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Review: On Pedantry by Arnoud S.Q. Visser
An delightful history of intellectual caricature and disparagement
Jan 28
•
Mathew Lyons
11
4
Review: Holbein by Elizabeth Goldring
The definitive scholarly biography of a Renaissance master
Dec 17, 2025
•
Mathew Lyons
41
2
10
Review: Mexico: A 500-Year History by Paul Gillingham
A masterful account of one of the world's most complex and storied nations
Dec 10, 2025
•
Mathew Lyons
16
5
5
Review: Dip My Brain in Joy by Yvonne Innes
New in paperback, a moving memoir of the much-loved satirist and songwriter Neil Innes by his still-grieving wife
Oct 29, 2025
•
Mathew Lyons
13
2
2
Review: The Boundless Deep by Richard Holmes
A profound exploration of nineteenth-century science and its psychological impact on the young Tennyson
Oct 23, 2025
•
Mathew Lyons
46
15
19
Review: The Two Hundred Years War by Michael Livingston
Some unpersuasive historiography distracts from a pacy history of the Hundred Years War
Oct 13, 2025
•
Mathew Lyons
26
6
Review: Fool by Peter K Andersson
New in paperback: a tantalising study of Will Somer, Henry VIII's favourite fool
Sep 24, 2025
•
Mathew Lyons
20
5
Review: A Scandal in Königsberg by Christopher Clark
A compelling study of a forgotten moral and political crisis with some thoughtful contemporary resonances
Sep 11, 2025
•
Mathew Lyons
24
4
5
Review: The Medieval Moon by Ayoush Lazikani
A wonderful idea for a book too often let down by its writing
Aug 20, 2025
•
Mathew Lyons
14
2
3
Review: Sanctuary by Marina Warner
An interesting but flawed attempt to find a modern secular form for an ancient privilege
Jul 23, 2025
•
Mathew Lyons
10
3
3
Review: The Secrets of the Thames at London Museum Docklands
A delightful exhibition exploring the river's mudlarks and the treasures they find
Jun 25, 2025
•
Mathew Lyons
37
4
10
Review: Sceptred Isle by Helen Carr
A powerful new account of English history in the tumultuous fourteenth century
Jun 18, 2025
•
Mathew Lyons
35
7
6
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