SEARCH

Showing 11-20 of 32 results

  • LIFE

    Big city, small town

    Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 11/05/2018

    » People are natural actors. Observe how they tell stories to their friends, passing on telephone conversations or what they saw or heard. They mimic and flap their arms for emphasis. Hoping for smiles or groans. Novelists aim to do the same with more words. Alas, only the better ones succeed. All too many try and fail.

  • LIFE

    Targeted billionaires

    Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 08/06/2018

    » When a rich man meets his maker, I pause for few moments, not to mourn his life but to wonder what becomes of his wealth. Of no use to him now, is it buried with him? Like the pharaohs, he intends for it to accompany him in his next life? Is it inherited by his son? To do what with?

  • LIFE

    The Shakespeare brothers

    Life, Published on 06/04/2018

    » Unlike many historical fiction writers, Brit Bernard Cornwell doesn't specialise in a particular period. Rather, his interests encompass virtually the lot. And when he chooses a popular age, it's because he finds something in his research that his colleagues have missed.

  • LIFE

    Ace hitchhiker

    Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 02/03/2018

    » British expatriate Lee Child has become perhaps the most respected thriller novelist in the US. His blurbs for colleagues' books send sales soaring. Jack Reacher, his literary creation, is a household name. Tom Cruise has played him in two successful movies.

  • LIFE

    Choosing sides

    Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 08/12/2017

    » Not long ago a historian calculated that throughout human history there has been a total of fewer than 25 years of peace. There were wars somewhere on the planet the rest of the time. The clear meaning is that homo sapiens are a violent, bloodthirsty lot.

  • LIFE

    A treaty for peace

    Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 23/11/2017

    » Following the two-decade-long Napoleonic Wars, Europe, not least France, licked its wounds and agreed "never again". Then they set about making a lasting peace. They felt able to do it. It was the Age of Reason and they were was intelligent as one could be in 1815.

  • LIFE

    Renaissance history

    Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 14/07/2017

    » I am so conditioned when I pick up a new book about Italy that I expect it to be a historical novel about Ancient Rome. That period seems to fascinate historians and historical novelists. This reviewer finds it no more than somewhat interesting.

  • LIFE

    Here comes the judge

    Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 07/04/2017

    » Ours isn't a very bad world, nor is it a very good one. We are born selfish, which isn't wrong in itself. What's mine is mine, what's yours is yours is only fair. However, what's mine is mine, what's yours is mine isn't. How do we protect ourselves when he proceeds to take what is ours?

  • LIFE

    The Chinese spy

    Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 10/02/2017

    » If the majority of cloak and dagger scriveners are to be believed, look no further than the CIA for enemy spies (or MI6 as the case may be). In their espionage thrillers, both top secret intelligence agencies are infested with foreign moles and domestic traitors, often in high positions.

  • LIFE

    The war went on

    Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 18/07/2016

    » One of the annoying things about wars is that they don't all end when they are supposed to. After Yorktown, the American Revolution dragged on for two years. The Battle of New Orleans in 1815 was fought after the War of 1812 was officially over.

Your recent history

  • Recently searched

    • Recently viewed links

      Did you find what you were looking for? Have you got some comments for us?