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Jonathan Freedland
A Feigned Reluctance

Rory Stewart, in his recent memoir, observes with detachment what is ludicrous in politics—even when he’s near the center of it.

David Cole
What Could Stop Him?

Our Constitution includes multiple guardrails against Trump-like presidents. But those checks and balances only work when citizens resist.

Magda Teter
Jewish Middlemen, Archival Myopia

The story of two Jewish trading families during the last decades of the Regency of Algiers is skewed by being told through the perspectives of only European and American actors.

John Banville
Enigmatic Roger Casement

Roger Casement became internationally celebrated for exposing the horrors of colonialism, yet he remains an elusive figure.

Beatrice Loayza
‘The Look of Shame’

The French director Catherine Breillat has spent her career insisting on women’s agency and reclaiming taboo desires—sometimes with troubling implications.

Free from the Archives

François-Marie Arouet, better known as the philosopher and historian Voltaire, was born 330 years ago today. In the Review’s April 16, 1964, issue, Peter Gay wrote about his selected letters—distilled from the more than twenty thousand he wrote in his lifetime.

Peter Gay
Voltaire

“Voltaire, contrary to his reputation, was not merely a social climber, or solely concerned for his security or financial advantage. He was a good hater but he also loved widely and generously, if not always wisely, and most of his traits emerge in the letters here brought together.”

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