Their Own Worst Enemies
Jonathan Schanzer’s State of Failure persuasively argues that Palestine is not a country or state but a cause with the sole intention of destroying
Liberty Here, Tyranny There
The apologetics over John Stuart Mill’s shocking attitudes towards foreigners is the only thing that lets down Georgios Varouxakis’s otherwise excellent study of the
The Bard and his Collaborators
The plays included in William Shakespeare and Others may fall outside the bard’s official canon, but many of them display the virtuoso hallmarks of
Both Ancient and Avant-Garde
A new expanded edition of E.E. Cummings’s Collected Poems demonstrates that, despites his brief sojourns in the avant-garde, the poet always found his way
A Visit From the Ofpoe Inspector
Craig Raine’s collected essays, More Dynamite, is a collection that blows holes in fellow poets’ work, and ends leaving the poetry landscape very battered
Banalities From Behind Bars
Bland, self-serving and naive, Vicky Price’s 'prison memoir' contains not a jot of insight or introspection
The Bibliophile and the Bore
Two new books about reading are polar opposites. Alexander McCall Smith's musings are platitudinous while Nick Hornby reads like someone you’d love to chat
Musical Maestro of the Palette
Paul Klee’s compositions were lyrical masterpieces whose rhythms and colours inspire awe