Category Archives: World War II

Alan Hollinghurst on Henry Green (and Evelyn Waugh)

Posted on August 14, 2017 by Jeffrey Manley

Novelist Alan Hollinghurst has reviewed several of Henry Green’s novels (the first six, I believe) in New York Review of Books. This is in connection with the republication of Green’s books by the NYRB’s book subsidiary. In addition to the … Continue reading →

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Churchill, the “Sham Augustan”

Posted on July 28, 2017 by Jeffrey Manley

Winston Churchill’s reputation seems to be enjoying yet another renaissance. This may be due to political leadership fatigue in the English-speaking world. A recent book and two films are the latest examples of Churchilliana. An issue of The Tablet from earlier … Continue reading →

Posted in Essays, Articles & Reviews, Letters, Newspapers, Sword of Honour, World War II | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Waugh and Lodwick and Ludovic

Posted on July 27, 2017 by Jeffrey Manley

D J Taylor in this week’s Spectator reviews a book about the life of a post-war British writer named John Lodwick. This is A Forgotten Man by Geoffrey Elliott and depicts a prolific writer of over a score of books whose … Continue reading →

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Two Hitchenses on Waugh

Posted on July 24, 2017 by Jeffrey Manley

Articles on Waugh by brothers Christopher and Peter Hitchens have recently been resurrected on the internet. These are Christopher’s essay “The Permanent Adolescent” which originally appeared in The Atlantic magazine for April 2003 and was later collected in Arguably. This is now … Continue reading →

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Waugh and Mussolini

Posted on July 7, 2017 by Jeffrey Manley

The Tablet has published a review of two new books about Benito Mussolini, Italy’s Fascist dictator in the 1930s and Hitler’s ally in WWII. The review by Robert Carver opens with this summary of Mussolini’s reputation in Britain before the war: In … Continue reading →

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Sword of Honour on Several Summer Lists

Posted on July 5, 2017 by Jeffrey Manley

Waugh’s war trilogy Sword of Honour has been named on several recent lists as recommended summer reading. The Irish Times polled a number of readers who also happen to be writers, and novelist John Banville included SoH: David Brown’s new biography … Continue reading →

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Brexit and Lord Glasgow’s Castle

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Jeffrey Manley

The Economist in this week’s “Bagehot” column opens with a reference to a wartime letter Evelyn Waugh wrote to his wife, using it as a metaphor for Britain’s current political malaise: WRITING to his wife in May 1942, Evelyn Waugh recounted … Continue reading →

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Waugh and the RAF

Posted on May 31, 2017 by Jeffrey Manley

Foreign Policy magazine is publishing excerpts from a new book by Thomas Ricks entitled Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom. The latest installment discusses the RAF pilots who prevented a German invasion in the Battle of Britain and who were predominantly … Continue reading →

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Philip Sassoon, The Duke of Kent and the Sitwells

Posted on April 22, 2017 by Jeffrey Manley

Waugh crops up in a number of articles about the upper class in the interwar period. In  Spear’s magazine, editor William Cash reviews a book by Damian Collins, MP for Folkestone and Hythe. This is a biography of Philip Sassoon entitled … Continue reading →

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Biffing: A History

Posted on April 15, 2017 by Jeffrey Manley

Today’s Times notes the issuance of the UK paperback edition of a WWII history which has Wavian overtones. This is The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: Churchill’s Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler’s Defeat by Giles Milton. In his brief notice, Lawrence James explains: The Castrator, … Continue reading →

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