Talking Classics — Mary Beard makes a passionate case for fun as well as relevance
The acclaimed historian’s eye-opening guide to the ancient world reminds Martin Wolf why classics are as relevant as ever
The acclaimed historian’s eye-opening guide to the ancient world reminds Martin Wolf why classics are as relevant as ever

Her book aims to excavate the discipline from the layers of argument that surround it

Reading for both pleasure and betterment endures — even if unquestioning faith in literary canons and critical authority is gone

The novelist’s anniversary has inspired a raft of admiring books. But can they explain why she still delights 21st-century…

Pay attention to trends, extract what is useful and ignore bad-faith critics

Old and new worlds collide — ‘roughness with refined, serious with playful’ — in a playbook that delights in breaking the rules

Cole Escola’s play at London’s Trafalgar Theatre brings crazed comic energy to the life of Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of Abraham