Friday's Notes

Michael Caines, "Sir Thomas Wyatt in mourning," TLS, 1 June, reviews Nichola Shulman's Graven with Diamonds: The many lives of Thomas Wyatt: Courtier, poet, assassin, spy.

Matthew Restall, "Spain's miraculous empire," TLS, 1 June, reviews Hugh Thomas's The Golden Age: The Spanish Empire of Charles V.

Michael McDonald, "Wills watching," New Criterion, June, reviews Garry Wills's Outside Looking In: Adventures of an Observer. If, like me, you're a longtime "Wills watcher," you'll find this review well worth reading.

Jody Rosen, "The Other Lady Gagas," Slate, 2 June, poses the question: Did Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta know that "she was staking claim to a title previously held by a Babylonian slave owner, an Irish-born French noblewoman, and a fictional habitué of the Roaring Twenties London party scene?"