Books

In memory of a friend

Sybille Bedford: A Life by Selina Hastings reviewed

Mike Nichols: A Life by Mark Harris reviewed

How an American outsider wrote the history of our future

The Lives of Lucian Freud: Fame 1968-2011 by William Feaver reviewed

Vonnegut did plenty to offend the conservative Christian sensibilities that characterized my educational institutions

On the joys of armchair travel

Graham Greene needed peace of mind and escapist thrills

A short story

The Battle of the Classics: How a Nineteenth-Century Debate Can Save the Humanities Today by Eric Adler reviewed

The Denial by Ross Clark reviewed

The Spectator’s writers and friends recommend the best books, richest reads and most pandemical page-turners of 2020

A virtual visit in the author’s beloved Los Angeles

Mussolini’s War: Fascist Italy from Triumph to Collapse, 1935-1943 by John Gooch reviewed

Wolfe excelled at capturing human foibles and petty vanities; anything deeper than that escaped him

It has become another improbable victim of the culture wars

Gimson’s Presidents: Brief Lives from Washington to Trump by Andrew Gimson reviewed

The Blind Light by Stuart Evers reviewed