Timothy Garton Ash
Historian Timothy Garton Ash is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. His latest book, Free World: Why a Crisis of the West Reveals the Opportunity of Our Time, will be published this fall.
Poems of Robert Browning (Houghton Mifflin, $18). The English poet to whom I always return. He engages wonderfully with different times and places, especially in Latin Europe, but the truths extracted are universal. “Love Among the Ruins” should be read at least once a month by those impressed by worldly glory.
Essays by Thomas Babington Macaulay (IndyPublish.com, $98). Macaulay’s historical, political, and literary essays are models of style and treasure caves of learning. And he can be gloriously rude.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell (Harvest, $13). The gold standard for writing about a foreign crisis. Anything written on Vietnam, Bosnia, or Iraq has to be measured against it. Orwell fought in the trenches for the republican side, and was shot through the neck. Yet he came back and wrote an account that reserved its fiercest criticism for his own team, the left.
Redgauntlet by Walter Scott (Penguin, $11). Scott wrote a fair amount of tosh, but his finest historical novels, such as Redgauntlet, have tremendous energy, scale, and drama. Here, he invents a third Jacobite rising against Britain’s House of Hanover. Like Browning, he is brilliant at commingling the personal and the political.
Gedichte (Poems) by Goethe (out of print). Does anyone read him now? Goethe breathes a spirit of Enlightenment humanism that is the best of the West. And he puts the best words in the best order.
Radical Chic
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
'Time-honored political tactic: Throw your wife under the bus'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
Best non-alcoholic spirits for summer cocktails
The Week Recommends As hard liquor takes a backseat for many, the ingredients for the perfect mocktail are dryly delicious
By Ellie O'Mahoney, The Week UK Published
-
Will Biden's tariffs hinder China's EV dominance?
Today's Big Question Climate change goals and American jobs in tension
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Cynthia Carr's 6 favorite books that explore social issues
Feature The former culture writer recommends works by Ling Ma, Olga Tokarczuk, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Tom Crewe's 6 favorite works that challenge societal norms
Feature The novelist recommends works by Margaret Oliphant, Patrick White, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Daniel Wallace's 5 favorite books that should not be forgotten
Feature The author recommends works by Italo Calvino, Evan S. Connell, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Sarah Langan recommends 6 women-centric horror books
Feature The horror novelist recommends works by Stephen King, Gillian Flynn, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Amanda Montell's 6 favorite books that will expand your knowledge
Feature The linguist recommends works by Mary Roach, Alice Carrière, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Rowan Beaird recommends 6 compelling books from the 1950s
Feature The author recommends works by Patricia Highsmith, Shirley Jackson, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Stephen Graham Jones' 6 scary books with deeper meanings
Feature The best-selling author recommends works by Stephen King, Sara Gran, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Keith O'Brien's 6 must-read books about significant moments in sports history
Feature The best-selling author recommends works by Laura Hillenbrand, Jonathan Eig and more
By The Week US Published