Fire and brimstone
Roy Hattersley argues that John Wesley's evangelical zeal helped to make the working class respectable in his life of the founder of Methodism, A Brand From the Burning
The flame still flickers
Veronica Horwell finds herself on dangerous ground as she revisits Afghanistan in the company of Jon Lee Anderson and Christina Lamb
Renowned Scottish novelist to teach at St Andrews
St Andrews University is celebrating netting its English department one of Scotland's most influential contemporary writers - AL Kennedy.
The secret life of us
We censor it, sentimentalise it, treat it as a commodity. But we can't reduce its power. Jeanette Winterson on why art now matters more than ever.
Palestine’s pasha
He was the leader of the Arab Legion, but Glubb Pasha emerges as a man reviled by all the semites in Benny Morris's The Road to Jerusalem
The force within
Alec Guinness was once the most famous British actor in the world, but to his friends he was a mystery. Garry O'Connor's new biography grapples with his elusive genius
The queen’s privateer and the emperor’s eunuch
Geoffrey Moorhouse on two investigations into maritime derring-do written by Raleigh Trevelyan and Gavin Menzies
Why do Britons waive the rules?
A failure to learn about grammar is undermining the value of native teachers, argues Rodney Blakeston
Tussle for a treasure
How the discovery of a long-lost manuscript by Lorca sparked a remarkable court battle between the Spanish poet's heirs and a Mexican soap star. By Peter Lennon.
Farewell to all that
The Bloomsbury set threw away their sensible shoes and welcomed party promiscuity. Virginia Nicholson tells the story of a revolution in Among the Bohemians
Brave sailor
Ellen MacArthur's autobiography, Taking on the World, is as different from other sailing books as she is from other sailors
Mad about the boys
Kathryn Hughes finds Fiona MacCarthy's life of Byron as fascinating as the self-promoted myth