MARTIN HALL welcomes a plea for greater compassion between believer and non-believer via the framework of philosophical enquiry

MATTHEW HAWKINS welcomes an engaging and nourishing account of the queer subculture that flourished in London between WWII and partial decriminalisation 

ALEX HALL welcomes a history of the Bund, and its emphatic demand for working-class solidarity across racial and ethnic difference

RON JACOBS welcomes the political lessons for today, about organisation and withdrawal from conflict, made by an erudite and conversational biography

MARIA DUARTE and ANDY HEDGECOCK review Sunny Dancer, Tony, Songs of Forgotten Trees, and The End of Oak Street

JOHN GREEN relishes a powerful and moving drama that explores the lived realities of west London’s Punjabi community

CHRIS SEARLE speaks to Argentinian saxophonist CAMILA NEBBIA

If you only see one show in Edinburgh, make it this one urges EWAN CAMERON

by Francesco Sani

Monster profits on the Tube, paternal dilemmas for time travellers, and an alien abduction buddy saga

SOPHIE WENBAN recommends a remarkable Italian quartet who revive Bluegrass on period instruments to give a taste of the communal spirit that first made it popular

BEN CHACKO unpicks the significance of the discovery, in 2015, of ancient texts about  Confucius. Was he simply a teacher, or a philosopher, statesman and saint?

Family issues and dragon-fuelled history amount to a vacuous spectacle that ill-fits the theatre, muses SIMON PARSONS

At the Edinburgh Fringe, MATTHEW HAWKINS reviews eight shows in a single day in one venue, all of which reward the spectator

New releases from The Jayhawks, Primal Scream, and Max Subar

MIGUEL YOSHIDA explains the evolution and influence of the Cuban Casa De Las Americas in joining culture to the revolutionary struggle

Flitting between myth and the modern world, Medusa is determined to steer clear of human affairs. When her resolve crumbles, the result is petrifying in every sense

MICHAL BONCZA, FIONA O’CONNOR, JAMES WALSH and ANGUS REID review Atlas of Disappearance, Love Me Tender, Bouchra, and This Tempting Madness

ANDY HEDGECOCK is charmed by a skilful adaptation of Tove Jansson’s lyrical portrait of three generations of a family, overcoming grief

SUE TURNER recommends a rich and varied selection of the letters, diaries and memoirs of British volunteers

KENNY MacASKILL relishes a history of the politicians and civil servants who laid the foundations of the French Republic

ALEX HALL treads warily through a messy, dialectical struggle fought in the mundane machinery of driving licences, criminal law, and birth registries

GORDON PARSONS recommends an entertaining account of the years between Germany’s defeat in WWI and Hitler’s seizure of power