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

MARIA DUARTE recommends the true story of the remarkable woman who sued Donald Trump for sexual assault not once, but twice

GORDON PARSONS appreciates fine performances and a feel for ambiguity, but misses the music of the dialogue

Chris Searle speaks to British pianist ZOE RAHMAN

by Mike Jenkins