Reading for Battle

Battle Readings is a regularly updated compilation of articles, essays, and opinion pieces relevant to the themes of the Battle of Ideas.

Choose a theme from the listing on the left to narrow your search, or view all readings.

Arts & Culture

Supposing ... Subversive genius Banksy is actually rubbish
Here's a mystery for you. Renegade urban graffiti artist Banksy is clearly a guffhead of massive proportions, yet he's often feted as a genius straddling the bleeding edge of now. Why? Because his work looks dazzlingly clever to idiots
Charlie Brooker, Guardian, 22 September 2006

'Where are the Margot Fonteyns?'
Josie Appleton, spiked, 21 September 2006

The Roman Empire: a very short introduction
The Roman Empire was a remarkable achievement. It had a population of sixty million people spread across lands encircling the Mediterranean and stretching from drizzle-soaked northern England to the sun-baked banks of the Euphrates in Syria, and from the Rhine to the North African coast.

Christopher Kelly, Oxford University Press, 24 August 2006

Always look on the Shi’ite side of life
Dolan Cummings, spiked, 20 August 2006

The Fall of Rome: and the end of civilization
Why did Rome fall? Vicious barbarian invasions during the fifth century resulted in the cataclysmic end of the world's most powerful civilization, and a 'dark age' for its conquered peoples. Or did it?

Bryan Ward-Perkins, Oxford University Press, 13 July 2006

Come to Londonistan, our refuge for poor misunderstood Islamist victims
Truly moderate Muslims are finding that the host community is cutting the ground from under their feet and delivering them into the hands of the extremists. This is a deliberate policy of riding the Islamist tiger. But those who ride a tiger may get eaten.
Melanie Phillips, The Times, 6 June 2006

The ‘Hitlerisation’ of history teaching
The problem with the teaching of the past today is that it makes universalism history.
Neil Davenport, spiked, 4 June 2006

What Good are the Arts?
'What is a work of art?' is a simple question, but no one has yet found an answer to it, and perhaps finding a single answer is impossible

John Carey, Faber and Faber, 1 June 2006

Tomorrow's world
Cinema remains the best place to experience the architectural imagination at full flight
Jonathan Glancey, Guardian, 21 May 2006

The Hollywood Actor's Burden
Brendan O'Neill, spiked, 3 May 2006


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What is a good life: can science and medicine tell us?

"The energy, verve and enthusiasm at The Battle of Ideas filled me with hope. Coming from India where so many people still lack the basic necessities that make human life worth living, it was heartening to see basic issues of equity and justice debated with such passion and fervour."
George Thomas, orthopaedic surgeon; editor, Indian Journal of Medical Ethics

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