America’s broken commonwealth
The nation’s founding myth was based on faith and solidarity – but it also contained the roots of today’s democratic crisis.
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Rowan Williams
Rowan Williams is former Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012, and a contributing writer to the New Statesman.
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What the Tories did to us
The essay collection The Conservative Effect explores how theatrical short-termism and specious rhetoric defined 14 years of mis-rule.
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Shakespeare’s guide to living
A Freudian reading of the comedies and tragedies reveals how we can embrace life’s failures and reversals.
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What the Greeks teach us about suicide
The great tragedians’ writings on suffering, stigma and survival can help guide our own struggles with assisted dying.
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Byron’s war on tranquillity
A new biography reveals how the poet’s life of extremes was echoed by the hyperactive irony of his work.
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Lexicon of loss
The history of the elegy reveals how the poetry of grief has the power to trouble, console and unite.
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Anne Boleyn’s blunders
A new history shows how the clever, ambitious queen was no match for the post-truth politics of Henry VIII’s…
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Homer’s history of violence
Emily Wilson’s translation of the Iliad reveals a bleak vision of the self-interest and savagery of humankind.
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The plans for a national Holocaust memorial need a rethink
The building’s design has been criticised and tangled in controversy – issues that such a project can well do…
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