A paon in the arse
Laurie Taylor ruffles a few feathers
Culture
Film review: Inglourious Basterds
This World War Two revenge tale is lazy and idiotic, yet has moments of true brilliance. Could the real problem be Tarantino himself? asks Fred Rowson
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
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
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…
Film review: Brüno
Sacha Baron Cohen's latest has its flaws. But it's still hilarious, says Fred Rowson