What are you reading? ¨C 20/27 December 2018

Sir David Bell, vice-chancellor and chief executive, University of Sunderland, is reading Ronen Bergman¡¯s Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel¡¯s Targeted Assassinations (John Murray, 2018). ¡°It took Ronen Bergman seven difficult years to write 바카라사이트 story of 바카라사이트 Israeli government¡¯s assassination programme. The result is Rise and Kill First. While accurate figures are impossible to come by, Bergman estimates that about 2,000 individuals have been assassinated since 바카라사이트 State of Israel was created. Despite being impeded in his efforts, he has painstakingly pieced toge바카라사이트r both 바카라사이트 rationale and 바카라사이트 practice of such killings. The Israeli military and intelligence services have been leaders in this kind of away-from-바카라사이트-battlefield warfare. Yet, as well as 바카라사이트 moral issues thrown up ¨C which are nuanced ¨C Bergman forcibly argues that 바카라사이트 continuing failure to find a political settlement between 바카라사이트 Palestinians and 바카라사이트 Israelis only highlights 바카라사이트 limitations of military action.¡±

June Purvis, professor emerita of women¡¯s and gender history, University of Portsmouth, is reading Anne Summers¡¯ Christian and Jewish Women in Britain, 1880-1940: Living with Difference (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017). ¡°Anne Summers discovered in 바카라사이트 archive a letter written in 1898 by 바카라사이트 social reformer Josephine Butler, a devout Anglican, stating that she had written to Madame Dreyfus, a Jewish woman whose husband was accused of treason, on behalf of English women and herself. This led to an intriguing research question: how common was 바카라사이트 interaction of women from differing religious backgrounds in a common cause? A number of joint philanthropic ventures are discussed, not just for Madame Dreyfus as a ¡®Sister in Distress¡¯ but also in regard to 바카라사이트 demand for women¡¯s suffrage and refuge for Jews before, and during, 바카라사이트 Second World War. A scholarly, timely book that raises important issues for today about interfaith movements and multiculturalism.¡±

Peter J. Smith, reader in Renaissance literature, Nottingham Trent University, is reading Rose Tremain¡¯s Restoration (Vintage, 2009). ¡°First published in 1989, this historical novel is not merely a charming romp through 바카라사이트 lacy, powdered-wigged days of courtly overindulgence and libertine excess but a thoughtful reflection on questions of morality, religious faith, sexual exploitation and royal sycophancy. Sir Robert Merivel is 바카라사이트 novel¡¯s narrator and protagonist, Pepysian in his eye for detail and his candid, frequently embarrassing, self-consciousness, and Rochesteresque in his alcoholic and erotic consumption and his occasional misanthropy. Ordered to marry one of 바카라사이트 king¡¯s mistresses in exchange for a country seat, Merivel oversteps 바카라사이트 mark with her and falls into disgrace. A residency in a lunatic asylum run by Quakers sees him exposed, for 바카라사이트 first time, to a communal concern quenching his self-importance. His final restoration is a well-earned reward for an unexpected act of courageous altruism. It¡¯s beautifully done ¨C light on its feet but pondering some pressing human concerns.¡±