Fairies: A History Francis Young, London: Polity, 2025, hb., 352pps., £25 To our jaded century, ‘fairy’ carries connotations ranging from the sentimental to the sickly. It conjures childishness, foolishness, insipidity and softness – Tinker Bell, the Tooth Fairy, the Cottingley photographs that fooled Arthur Conan Doyle, cakes, twinkling lights, and a certain brand of soap…. Continue reading
Posts Tagged → Napoleon
Soldiers, once and always
Alfred de Vigny’s The Military Condition, first published in France in 1835, is a rare philosophical examination of the military experience. It’s aphoristic, lucid, mordant, and reflective – a tribute to the perennial nature of the professional soldier. Vigny (1797-1863) came from a noble family. His father was crippled by war, but nevertheless instilled in… Continue reading