Hemingway in the beginning -- Revisiting Conrad -- Novels in sequence -- Patrick O'Brian and his salty hero -- War leader -- Sebald and the battle in the air -- Phantom flying saucer -- Under Western eyes -- Anthony Powell, time lord -- Treasuring Osbert Lancaster -- American power -- Kipling and the widow-maker -- Speer in Spandau -- Shakespeare and Johnson -- Naipaul's nastiness -- Movie books -- Women in Hollywood -- Extra shelves -- Always Philip Larkin -- Villa America -- Angles on Hitler -- Stephen Edgar, Australian ace -- John Howard extends his reign -- Hemingway at the end -- On wit -- Richard Wilbur's precept -- When creation is perverse -- Conrad's greatest victory -- Coda.