Extra, extra – newspaper vendor writes a bestseller

The headlines Ali Akbar shouts to sell his newspapers are much better than the real thing. 'Osama bin Laden Wedding Pictures' and 'That's It! Retirement at 35' are two of his recent brainwaves. Today he could try 'Parisian News Vendor Writes Bestseller'.

Why two caves are better than one

Sebastian Mallaby combines a history of the World Bank with a biography of its flamboyant president. It will make uncomfortable reading for some, says Richard Adams.

A libertarian legacy

Leader: In the current debate about whether or not journalists are too disrespectful of politicians, it is clear on which side of the argument Hunter S Thompson, who died by his own hand in Colorado on Sunday, would stand.

Call it what you like – this is hell

Mark Danner exposes the double speak that underpins Bush's 'war on terror' in Torture and Truth. Peter Conrad on how America's response to 9/11 unleashed an obscene nightmare.

Race card

How did the English become white? Gary Taylor finds the answer in a piece of 17th-century street theatre.

Why ruin your life?

Lionel Shriver, author of US bestseller We Need To Talk About Kevin, on why she believes motherhood isn't all it's cracked up to be.

The large print giveth…

There is a crisis in literature. Readers have stopped reading, sales are down, authors are despondent. But US publishers have come to the rescue. Literature's woes, they believe, lie in the smallness of the print.

The end of the affair

To many British Jews between the wars, haunted by poverty and fascism, communism seemed to hold the answer. In this exclusive extract from his new book, Jonathan Freedland tells the story of his great-uncle Mick's two doomed romances - with the party, and with his closest comrade.