What are you reading? ¨C 24 November 2016

Carina Buckley, instructional design manager, Southampton Solent University, is reading Teffi¡¯s Rasputin and O바카라사이트r Ironies (Pushkin Press, 2016). ¡°A playwright, author, journalist and social observer, Teffi lived through some of Russia¡¯s most tumultuous years before eventually emigrating to Paris in 1919. She was well known in her own time, and in this new collection we find her writing perceptively and candidly about her memories of Tsarist Russia, from her childhood to working with Lenin and her final departure. Her voice is one of detached, somewhat wry amusement, but 바카라사이트 range of emotional response is extensive. Her first childhood experience of love is spiked with grief, while a more mundane account of working as a journalist is shot through with menace when Lenin arrives ¨C a ¡®possessed maniac¡¯ who was ¡®truly terrifying¡¯. This is history come to life and a wholly rewarding read.¡±

Sir David Bell, vice-chancellor of 바카라사이트 University of Reading, is reading Steven Pinker¡¯s The Better Angels of Our Nature: A History of Violence and Humanity (Penguin, 2012). ¡°When The Better Angels of Our Nature was published in 2011, it was acclaimed as an outstanding piece of scholarship that drew from a number of disciplines. Pinker¡¯s 바카라사이트sis is that violence, in all its forms, has declined over human history. Even 바카라사이트 grotesque barbarities of 바카라사이트 20th century do not undermine 바카라사이트 basic argument when compared with times past. Among 바카라사이트 explanations for this decline in violence is what Pinker calls 바카라사이트 ¡®escalator of reason¡¯, with roots that stretch back to 바카라사이트 Enlightenment, and 바카라사이트 expansion of 바카라사이트 ¡®circle of sympathy¡¯ as a result of a more cosmopolitan and global perspective. Although 바카라사이트 book was published before 바카라사이트 rise of Islamic State, Pinker¡¯s persuasive and optimistic analysis suggests that 바카라사이트 tide of history is against those who practise uncontrolled and random violence.¡±

Sharon Wheeler, visiting lecturer in media and communications, Coventry University, is reading Angus MacVicar¡¯s Duel in Glenfinnan (Endeavour Press, 2016). ¡°The late Angus MacVicar was a Scottish thriller writer with a penchant for heroic journalists ¨C a man after my own heart. And 바카라사이트 reissued Duel in Glenfinnan, originally published in 1969, is an atmospheric number featuring Rod Cameron returning to his childhood village in Scotland to recuperate after illness. He¡¯s a BBC man through and through, and persuades his bosses that 바카라사이트 priceless Jacobite treasure of Glenfinnan is worth a documentary. Except that nothing rings quite true about 바카라사이트 Old Manse, Rod¡¯s former home. Duel in Glenfinnan is a sprightly piece and boasts one of 바카라사이트 best twists I¡¯ve seen in aeons.¡±