E. M. Forster's experiences epitomise those of the closeted homosexual. He could be the walking definition of the man with the Victorian upbringing who inhabits a dual existence. [17.Jun.11]
How did we get from a society that drove nails through people’s ears for lying in court to a society that seems to condone lying? It's a tough question, but James B. Stewart's Tangled Webs has some answers. [16.Jun.11]
Set in the frigid wilds of western Canada, this strongly evokes the rawness of the 19th century frontier, with its gold rushes and timber booms, its fortunes won and lost, and its relentlessly harsh conditions. [16.Jun.11]
Author Jonathan Wright shows how heresy and the Church's reaction to it paradoxically helped Christianity define itself and broaden its appeal. [15.Jun.11]
Rudolph Herzog’s chilling assertions show that the presence of humor describing such events as the burning of the Reichstag building and the Night of the Long Knives means that these happenings were common knowledge and German citizens understood their meaning. [15.Jun.11]
An exercise in the perplexing, this mixes humour and pathos in equal measure, and resembles the absurdities found in the fiction of Kafka and the plays of Samuel Beckett – giving the novel a bit of darkly comic richness. [14.Jun.11]