THE END OF DAYS

Barbara Kingsolver presents a story of American rural life in which ecological concern is balanced with a fine feeling for the texture of actual lives.

HEADS STUCK IN A BOOK

A woman reading is in a world of her own, not in the world of others managing or nurturing, where some think she belongs.

FIGHTING CORRUPTION

Developed Western states have a multitude of interests in Africa and the Middle East and balancing human rights concerns with other economic, ecological and political interests will never be easy.

LITERATURE IS ALWAYS NOW

The idea of retreat or retrenchment might surprise those who see nothing but good in the present, with its ceaselessly productive creative arts, but Derek Mahon wants nothing to do with this cheerful complacency.

Lying for France

Reluctance to admit the innocence of the unjustly condemned Captain Dreyfus arose not just from anti-Semitism but against a background of bitter century-old divisions.

AN IMPERIAL MEDIEVALIST

A collection of essays pays timely tribute to one of the greatest scholars that Ireland has ever produced.