Henry Hemming has written one of those books that get to the heart of the Northern Ireland Troubles. If I were asked by an outsider, say an English friend, to recommend a work that goes deep into the machinations of the conflict and the shift from violence to political negotiation and at the same time […]
From St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall, a lane once led through fields up to a small patch of grass. In the centre of this green, where formerly stood a stake, there is now a stone slab engraved: ‘in memory of those accused of witchcraft’. Convicted at trials held in the cathedral, the condemned were marched up the lane with hands bound, lashed to the stake and then ‘wyrried’ – that is strangled to death by the public executioner – and burned to ash.
There is a tradition of authors setting out to ‘discover’ England and writing books about what they find. Such works were particularly common between the wars. H V Morton published In Search of England in 1927; J B Priestley’s English Journey came out in 1934. Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London (1933) and […]
The history of Britain in the period following the collapse of Roman rule is not for the faint-hearted. Those seeking certainty had better divert their gaze to later times – perhaps to the comforting triumphalism of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’s account of Wessex’s rise to power, populated with figures of reassuring solidity such as Alfred the […]
Agreat export of Ireland in the 19th century was its people. From the 1830s to the 1950s, about eight million individuals permanently left Ireland, most crossing the wide Atlantic. This was one of the great migrations in history and has produced a mass of memoirs, analysis and reflections. Sean Connolly, an expert in the field, […]
It takes about fifty minutes to travel by train from Leicester, where I live, to Birmingham. It’s a flat ride and we slide into New Street station having seen nothing but fields and sheds. No big natural features. No stand-out architecture. No monumental structures, unless we are talking Spaghetti Junction, and we aren’t because that’s […]
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Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm