Volume 124 Issue 4 July/August 2009

Editorial: Bogus treatment: By supporting Simon Singh we can help change Britain's chilling libel laws

Cover Story

Tragic hero: Laurie Taylor interviews Terry Eagleton: Laurie Taylor meets the Marxist critic gunning for the New Atheists

Unholy trinity: The child abuse scandal has finally opened Irish eyes, says Newton Emerson

Prometheus bound: Paul Kurtz, champion of American secular humanism, has died. Here, in a piece from 2009, former colleague (and ex-friend) R Joseph Hoffman discusses his career and how it all went wrong
Liberty, the Left and Lolita: Jonathan Rée assesses the legacy of Isaiah Berlin, a man so clever he could understand his own writing
Truth, hope and light: The language of morality has been hijacked by the Right and the religious, argues Susan Neiman. It’s about time those who value reason took it back
What kind of humanist are you?: Are you hardline or happy, hedonist or hounded? Answer the questions below and find out how far your personality suits your philosophy

Diary: The green grass of home: Brenda Maddox celebrates the distinguished life of her husband in a tent in Wales, with Richard Dawkins and Dylan Thomas
A paon in the arse: Laurie Taylor ruffles a few feathers

Rhythm rites: Crispin Robinson explains why he has become initiated in an Afro-Cuban drumming cult
Shock and bore: New Humanist prides itself on tracking down and exposing charlatans and cultists. But when they are as bizarre as Genesis P-Orridge, even our nerve failed. So we sent Fiona Russell Powell instead
Good books?: What can humanist parents use in the battle against religious indoctrination? Danny Postel investigates

The Fall of the Imam by Nawal El Saadawi: Philip Womack praises a formidable Egyptian novel
Life Inc: How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take it Back by Douglas Rushkoff: Michael Bywater takes on the corporations with Douglas Rushkoff
Perfecting Sound Forever: The Story of Recorded Music by Greg Milner: Andrew Mueller appreciates a note-perfect history of recorded music
The Scourging Angel: The Black Death in the British Isles by Benedict Gummer: Louise Foxcroft is perplexed by a book that squeezes the life out of the Black Death
God’s Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science by James Hannam: Nina Power on a good Dark Ages argument made for the wrong reasons