Jonathan Keates
After the Conspiracy
The Lost Boys: A Family Ripped Apart by War
By Catherine Bailey
Viking 461pp £20
The failed attempt to assassinate Hitler in July 1944 by a group formed mainly of aristocratic army officers remains one of the Second World War’s most controversial episodes. The view of the conspirators as doomed heroes sacrificed to the rage of a vindictive tyrant was challenged at the outset by those who claimed that they deserved execution for breaking their oath of loyalty to the Führer. Their motives and integrity have also been questioned. Did they launch their enterprise purely in the name of wounded military prestige, for the sake of salvaging Germany’s national honour? And, as one recent revisionist historian has suggested, hadn’t many of them already fouled their hands with round-ups and massacres among the occupied peoples of eastern Europe?
Hitler’s reaction mixed ferocious revenge with canny propaganda. The Führer (minus his trousers, apparently) had lived to accomplish his noble mission. ‘I am now more than ever convinced that the great cause which I serve will survive its present perils and be brought to a good end’. It
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm