Kurt Johnson
Kurt Johnson is an author and journalist based in Europe. He likes to travel places of historical import, in particular the post -Soviet sphere.
Expert insights into the morally ambiguous fiction of John le Carre
Authors, scholars and even international relations experts offer their appreciation of le Carré’s meticulous research process for his novels.
- Kurt Johnson
Latest
Writer Julian Barnes bids a masterful farewell with his last novel
The author, who has just turned 80, has written a poignant, semi-autobiographical novel exploring love, memory and ageing.
- Kurt Johnson
Inside the eerie concrete remains of Europe’s most paranoid nation
It’s impossible to miss the small grey domes that sprout from mountain to coast like portobello mushrooms.
- Kurt Johnson
If Musk was broke, he’d just be another asshole with bad ideas: Cory Doctorow
The tech activist’s new book examines how tech monopolies innovated ways to disregard, abuse, and suck us dry – and offers us solution to the “enshittification” of the internet.
- Kurt Johnson
Chilling stories from inside South-East Asia’s ‘scam factories’
This landmark investigation examines the shadowy world of the global hub of cybercrime.
- Kurt Johnson
My mum got her hip replaced, so I took her cycling through Europe
Things don’t start off well when my mother is knocked down amid a pack of cycling commuters in Amsterdam.
- Kurt Johnson
Is this hike in a former Soviet state a good idea? Don’t ask the locals
“Are there any bears?” I ask half-jokingly. “They are very rare,” responds the unreadable ranger, giving nothing away.
- Kurt Johnson
The untold story of the Australians who helped fight Franco
The little-known story of a group of Australians whose principles and conviction led them to fight in the Spanish Civil War.
- Kurt Johnson
In the era of the tech bro, Bill Gates’ memoir is refreshingly human
In his first memoir, Gates realises the myth of the lonely genius that sustained his younger self is just that – a myth.
- Kurt Johnson
Two continents, four hours and one high-speed train
The Middle East’s first high-speed rail, opened in 1975, is now as sleek and modern as anything in France or Germany.
- Kurt Johnson