The amazing true story of Zeitoun

Abdulrahman Zeitoun is the real-life hero of Dave Eggers's new book. In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina he paddled from house to house in a canoe, offering help to his neighbours. For his trouble, he was arrested as a suspected terrorist

JFK assassination: letters sent to Jacqueline Kennedy recall US grief

Selection from 15,000 condolence letters sent to JFK's widow and stored at library published for first time in book

Dave Eggers: From ‘staggering genius’ to America’s conscience

Author, publisher and literary trendsetter: Dave Eggers is all those, and he's fast becoming the conscience of liberal America too. Here he tells Rachel Cooke how he went from 'staggering genius' to the man who gives a voice to the downtrodden and dispossessed

Soccer moms v Precious – the cultural battle at the heart of this year’s Oscars

Right favours Sandra Bullock's role as rich philanthropist while liberals root for tale of teenager born into poverty

The funny side of feminism

Rachel Cooke: Forty years on from The Female Eunuch, the pioneering sisterhood is still witty and wise

A brilliant writer who mistrusted clarity

Lara Pawson: Ryszard Kapuściński's work may drift into fiction – but adherence to fact in war reporting can start to feel impossible and pointless

The legacy of antisemitism

Keith Kahn-Harris: Although Anthony Julius's book ought to be read critically, many will simply zoom in on the parts dealing with Zionism

Hiroshima blockbuster under threat after US airman’s tale unravels

• Avatar director Cameron has film rights to book• Veteran's account of flight dismissed as inaccurate

Anonymous buyer pays £4 million for Casanova’s uncensored diaries

Mystery donor presents 18th-century seducer's 3,700 pages of memoirs to French national library

Descartes was ‘poisoned by Catholic priest’

French philosopher was killed by arsenic-laced holy communion wafer after airing 'heretic' views, says academic

The Ukrainian novelist who’s foretold David Cameron for PM

Andrey Kurkov has a good track record when it comes to second-guessing political developments

Memoirs shed new light on La Dolce Vita era of drugs, sex and debauchery

The character played by Marcello Mastroianni in Federico Fellini's classic film was partly based on a gossip columnist now writing his own account of Rome's scandalous 1950s

David Tennant takes on role of rebel UK ambassador

Playwright David Hare brings Craig Murray's Murder in Samarkand to life in play for Radio 4