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

LETTERS

Professor Lawrence Freedman explains why NATO’s future and the island’s fate are secure despite heightening tensions above the Arctic Circle

The ‘gateway to the West’ has for years become a relative sanctuary from the onslaught on Ukraine’s frontline. But the city and region’s long history has seen it at the centre of countless conquests

Had Robin Holloway published Music’s Odyssey—described by its author as “an invitation to the glorious long voyage of Western classical music”—30 years ago, he might well have got away with it. By day

Donald Trump is flailing, and no wonder. He was not elected to shoot nurses or raise healthcare costs for ordinary Americans while cutting taxes for billionaires. Yet the Democratic party’s elderly, w