The end of the Ottoman Empire, stretching from the Balkans to the Arabian peninsula, remains in the shade of other deceased empires   – ancient Rome’s epoch-defining downfall; Tsarism’s out-of-the-blue collapse; the gradual dismemberment of the British Empire – but this book corrects the imbalance.   Sean Sheehan   Written with understated […]

Perry Anderson is a high-powered analyst of historical and political currents and it would be amiss to go through life without reading him but while “Different speeds, same furies” is not typical of his concerns it is characteristic in its intellectual prowess, clinical dissection and coolness of tone.     […]

Henry Thoreau famously went to live alone in a small house he built for himself: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I […]

If you love books or are intrigued by the figure of Alexander the Great and his achievements, the exhibition at the British Library makes for compelling viewing.   Sean Sheehan   What you see is a treasure trove of objects, mostly books, from 25 countries in 21 languages, which have […]

The virtues of train travel when compared to flying are now obvious and they were recalled last year in a book review about train travel in Europe.   Sean Sheehan   New routes are being announced or planned and travellers need to watch the news to keep up to date; […]