I’m not the sort of person who would ordinarily read a book about ecclesiastical history. In fact I’m quite happy to admit that I know very little about religion – except that I don’t like it. Nevertheless I found myself engrossed by William Dalrymple’s 1998 book “From the Holy Mountain”, an account of his travels around the ancient Christian sites of the Middle East. Dalrymple sets out in the footsteps of another author, the sixth century monk John Moschos, who travelled through modern day T...

Molly Ivins’ new book subtitled: “Life in George W. Bush’s America” is a welcome edition to the veritable pantheon of literature exposing the lies and criminality of the current American president. Ivins pitches her work to the averagely intelligent Bush-hater. She avoids the pitfalls of the likes of Chomsky whose overly academic style prevents them from reaching out to a wider audience. She also manages not to dumb down to the sort of Michael Moore comic book level. The politically-aware and we...