Macartney's 1793 mission was a failure, but the Dutch were better informed. This new study argues that the Qing court was not arrogant and narrow-minded, as the English concluded, but was in... read more
A sequence of lively anecdotes from a mercurial mind: Gekoski has led several careers, as a publisher and more recently as a fine novelist; he is also the doyen of dealers in rare modern fir... read more
An artist joins an island community of impoverished like-minded souls. When the island's owner pushes up the rent, a conflict ensues in which the dispossessed protest against gentrification.
Patrick Leigh Fermor held that baroque architecture in Italy could never have existed without pasta in all its multitudinous and beguiling forms... Drawing on a decade and a half of living i... read more
DA's 'Diary of a Young Naturalist' won last year's Wainright Prize; he is extraordinarily young too - now just 17. Here he invites young readers on a practical exploration of the world aroun... read more