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
In 1524, hundreds of thousands of peasants across Germany took up arms against their social superiors.
Peter Marshall investigates the causes and consequences of the German Peasants’ War, the largest uprising in Europe before the French Revolution.
Peter Marshall - Down with the Ox Tax!
Peter Marshall: Down with the Ox Tax! - Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants’ War by Lyndal Roper
literaryreview.co.uk
The Soviet double agent Oleg Gordievsky, who died yesterday, reviewed many books on Russia & spying for our pages. As he lived under threat of assassination, books had to be sent to him under ever-changing pseudonyms. Here are a selection of his pieces:
Literary Review - For People Who Devour Books
Book reviews by Oleg Gordievsky
literaryreview.co.uk
The Soviet Union might seem the last place that the art duo Gilbert & George would achieve success. Yet as the communist regime collapsed, that’s precisely what happened.
@StephenSmithWDS wonders how two East End gadflies infiltrated the Eastern Bloc.
Stephen Smith - From Russia with Lucre
Stephen Smith: From Russia with Lucre - Gilbert & George and the Communists by James Birch
literaryreview.co.uk