Skip to Main Content

ADVERTISEMENT

Malcolm Forbes’ reviews and essays have appeared in the Times Literary Supplement, the San Francisco Chronicle, The National, The Australian, the Quarterly Conversation and many other journals. Born in Edinburgh, he currently lives in Berlin.

ADVERTISEMENT

Hunting the Butchers of the Balkans

DETERMINED

Months lengthened into years as those charged with tracking down the genocidal war criminals stayed on the scent. They never gave up, and their determination paid off.

Malcolm Forbes | Published Mar 21, 2016

Is Donald Trump the Modern Nero?

Ancient and Modern

Roman emperors are stained by legends of depravity, but strip away the rumors, says historian Tom Holland, and you find leaders catering to the whims of the masses.

Malcolm Forbes | Published Nov 07, 2015

Tracing a Father’s Escape From Auschwitz

Speak, Memory

Two new books attempt to re-create the horrors of the Holocaust and to capture the generation who witnessed the camps firsthand.

Malcolm Forbes | Published Aug 31, 2015

What’s the Matter with Pakistan?

WRITER’S EYE

One of Pakistan’s most famous novelists, Mohsin Hamid, is out with a collection of essays that tackle everything from being Muslim-American to why Pakistan has become so messy.

Malcolm Forbes | Published Jan 26, 2015

A Little History of Literature

Western Canon

Preeminent British scholar John Sutherland’s new book is enjoyable for what it is—a skin-deep crash-course rather than a rigorous in-depth study.

Malcolm Forbes | Published Nov 29, 2013

The Grand Tour in Style

Byronic

<p>The British travel writer was known for the classic <i>The Road to Oxiana</i>, but his earlier account from his younger days, <i>Europe in the Looking-Glass</i>, shows him coming into his own as an art critic and historian.</p> <p></p>

Malcolm Forbes | Published Nov 16, 2012

The Foodie Detective

elBulli

Meet Pepe Carvalho, the book-burning, gastronome private eye in Manuel Vázquez Montalbán’s much-loved novels. By Malcolm Forbes.

Malcolm Forbes | Published Oct 03, 2012

The New Wallace Stegner

WILD WILD WEST

<p>Malcolm Forbes says the new novel <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1594487359/thedaibea-20"><i>The Bartender’s Tale</i></a> bears out Ivan Doig’s comparison to the Dean of Western Writers.</p>

Malcolm Forbes | Published Aug 22, 2012

The Other Raymond Chandler

Smooth Criminal

The beautifully charged language of Ross Macdonald’s detective novels helps clinch a character for the reader. By Malcolm Forbes.

Malcolm Forbes | Published Aug 07, 2012

Must Read Fiction

A sleuth tracks down a Nazi-killer, D.J. Taylor finds drama at the race track, and debut stories feature a blind tiger among others.

Malcolm Forbes, Mythili Rao, Hillary Kelly | Published May 08, 2012

ADVERTISEMENT