Mistaken identity
Obsessing about culture traps people in their own history, argues Kenan Malik
Culture
Revolutionising Tom Paine
Recording his new radio play, Trevor Griffiths discovered the true revolutionary spirit of Tom Paine
Torch bearers
Politics, religion and money may be wrestling to control the Olympics. But, argues Paul Sims, they’ll never be a match for the sheer drama
Art or puffery? A defence of advertising
An adman for almost 50 years Winston Fletcher explores the art, and ethics, of the sell
The Sun and Moon Corrupted by Philip Ball
Philip Womack enjoys a popular scientist's debut novel
The Unthinkable by Amanda Ripley
Helene Joffe prepares for the worst
The Book of Dead Philosophers by Simon Critchley
Simon May comes face to face with mortality
Metropole by Ferenc Karinthy
Jonathan Derbyshire admires a dystopian classic
The Roads to Modernity: the British, French and American Enlightenments by Gertrude Himmelfarb
Stephen Howe asks why Gordon Brown is endorsing Neocon history
Motley crew
Laurie Taylor gets medieval with the cults