MARIA DUARTE recommends a remarkable study of the friendship between a Palestinian and a Pakistani, broken by a hostile state
Latest editorial
Utopian visions that illuminate dark times
MATTHEW HAWKINS rakes through un-fancy words and flair-free summaries to find who and what might be flamboyant
PETER MASON is exhilarated by an exciting, well-considered and historically minded tribute to the great Trinidadian instrument
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
CHRIS SEARLE relishes the genius of pianist Alexander Hawkins, his many ensembles, and his new album
Utopia
by Thomas More
(Verso, £8.99)
THIS new edition of Utopia celebrates the 500th anniversary of the original Latin publication of Thomas More’s vision of an ideal society.
A classic dissertation on transcending the social and political ills of 16th-century Europe, it is a demanding but rewarding read which retains much of its relevance. Its blend of fiction and political philosophy employs a framing narrative to contrast ideal and existing society and sets out an array of sociopolitical ideals that contemporary socialists are still struggling to achieve.
Similar stories
ANDY HEDGECOCK welcomes an entertaining, useful guide to the threats and promises of mathematical rationality
HENRY BELL follows the lineage of revolutions, from the English to the Chinese, and asks where revolutionary politics exists today
MARTIN HALL examines the way the Roman orator took on different schools of philosophy
GORDON PARSONS is intrigued by a biography of the Marxist intellectual and author, made from the point of view of his son