Steve Donoghue’s posts from the original Open Letters Monthly Archives.
Our book today is the oft-revised The World of Venice, originally written by the great British historian and travel-writer James Morris, then revised by him, then substantially re-written when he become Jan Morris, and then revised by her as well – it’s as touched-up as a water-damaged Tiepolo, as fluid and gorgeous a thing as [...]
Read MoreOur book today is Wild Nights, the winning little work of urban natural history Anne Matthews wrote in 2001, a smart, informed book that follows in the natural history footsteps of such works as Cathy Johnson’s The Nocturnal Naturalist (and act as precursors to great books like Marie Winn’s Central Park in the Dark) by [...]
Read MoreA sudsy, salty, saucy Mediterranean memoir comes with a light spray of classical allusions ...
Read MoreIn 1868, Robert Browning completed a long poem about an old murder case ...
Read MoreA magnificent three-volume history of warfare in the West.
Read MoreHistory's most famous divorce shook the world and changed history, but it took much more than a king snapping his fingers to make it happen - obscure men on fast horses risked their livelihoods and their lives to line up the paperwork.
Read MoreQueen Elizabeth the Queen Mother was a cherished and beloved fixture of the British royal family for almost a century (and would certainly have stolen the show at her daughter's Diamond Jubilee, had she lived to see it) - but a new book claims the Queen Mum was just an ordinary human being - and not always a very nice one
Read MoreShe's occupied the throne of Great Britain and the Commonwealth for 60 years, and in June Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Diamond Jubilee. Three new biographies try to understand the woman wearing the crown.
Read MoreHe survived years of dangerous exile, won his crown on the battlefield, and founded one of the most famous dynasties in human history - and yet we still haven't embraced Henry VII. A spirited biography seeks to change that.
Read MoreElizabeth Hardwick joined the literary world of mid-20th century Manhattan with every intention of making her mark upon it - which she did, in review after inimitable review, taking American book-discourse to levels and places it had never reached before
Read MoreHe lost his famous mother when he was a boy, became a teen idol, had a storybook wedding, and he's second in line to be King of England. The monarchy Prince William inherits will be like nothing his predecessors have experienced - if it exists at all. "A Year with the Windsors" concludes.
Read MoreHe's been waiting for the throne longer than any Prince of Wales before him, and he's changed the nature of the monarchy while he's been waiting. But will we ever see King Charles III? 'A Year with the Windsors' takes a look at the heir.
Read MoreLodestar or mirror? Passé or ne plus ultra? Elizabeth II has presided with consistency over an inconsistent age. And what have we learned of her?
Read MoreWhen his brother the king abdicated, shy Prince Bertie suddenly became king - and he was just settling in when the World War II threw his kingdom into chaos. 'A Year with the Windsors' continues.
Read MoreWhen he was Prince of Wales, he was the nation's darling, but when Edward VIII came to the throne, he became the greatest threat the monarchy had ever faced.
Read MoreWhen the heir presumptive, Prince Eddy, died suddenly, the nation and empire was convulsed with mourning - and a century of speculation began! Had the lost prince been a simpleton, a saint, a catamite - even Jack the Ripper?
Read MoreTeenage Catherine Howard weds the older and ailing Henry VIII to serve her family's ambition, and uses her status to take lovers of her own - risking everything. Novelist Suzannah Dunn spins a fine tale out of the girl's brief rise and fall.
Read MoreWhen the long reign of Victoria ended, her son took the throne with a bonhomie the country hadn't seen in a century. The new king ate and entertained prodigiously - and mediated prodigiously as "the uncle of Europe." A Year with the Windsors looks at Edward VII.
Read MoreHilary Mantel’s Tudor novel Wolf Hall recently won the Man-Booker Prize. Each part of that sentence was guaranteed to attract Steve Donoghue’s attention.
Read MoreThis is a place for all of my writing about books.