Andrew Taylor
Death Became Him
Over The Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
By Laurence Bergreen
HarperCollins 456pp £25
MY ONLY GRUMBLE about Over the Edge of the World is the title, with its superior, twenty-first-century nod towards the image of a boatload of wide-eyed innocents sailing terror-stricken towards expected destruction as they tumble off the flat world and into the void. That is a modern myth: it had been well known since at least the time of Pythagoras of Samos in the sixth century BC that the earth was a globe.
No one pretends that Magellan's flotilla was crewed by Greek philosophers, but there has never been any evidence for the frequently repeated assertion that the ordinary people of the Middle Ages and beyond believed the earth was flat. On the contrary, some recent research suggests that it was not until
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
The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945 has long been regarded as a historical watershed – but did it mark the start of a new era or the culmination of longer-term trends?
Philip Snow examines the question.
Philip Snow - Death from the Clouds
Philip Snow: Death from the Clouds - Rain of Ruin: Tokyo, Hiroshima, and the Surrender of Japan by Richard Overy
literaryreview.co.uk
Coleridge was fifty-four lines into ‘Kubla Khan’ before a knock on the door disturbed him. He blamed his unfinished poem on ‘a person on business from Porlock’.
Who was this arch-interrupter? Joanna Kavenna goes looking for the person from Porlock.
Joanna Kavenna - Do Not Disturb
Joanna Kavenna: Do Not Disturb
literaryreview.co.uk
Russia’s recent efforts to destabilise the Baltic states have increased enthusiasm for the EU in these places. With Euroscepticism growing in countries like France and Germany, @owenmatth wonders whether Europe’s salvation will come from its periphery.
Owen Matthews - Sea of Troubles
Owen Matthews: Sea of Troubles - Baltic: The Future of Europe by Oliver Moody
literaryreview.co.uk