Ian Garrick Mason is a Toronto-based writer; his work has appeared in The Spectator, the Times Literary Supplement, the New Statesman, the Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Walrus, and the Globe & Mail, among other publications. From 1994 to 1998, he was the editor of Gravitas, a Canadian magazine of politics, culture, economics, and science; from 1998 to 2004, he was a consultant and executive at Accenture, a global management and technology consulting firm.

Ian also writes Archipelagoes, a miscellany on politics and culture, and contributes to sans everything, a blog co-written with John Haffner, Jeet Heer, and A.M. Lamey.
Contact: iangmason@canada.com




The Spectator May 14, 2008 Worlds at War: The 2,500-Year Struggle Between East and West
Anthony Pagden provides a rich and detailed intellectual history of Western attitudes towards the East. The only trouble is that is not quite what he set out to do.
San Francisco Chronicle Jan 13, 2008 This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War
The U.S. Civil War was unprecedented in its ferocity and in the scale of its carnage, and in changing the nature of death the war also ended up transforming the relationship of Americans with their government.
The Spectator Aug 25, 2007 Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power
In Robert Dallek's political picaresque of high achievement and high crimes, President Nixon and Henry Kissinger are depicted in all of their vanity, paranoia, rashness, and occassional brilliance.
San Francisco Chronicle Apr 8, 2007 George Kennan: A Study of Character
Historian John Lukacs's personal and affecting introduction to George F. Kennan's life and work takes the focus off the few short Cold War years for which Kennan is solely remembered today, emphasizing instead the totality and evolution of the diplomat's thought.

San Francisco Chronicle Dec 31, 2006 America's Kingdom: Mythmaking on the Saudi Oil Frontier
Although the combined ability of press and government to obscure truth seems particularly of our moment, political scientist Robert Vitalis demonstrates in his study of ARAMCO that even banal corporate history plays a role in this game of images.

The Spectator Oct 28, 2006 The Human Touch: Our Part in the Creation of a Universe
Playwright Michael Frayn contemplates the nature of the cosmos,
and wonders if the patterns we see out there are really just our own reflections.
San Francisco Chronicle Aug 14, 2006 An Iliad
Best-selling author of Silk, Alessandro Baricco has reworked the greatest of epics into a stylish summertime read -- a worthy achievement, though not a flawless one.

Times Literary Supplement Apr 28, 2006 Among the Dead Cities & Firestorm: The Bombing of Dresden 1945
The morality of the Allied strategic bombing campaign in World War II, including the infamous firebombing of Dresden, has rarely been a topic for writers in the English-speaking world. Given the pressing moral dilemmas of today's War on Terror, however, it's time this changed.
The Spectator Jan 28, 2006 A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War
Historian Victor Davis Hanson describes in convincing detail how the no-holds-barred Peloponnesian War must have been fought. But he's too eager to use ancient brutality in order to justify the modern kind.



Culture & Ideas
New Statesman Feb 21, 2005 “It's all in the presentation”
With Chris Rock, the Oscars has a new host and a new format to boost the ratings. And if they don't go up...?
New Statesman Jan 10, 2005 “Death of glory”
Epic films triumphed in 1950s America and made a comeback in the past decade. But their appeal never lasts
New Statesman Nov 22, 2004 “Gaijin takeaway”
Hollywood may remain dominant in the world's film industry, but it has long sought inspiration from overseas -- particularly from Japan
National Post Oct 30, 2004 “Hamilton's currency rising”
Why American conservatives are re-embracing Alexander Hamilton's legacy
National Post Oct 23, 2004 “Every word takes blood”
The writer's writer revealed by Truman Capote's letters
New Statesman Oct 11, 2004 “When Harvey Met Mickey”
Miramax boss Harvey Weinstein is renegotiating his contract with Disney -- but his own success may be boxing him in
Boston Globe Aug 22, 2004 “The general in his library”
On what the U.S. Army now wants its colonels and generals reading
National Post Aug 14, 2004 “How to get into a pantheon”
How pantheons have evolved from houses of the gods to wax museums and movie vaults
The Walrus June 2004 “The Ends of History”
What today's "big" and "little" histories teach us about history itself
National Post May 29, 2004 “The power of art as propaganda”
On Evonne Levy’s Propaganda and the Jesuit Baroque
National Post May 8, 2004 “New blood for vampires”
On vampires in gothic and modern literature
National Post Feb 28, 2004 “The rise of Seussism”
On Dr. Seuss and the avant-garde
The Walrus Feb/Mar 2004 “Stop Making Sense”
On Dr. Seuss and the role of nonsense in children's literature
National Post Nov 15, 2003 “Don of a new era”
Why we translate classics like Don Quixote -- again and again

Politics & Policy
Globe & Mail Dec 4, 2004 “Will Europe ever stop?”
With the impending accession of Romania, Bulgaria, and possibly even Turkey, where will the European Union find its ultimate limits?
SF Chronicle Oct 31, 2004 “Kerry needn't settle for honorable defeat”
What Britain's "khaki election" of 1900 can teach the presidential contenders today
Philadelphia Inquirer Sept 26, 2004 “Superpower? Not for the EU”
Why the European Union will require a much deeper level of integration if it is ever to become a superpower
San Francisco Chronicle Sept 19, 2004 “A growing source for oil is also a target”
West Africa faces twin challenges in coping with oil wealth and becoming a new front in America's war on terror
Philadelphia Inquirer July 18, 2004 “Next challenge: Capitalist competition”
On the rising economic & military power of China and India
Boston Globe June 20, 2004 “Off to the $pace races”
On the use of prizes (like the X Prize) for stimulating R&D
Boston Globe April 25, 2004 “Supply and command”
On the increasing overlap between military and civilian logistics
Literary Review of Canada December 2003 “Matrix Mickey Mouse Madonna”
The unintended consequences of the globalization of American culture
Literary Review of Canada Jan/Feb 2003 “Rags and Riches: Wealth Inequality in Canada”
Why "wealth inequality" is an inappropriate and counterproductive target for social reformers

Book Reviews
The Spectator Aug 27, 2005 The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization, Bryan Ward-Perkins
The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History, Peter Heather
National Post Jun 4, 2005 The Devil in Babylon: Fear of Progress and the Birth of Modern Life, Allan Levine
The Spectator May 7, 2005 DisneyWar, James Stewart
SF Chronicle Apr 24, 2005 What the Dormouse Said: How the 60s Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry, John Markoff
Times Literary Supplement Apr 1, 2005 On Clausewitz: A Study of Military and Political Ideas, Hugh Smith
The Spectator Mar 19, 2005 England’s Lost Eden, Philip Hoare
SF Chronicle Jan 23, 2005 Shake Hands With the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda, Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire
The Spectator Nov 20, 2004 On Beauty, Umberto Eco
A History of Human Beauty, Arthur Marwick
SF Chronicle Oct 31, 2004 The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution, Richard Dawkins
The Spectator Oct 9, 2004 Zulu: the Heroism and Tragedy of the Zulu War, Saul David
National Post Oct 9, 2004 Artistic License: Three Centuries of Good Writing and Bad Behavior, Brooke Allen
San Francisco Chronicle Aug 1, 2004 Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe, Graham Allison
Times Literary Supplement July 30, 2004 Propaganda and the Jesuit Baroque, Evonne Levy
National Post July 17, 2004 I Am Alive and You Are Dead, Emmanuel Carrère
San Francisco Chronicle June 27, 2004 Critical Mass, Philip Ball
The Spectator June 26, 2004 The Broken String, Neil Bennun
National Post June 5, 2004 Dark Age Ahead, Jane Jacobs
The Spectator May 22, 2004 The Anatomy of Fascism, Robert O. Paxton
San Francisco Chronicle April 18, 2004 The Whale and the Supercomputer, Charles Wohlforth
National Post March 6, 2004 The Science of Good and Evil, Michael Shermer
San Francisco Chronicle Feb 1, 2004 Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History, David Christian
The Spectator Jan 31, 2004 A Brief History of the Human Race, Michael Cook
Christian Science Monitor Jan 13, 2004 Sir Walter Raleigh, Raleigh Trevelyan
The Spectator Jan 10, 2004 Operation Heartbreak and The Man Who Never Was, Duff Cooper and Ewen Montagu
National Post Dec 20, 2003 Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light, Patrick McGilligan
San Francisco Chronicle Nov 2, 2003 Intelligence in War: Knowledge of the Enemy From Napoleon to Al-Qaeda, John Keegan
Christian Science Monitor Oct 23, 2003 Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music and Why We Should, Like, Care, John McWhorter
The Spectator Oct 18, 2003 Rifles: Six Years with Wellington's Legendary Sharpshooters, Mark Urban
National Post July 12, 2003 As of This Writing, Clive James
National Post May 17, 2003 Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, Marjane Satrapi
Ottawa Citizen Feb 23, 2003 On the Natural History of Destruction, W.G. Sebald
National Post Jan 18, 2003 American Studies, Louis Menand
National Post Jan 27, 2001 The Virtue of Prosperity: Finding Values in an Age of Techno-Affluence, Dinesh D'Souza