cuts: Labour’s Failure” by James Butler: Butler analyzes the results of the English local elections (held on May 7). He criticizes Keir Starmer’s leadership style as “all injunction and no argument” and explores why national revulsion toward the Labour Party overshadowed local government issues.
- “Where’s All the Cash?” by John Lanchester: A characteristically lucid investigation into modern economics, focusing on the circulation of physical currency and the shifting nature of wealth in a digital-first economy.
Literature & History
- “On Marlen Haushofer” by Becca Rothfeld: A deep dive into the work of the Austrian writer, specifically her 1963 masterpiece The Wall. Rothfeld explores Haushofer’s recurring themes of entrapment and isolation, noting the paradoxical “joy” found in her most barricaded characters.
- “Baltic Snake Cults” by Diarmaid MacCulloch: The eminent historian reviews the long survival of paganism and “serpent worship” in the Baltic regions, challenging the standard narrative of a monolithic Christian Europe during the Middle Ages.
- “Should We Punish?” by Thomas Nagel: The philosopher engages with the ethics of the penal system, weighing the traditional justifications for punishment against contemporary moral and legal theories.
Other Features
“The Clearance of Aoineadh Mòr, 1824” by Tarn MacArthur: A historical account of the Highland Clearances, specifically focusing on the displacement of communities in Scotland.
At the Movies: Michael Wood provides his regular column of film criticism, likely focusing on current European or art-house releases.
Poetry & Correspondence: The issue also contains poems and a robust letters section, which in this period has been heavily occupied by debates over the Arctic (following Laleh Khalili’s piece in the previous issue) and the fallout of the UK local elections.
TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT – MAY 15, 2026 PREVIEW
TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT: The latest issue features ‘Among Putin’s Russians’…
Anti-communist or antisemitic?
The ideology behind Hitler’s assault on the Soviet Union By Richard J. Evans
‘Send on anything human’
Previously unseen letters between Ezra Pound and Gladys Hynes By Ed Vulliamy
You say lee-do …
The rise, fall and survival of open-air swimming pools By David Horspool
Main-character syndrome
Video games and political violence By Regina Rini
THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS – MAY 28, 2026
Whither the Nerd-Bully?
Bill Gates was the monopolistic father figure who Silicon Valley’s young founders rebelled against—and, in so rebelling, became.
Billionaire, Nerd, Savior, King: Bill Gates and His Quest to Shape Our World by Anupreeta Das
Source Code: My Beginnings by Bill Gates
Iran’s New Winter
The US-Israeli war against Iran, far from encouraging a popular uprising, has strengthened the regime’s grip and set back the cause of Iranian freedom indefinitely.
Don’t Call It Entertainment
In Everthing Is Now, J. Hoberman chronicles a radical avant-garde’s attempts to jostle New York City out of its postwar complacency and moral retrenchment.
Everything Is Now: The 1960s New York Avant-Garde—Primal Happenings, Underground Movies, Radical Pop by J. Hoberman
The Sage of Washington
Walter Lippmann was the most influential political commentator of his generation, but behind his preternatural confidence was a far more complicated and unsettled character.
Walter Lippmann: An Intellectual Biography by Tom Arnold-Forster
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE – MAY 11 & 18, 2026 PREVIEW
THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest issue cover features ‘Barry Blitt’s “Red, White, and Kinda Blue” – America’s birthday party.
Two Hundred and Fifty Years of Complicated Commemorations
Donald Trump’s aversion to admitting fault suggests that we will not likely see events that grapple with the nuanced nature of the nation’s history this July 4th. By Jelani Cobb
Was the Declaration of Independence Better Before the Edits?
Amid contention, criticism, and compromise, a divided nation had to present a unified front. It came at a cost. By Jill Lepore
Barack Obama Considers His Role in the Age of Trump
The former President remains one of the most popular politicians in the country. What are his obligations to it?
Boomers Daily 