Engelsberg Ideas

12/12/2025

The story of three western visitors to Pol Pot’s Cambodia reveals how hard it is to report what one sees rather than what one wants to believe.

Michael Shorris on facing Pol Pot. Click the link in bio to read.

Image: Still from Meeting with Pol Pot. Credit: Collection Christophel

12/12/2025

The story of three western visitors to Pol Pot’s Cambodia reveals how hard it is to report what one sees rather than what one wants to believe.

Facing Pol Pot | Michael Shorris

The story of three western visitors to Pol Pot’s Cambodia reveals how hard it is to report what one sees rather than what one wants to believe.

12/12/2025

Britain has a long history of reservists defending the country in times of crisis. Reviving this tradition is among the most effective ways to secure Europe from Russian aggression.

The power of the citizen-soldier | Gary Sheffield

Britain has a long history of reservists defending the country in times of crisis. Reviving this tradition is among the most effective ways to secure Europe from Russian aggression.

12/12/2025

Britain has a long history of reservists defending the country in times of crisis. Reviving this tradition is among the most effective ways to secure Europe from Russian aggression.

Gary Sheffield on the power of the citizen-soldier. Click the link in bio to read.

Image: A British recruitment poster from 1915. Credit: De Luan / Alamy

12/12/2025

Homer’s great epic is, above all, a palimpsest of the Hellenic art of living well.

Paul Cartledge on the world of the Odyssey. Click the link in bio to read.

Image: Ulysees Deriding Polyphemus by JMW Turner. Credit: photosublime

11/12/2025

The debate continues over the maverick general’s tactics, strategy and character. Did his unorthodox genius ultimately serve or damage the Allied cause?

Gordon F. Sander on the always audacious Orde Wingate. Click the link in bio to read.

Image: Brigadier Charles Orde Wingate checks his route before leading a force of British and native troops behind Japanese lines. Credit: Associated Press

11/12/2025

Homer's great epic is, above all, a palimpsest of the Hellenic art of living well.

The world of the Odyssey | Paul Cartledge

Homer's great epic is, above all, a palimpsest of the Hellenic art of living well.

11/12/2025

The debate continues over the maverick general’s tactics, strategy and character. Did his unorthodox genius ultimately serve or damage the Allied cause?

Orde Wingate, always audacious | Gordon F. Sander

The debate continues over the maverick general’s tactics, strategy and character. Did his unorthodox genius ultimately serve or damage the Allied cause?

10/12/2025

Unless the British government can find money to invest in the country's security, the UK's recent Strategic Defence Review will be a fantasy rather than military reality.

Britain’s dangerous defence vacuum | Robert Lyman

Unless the British government can find money to invest in the country's security, the UK's recent Strategic Defence Review will be a fantasy rather than military reality.

10/12/2025

A year after the fall of the Assad regime, Syria's new government confronts domestic challenges and geopolitical hazards.

A new Syria struggles to be born | Shiraz Maher

A year after the fall of the Assad regime, Syria's new government confronts domestic challenges and geopolitical hazards.

10/12/2025

A cultural malaise has quietly eroded the West’s confidence in its creativity, reshaping how art is funded, judged, and understood.

The post-cultural state | Lola Salem

A cultural malaise has quietly eroded the West’s confidence in its creativity, reshaping how art is funded, judged, and understood.

09/12/2025

President Trump's new National Security Strategy is incoherent and egotistical. Yet Europe's elites must bear responsibility for leaving their continent in a state of vulnerability comparable to the late 1930s.

Trump leaves complacent Europe most vulnerable since 1939 | Antony Beevor

President Trump's new National Security Strategy is incoherent and egotistical. Yet Europe's elites must bear responsibility for leaving their continent in a state of vulnerability comparable to the late 1930s.