Science / Human Sciences

The Gentleman Naturalist

Charles Darwin’s theories of natural selection and evolution have weathered well and he cannot be held responsible for those who have developed a repugnant politics…

Violent Remedies

The same year Rodrigo Borgia, one of the most controversial of the many controversial Renaissance popes, became Pope Alexander VI. As Unger notes, he “was…

The Visionary Upholsterer

He was involved in the Gothic revival in, for example, stained glass. In textiles, he was both a weaver and a dyer –both the technical…

One Part Prescient, Five Parts Puerile

Highly promiscuous, he was unfaithful to all his women, and never – quite – managed to love anyone else as much as he loved himself.…

World Literature

Not Pulling Punches

As Swift knew, his complex irony can be challenging. He was aware that he had often been misunderstood, to his own detriment. Looking back on…

Fugitive Pleasures

These then are the lives Hastings tackles – those of playwright, short story virtuoso and novelist, traveller, millionaire art collector, exile, homosexual, secret agent and…