From Canada, the agony of the executioner: How a Parkdale man became the country's first official hangman – and was destroyed by it; and how come this great product is so hard to brand? Spacing magazine's Leah Sandals weighs in on slogans for selling Toronto.
Though Hackney is officially the worst place to live in Britain, the people of Albion Drive are riding a property rollercoaster. A review of Littlejohn's Britain by Richard Littlejohnm and more on Loudmouth with an instinct for the jugular, and home truths.
From LRB, Andrew O’Hagan on the garbage of England and the things we throw away. As the Labour party prepares to change leaders, David Kynaston traces its evolution from post-second world war austerity and alleged disconnection with ’ordinary people’ to the populism of Tony Blair. A review of Austerity Britain 1945-51 (and more). In his new book, A History of Modern Britain, Andrew Marr turns his own idiosyncratic eye on the quests and quirks that have shaped the nation (and more and more).
Paul Johnson on London as the epicenter of capitalism. From CJR, Superiority Complex: An article on why the Brits think they’re better. For Better or Worse: Eric Rauchway on the special relationship, reconsidered. A review of By Hook or by Crook: a journey in search of English, by David Crystal.
¡Viva el español! The Spanish language may soon have more native speakers than English. A review of Mixed Signals: U.S. Human Rights Policy and Latin America. How concrete channelled the American dream: A review of Panama Fever by Matthew Parker. Tourism or cocaine? Caribbean economies depend on tourism. So why aren't the nations to the north encouraging an honest way to make a buck?
From The Nation, if we are ever to solve the Israel/Palestinian conflict, learning each other's historical narratives is surely the place to begin. Israel is facing a challenge it never expected when it captured East Jerusalem and reunited the city in the 1967 war: each year, Jerusalem’s population is becoming more Arab and less Jewish. An excerpt from Dark Hope Working for Peace in Israel and Palestine by David Shulman. Whose Israel question?
A review of My Israel Question by Antony Loewenstein. The writing cure Living in a war zone, Israeli writer David Grossman turned away from recording the conflict in his work. But after his son was killed in the army, he found it was the only way to come to terms with his grief.
The introduction to On Suicide Bombing by Talal Asad. More on Buda's Wagon: A Brief History of the Car Bomb. Are we likely to get terrorism betting markets anytime soon? If we really wanted to know the score on terrorism, we’d listen to the experts. And regicide's risk: Killing a leader doesn't always work
