MARY CONWAY revels in a powerful reminder that human lives are not defined by physical perfection
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Informed dialogue on the subtleties of Islamic religion
Steve Andrew reviews The Mosaic of Islam: A Conversation with Perry Anderson by Suleiman Mourad (Verso, £9.99)
PAUL DONOVAN recommends the fine performances in this account of the pre-war meeting between the US president and the British king
TECLYN AROD relishes an intimate celebration of jazz improvisation that mixes local and national musicians
The missing sister, the vengeful WAG, cruise ship claustrophobia, and reanimated Avengers
Three great releases of lost concerts by Duke Ellington Orchestra, John Taylor & Stan Sulzman, and Joe Henderson
To rescue Kahlo from the clutches of the corporate art market, we need to acknowledge the overt and covert political dimensions of the work, demands GAVIN O’TOOLE
SULEIMAN MOURAD’S book, in the shape of a lengthy discourse with leftist academic Perry Anderson, is a seminal guide to Islam.
He appreciates that the religion is best analysed by recognising that the centrality of ideas and values in determining the origins, role and contribution of a belief system has to coexist with an understanding of its interaction with more materialistic phenomenon such as political economy, class struggle and anti-imperialism.
Basic Marxism, one might say, but nonetheless in need of reiteration when more idealist interpretations start to claim the ascendancy — something which is certainly the case at the present time.
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