The celebrated art nouveau architect Antoni Gaudí was a contradictory figure: a deeply religious, politically right-wing man who nevertheless created revolutionary, lyrical …
Doctor, militant, political essayist, ambassador, teacher, journalist, pan-Africanist: Frantz Fanon represented a new model of engaged intellectual who sought to decolonize …
H.D. (Hilda Doolittle, 1886–1961) was one of the first writers of free verse in English, best known for her sparse Imagist poems. For over forty years she wrote poetry that …
Brilliant, hard-working, immensely productive and influential, the naturalist Richard Owen was a great promoter of science, and played a large role in shaping London’s Natural …
Mysterious, esoteric, baffling – John Ashbery is notorious for the seeming difficulty of his work. But Ashbery is also entertaining, humorous and charming, and responsive to his …
In this new book, David Ellis traces Byron’s life from rented lodgings in Aberdeen to the crumbling splendours of Newstead Abbey and then on to his grand tour of the East. …
In this concise yet comprehensive critical biography, Ritchie Robertson examines the work of Friedrich Nietzsche within the context of his life. The book traces Nietzsche’s …
However much his work has been reviled or contested, Sigmund Freud remains one of the most significant thinkers of the last 150 years. He founded psychoanalysis, and his vision of …
Unquestionably one of the most popular composers of classical music, Sergei Rachmaninoff has not always been so admired by critics. Detractors have long perceived Rachmaninoff as …
An action-packed retelling of the life and work of the polymath and so-called First American, Benjamin Franklin. All Benjamin Franklin biographers face a major challenge: they …
