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

ALAN MORRISON explores, and recommends, a remarkable collection of poems that explore war photography with the moral responsibility of a documentary film-maker

by Matthew Paul

JAMES WALSH tells you everything you could possibly want to know about what comedy is on offer at the fringe

Conman conned in a twisty thriller, blind trust tested to the limit, cunning murder methods, and tip-top police procedural

SIMON DUFF is thrilled by a visceral, no-holds-barred exploration of the expressive powers of raw material 

GEORGE FOGARTY reflects on the politics expressed at this year’s festival where contradictions abound, but the music kept it real

CHRIS SEARLE waxes lyrical over Alan Skidmore’s tenor-tonic, Jeremy Pelt, and the Yusef Lateef Quartet

Rereleases from Nazareth, and The Strawbs, and a fine collection of covers and new songs from Grey DeLisle & Les Greene

New releases from Captain Yossarian, Orquesta Akokan, and Nana Osei Twum Barima

RON JACOBS is enthralled by Roberto Saviano’s portrait of heroes and deplorables, that calls for people to stand up for themselves and the things they believe in

BRENT CUTLER is disappointed by a work of historical revisionism by a former US army officer, that makes a false equivalence between the two regimes

JIM JUMP introduces two new publications that examine both sides of the Irish participation in the Spanish civil war

DOMINIC O’KEY recommends Arundhati Roy’s study of troubled mother/daughter relations

The Bard contributes to the campaign of Count Binface, and applauds Burnham’s plans for vocational training
 

JAN WOOLF welcomes the initiative of St Mungo’s, a charity for the homeless, to use use outdoor art to explore the lives of those it has helped

KIM CULLEN enjoys the survey of social work and working-class lives to be found in the superb work of British-Jamaican photographer Sandra George

ANGUS REID, FIONA O’CONNOR, JAMES WALSH and MARIA DUARTE review Wham! 10 Days in China, Lesvia, Di’Anno: Iron Maiden’s Lost Singer, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and The Fires

MARIA DUARTE recommends a remarkable study of the friendship between a Palestinian and a Pakistani, broken by a hostile state

MATTHEW HAWKINS rakes through un-fancy words and flair-free summaries to find who and what might be flamboyant

by Mary Gilonne

Tony Burke speaks to GARTH CARTWRIGHT about the new edition of his book exploring the vinyl meccas of London

Reducing historical lives to ‘male’ and ‘female’ roles, we lose the nuance of those lives and a clearer understanding of past societies, suggests CLAIRE ISABELLA GILMOUR

PETER MASON is exhilarated by an exciting, well-considered and historically minded tribute to the great Trinidadian instrument

CHRIS SEARLE relishes the genius of pianist Alexander Hawkins, his many ensembles, and his new album

SIMON PARSONS applauds the timely revival of a play about solidarity and betrayal within Britain’s Pakistani community

New releases from The Mountains Goats, Ed O’Brien, and YHWH Nailgun

RON JACOBS enjoys a great tale, told by a US communist, of the lives of working-class New Yorkers

The Odyssey is a tale of evasions and half-truths; this reflects the effects of traumatic ‘moral injury’ common to war veterans, suggests STEPHAN BLUM

by Alistair Findlay

BRENT CUTLER searches a new history of contemporary Iran for an understanding of the Islamic Republic, finding both interesting detail and glaring omissions

PAUL DONOVAN is fascinated by the lives of Charles and Mary Bagot, and the insight this biography shines on the morals of pre-Victorian society

KENNY MacASKILL is disappointed by a polemical, rather than factual, account of the Lone Star State and its political path since the civil war

SYLVIA HIKINS welcomes a an in-depth study of environmental activism that shows how governments work against citizens who put community before profit

ANGUS REID, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MARIA DUARTE review On The Sea, A Useful Ghost, Brunello: The Gracious Visionary, and Pinocchio Unstrung