MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
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Stunning circus sights
TOM KING recommends a visual history of one of the oldest forms of entertainment
New releases from Mountain, Soul Asylum and Michael McDermott
ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
BREAD and circuses, readers of this paper won’t need reminding, were said to be the two ways the Roman elite appeased the citizens of its vast empire. With their appetites sated and minds distracted, there was little risk of an uprising until, of course, Spartacus came along.
Somewhat appropriately, Pascal Jacob’s The Circus: A Visual History — a hefty and vibrant collection of images depicting the age-old spectacle – begins with the Colosseum, the world’s most famous amphitheatre, where Roman citizens could expect an afternoon of chariot racing, wild animals, combat and bloodshed.
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