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

One of the least financially literate people I have ever met was a friend who as a teenager accumulated an unarranged overdraft of £50 on her newly opened bank account. Having been told she must recti

LETTERS

engelsbergideas.com French president Emmanuel Macron recently said that the growing global trade imbalances affecting Europe are “both the result of weak EU productivity and China’s policy of export-d

paulkrugman.substack.com America’s oligarchs have orchestrated an “unprecedented power grab”, says Paul Krugman. Ever since the Supreme Court’s “Citizens United” ruling, which removed all restrictions

The communist conquest of China in 1949 was one of the most consequential – and surprising – geopolitical events of the 20th century. It shifted the world’s most populous country from the western to t