Moscow By Night
In summer 2004 Akashic books published Brooklyn Noir, an anthology of crime stories set in New York’s most heavily populated borough. Although initially intended as a one-off, th
Joel Osteen: The New Face of Christianity
Forget Billy Graham and Jimmy Swaggart—the most popular and influential pastor in the US is Joel Osteen. On the surface he is modest and quietly spoken, but his belief in the 
Requiem for a Tyrant
Tearing down the statue of a megalomaniac dictator is usually a joy reserved for the citizens of a newly-liberated country. But when President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov of Turkmen
Andrei Platonov: Russia’s greatest 20th-century prose stylist?
An anti-Stalinist author who died in obscurity in 1951 may be the greatest Russian writer of the last century, his English translator Robert Chandler explains to Daniel Kalder Stal
Death Wish: Why Are We So In Love With Apocalypse?
It’s impossible to avoid the apocalypse these days. Whether we encounter the End in the form of news reports on Global Warming, or fears of Iran getting bomb, or plague panics su
The ‘Lost’ Books of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
When Aleksandr Solzhenistyn died aged 89 in August 2008 his reputation had been in flux for a long time. Even so, most obituaries acknowledged the power and significance of The Gul
The Truth About Fort Hood
“Every thing is what it is, and not another thing.” Bishop Joseph Butler (1692-1752) Like everybody else, when I first heard about the shootings at Fort Hood I immediately rush
Requiem for a Russian Mobster
Is it just me, or has 2009 been exceptionally rich in the deaths of legendary figures? In August, Ted Kennedy was finally reunited in heaven with Mary Jo Kopechne. In July a
The End of the World is Here Again (The Spectator)
Last weekend Roland Emmerich’s wrathful CGI God was at it again, killing billions in the name of the Holy Box Office in the film 2012. Having already caused carnage with aliens,
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Was My Father
“The name cuts both ways. It’s an inalienable fact of life in my performing career. I don’t think about it a great deal but I am often reminded that others naturally thin