“... is hardly the first study of the social psychology of Jewish emancipation. In the Seventies John Murray Cuddihy wrote on the burdens of ‘civility’ and the ordeal of becoming a gentleman. Numerous biographies of German or English Jews have examined the identity problems arising from first-generation assimilation of minority into majority cultures. It is ...”

“... through Ottoman Syria to Anatolia and Mesopotamia, had worked on Byzantine churches with Sir William Ramsay, the epigraphist, and had charted and mapped the ancient mosque and palace of Ukhaidir. In addition to her scientific writings she had published two books about her journeys: Syria: the Desert and the Sown and Amurath to Amurath.In 1914 Gertrude ...”

“... been inaudible’. Introducing him to the Telegraph Engineers, his friend and de facto publicist William Preece told the audience to expect the unveiling of an instrument that acted ‘towards the ear’ in the same way as a microscope acted ‘towards the eye’. There was a further striking difference. Hughes did not seek a patent. Like some paragon of the ...”

“... was also important. Acker was a charismatic live reader, and followed the example of her hero, William Burroughs, by touring clubs and music venues, building fans among people who didn’t usually buy books. Transgression too was important for such an audience, transgression and a sense of lineage with other transgressors, a secret club for fans to ...”

“... his own ideas.’ The exact quotation, incidentally, comes from a letter Byron wrote to John Murray on 9 October 1820: Mr Keats whose poetry you enquire after – appears to me what I have already said; such writing is a sort of mental masturbation – he is always f – gg – g his Imagination. I don’t mean that he is indecent, but viciously ...”

“... James was eleven, Stirling Castle was raided by Catholic rebels. At sixteen, he was kidnapped by William Ruthven, earl of Gowrie, and imprisoned for ten months. This plot, known as the Ruthven Raid, sought to remove James from the influence of his first favourite, his French and Catholic cousin, Esmé Stuart. After the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, James addressed ...”

“... he notes, ‘paid particular attention to the height of the spire of St Mary’s (220 ft): Murray’s Handbook for Shropshire and Cheshire (1879) reported that it was “said to be the third highest in the kingdom”. In his copy he underlined “said” and wrote in the margin “by liars”.’ Since for Housman, as he wrote to Gilbert ...”

“... and youth, lamenting ‘comrades’ who ‘each have perished, silent and alone’, evoking William Cowper’s poem ‘The Castaway’, whose speaker mourns his ‘comrades’ and writes that ‘We perish’d, each alone.’ In May 1925, just after her press published these poems, Virginia Woolf sketched some ideas for her next novel. It would ‘have ...”

“... newsletter. Despite this, Bellow insisted on believing that Trilling (as he complained to William Phillips) had been conspiring against him and the book, and was responsible even for arranging the negative review of Augie March by Norman Podhoretz, his former student, in Commentary. Bellow was still on the case some twenty years later, misconstruing ...”

“... Simon​ de Pury, assisted by ‘a regular contributor to Vanity Fair’, has written a book about his ascent to the top of the art world: the auctions he conducted, the deals he struck, the parties he attended. It resembles a board game, with smaller parts assigned to the ‘hedge fund overlord’, the ‘polo-playing playboy millionaire’, the ‘James Bond of the Russian oligarchy’, the ‘French luxury goods tycoon’ (also appearing as the ‘French luxury titan’), the ‘serial dater of supermodels’, and the ‘leveraged-buyout king ...”

“... future citizen of Soviet America’.After twelve issues, two of the young editors, Philip Rahv and William Phillips, appalled by the Moscow show trials of 1936 and 1937, wrested the magazine from party control. The new PR emerged in December 1937. F.W. Dupee, Dwight Macdonald and Mary McCarthy were also on the masthead, as was George L.K. Morris, artist, art ...”

“... a neurosis. He grew to the size of a Notre Dame linebacker, as the Harvard psychologist Henry Murray later estimated him, and his classmates learned to tolerate, even like him. Nicknamed ‘Father Abraham’ for his opinions on everything, and finally apprised of the fact that he would have to work if he was to excel, the sermonising Gymnasium student ...”

“... are excluded, is attested by many contemporary witnesses, among them foreign travellers. If William Harrison, from whose Description of England of 1587 much in this book is drawn, can be believed, one visiting Spaniard thought that the cottagers of England enjoyed a diet unparalleled in Spain or France – the equal of that of a monarch. A member of ...”

“... the Falklands invasion but he allowed himself to be persuaded by Mrs Thatcher to stay in office. William Whitelaw has written that he wanted to resign as Home Secretary after an intruder had entered the Queen’s bedroom in Buckingham Palace, but that Mrs Thatcher would not let him. Jim Prior unsuccessfully tried to resign as Northern Ireland Secretary after ...”

“... than an incident. I am sick with fresh impressions. Has no one the compassion to pass judgment on William Calley? His atrocity is cleared by the President, public, polls, rank and file of the right and left. He looks almost alive; like an old song, he stirs us with the gruff poignance of the professional young soldier. He too fought under television for our ...”