Great writing widens its readers’ perceptions. It allows us insight into ways of existence beyond our experience, and in doing so, it alters our understanding of the human condition. That’s exactly wh

Picture the scene: a former NHS chef ‘Clem’ Clements is celebrating his 98th birthday, sitting in his front room surrounded by his medications, an oxygen mask and a discreet tape recorder. He is recal

John Tolan Islam A new history from Muhammad to the present 304pp. Princeton University Press. £25 (US $29.95). James McDougall Worlds of Islam A global history 608pp. Allen Lane. £40. Elizabeth Drays

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“As movers and the moved both know”, John Updike noted, “books are heavy freight ... They make us think twice about changing addresses.” Books: A manifesto, or, How to build a library begins with the

The TV historian, 56, reflects on the debt he owes to his determined mother, the history of guns, and why the next series of The Celebrity Traitors should be just as good as the first one…