David Abulafia
Why Was There No Holy Roman Project?
Brendan Simms’s new epic history of Europe is an earnest and old-fashioned of great power rivalries
Mediterranean Metamorphosis
For the sake of the euro, the peoples of southern Europe have turned their backs on the sea that once gave them prosperity
Why Remoaners should back Boris
“Boris, ironically, now offers Remoaners the best chance of a soft Brexit, or at least a sensible one. And to those who want a second referendum—’the people’s vote’—there may even be a chance of that too.”
On the road
“In the summer of 1980, in the grip of some Kerouac-ish fantasy, I opted to hitch-hike from Laredo to New York”
Discovering the Great War of China
A third of a million Chinese labourers helped the Allies defeat the Kaiser, but their huge unsung contribution ended in betrayal