Michael Dirda,"Right on the money - and more," Washington Post, 9 December, reviews Nicholas Phillipson's Adam Smith: An Enlightened Life.

Susan Schulten,"Visualizing Slavery," Disunion, 9 December, looks at the propagandistic value of a good visual aid.

Andrew Roberts,"The British Empire's WikiLeaks," Daily Beast, 9 December, finds it in the disclosure of a secret Anglo-Russian treaty on the 2nd day of the Congress of Berlin.

Margot Lurie,"Two Becomes One," Tablet, 9 December, reviews a new translation of Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex.

Chris Lehmann,"The Great Squid Hunt: On Matt Taibbi," Nation, 27 December, reviews Taibbi's Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America.

Finally, thanks to Paul Ford of Longreads for recommending Cliopatria as a place to catch up on the flowering of history blogs.