Michael Burleigh
Voice of Wisdom
The Uses of Pessimism and the Danger of False Hope
By Roger Scruton
Atlantic Books 232pp £15.99
Last month’s election had a weird feel to it, perhaps accentuated by the effects of the Icelandic ash cloud on air traffic. One might have savoured the relative absence of ambient noise, had not another kind more than made up for it. Experts in body language, competition between politicians’ wives, Simon Schama pontificating from a BBC boat, choice reduced to electronic worms worn on the wrist: there was a sort of incessant chatter about everything except what might reasonably concern the inhabitants of this country, who doubtless find Hogarth’s riotous eighteenth-century hustings scenes quaintly amusing. How we have progressed since then! With something like relief we can turn from modern media spectacle to Roger Scruton’s new book, since he can always be relied upon to tackle the biggest canvas in works that have depth rather than length. This is no exception.
For some inexplicable reason – probably of association – the Beatles song ‘I Am the Walrus’ repeatedly came to mind. For those not around in 1967, this went, ‘I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together’, the rest being jumbled
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
Under its longest-serving editor, Graydon Carter, Vanity Fair was that rare thing – a New York society magazine that published serious journalism.
@PeterPeteryork looks at what Carter got right.
Peter York - Deluxe Editions
Peter York: Deluxe Editions - When the Going Was Good: An Editor’s Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines by Graydon Carter
literaryreview.co.uk
Henry James returned to America in 1904 with three objectives: to see his brother William, to deliver a series of lectures on Balzac, and to gather material for a pair of books about modern America.
Peter Rose follows James out west.
Peter Rose - The Restless Analyst
Peter Rose: The Restless Analyst - Henry James Comes Home: Rediscovering America in the Gilded Age by Peter Brooks...
literaryreview.co.uk
Vladimir Putin served his apprenticeship in the KGB toward the end of the Cold War, a period during which Western societies were infiltrated by so-called 'illegals'.
Piers Brendon examines how the culture of Soviet spycraft shaped his thinking.
Piers Brendon - Tinker, Tailor, Sleeper, Troll
Piers Brendon: Tinker, Tailor, Sleeper, Troll - The Illegals: Russia’s Most Audacious Spies and the Plot to Infiltrate the West by Shaun Walker
literaryreview.co.uk