Books
P is for Plum Pudding
Jonathon Green reviews A Place for Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order by Judith Flanders
American Dirty Tricks
When white American author Jeanine Cummins wrote a novel about Mexican refugees a critical firestorm erupted
Blown fusionism: is a common enemy enough?
Ed West, Small Men on the Wrong Side of History
Culture Coaches
As The Critic enters into the podcasting business, Dominic Green surveys the world of motivational, self-affirming podcasts
Picturing Colonial Africa
Alexander Adams reviews Postcards from Africa: Photographs of the Colonial Era, by Christraud M. Geary
Discussing Magic
Jeremy Black reviews The Decline of Magic: Britain in the Enlightenment, by Michael Hunter
British Crime Classics
Jeremy Black’s recommendations for a murderous British genre
Of mice and writing advice
Tibor Fischer reviews Consider This by Chuck Palahniuk
Inveterate ignoramus
Christopher Bray reviews History and Imperialism by Louis Althusser
American idealists in hell
Roland Elliott Brown reviews The Russian Job by Douglas Smith
Caught in the class war crossfire
Independent schools stand to lose, whoever wins the general election
The philosopher’s mind at its end
Sir Roger Scuton’s biographer on the last days of a giant
Ghostly good taste
Douglas Murray reviews ‘Old House of Fear’ by Russell Kirk
Is this what equality means?
US women could be about to achieve a level of equality not all of them actually want, by becoming eligible to be drafted in a time of war
Smugly bugged by Brexit
Lionel Shriver reviews Ian McEwan’s ‘The Cockroach’
Inside Number 10
Jack Brown showcases hidden heroes, the history of the building and the famous figures who have passed through