Victor Serge’s life was hugely eventful and his critical mind, without being bound by a priori opinions of a narrow kind, took note of what was happening around him.   Sean Sheehan   He was drawn to anarchist thought and but when the October Revolution occurred in 1917 he understood […]

Reading “The bloater”, a novel of less than 150 pages, is like sipping a glass of sparkling champagne after been deprived of the drink’s recuperative quality for too long.   Sean Sheehan   Its air of easy frivolousness feels life-enhancing, as does the wickedly delicious prose of Rosemary Tonks in […]

This historical novel begins just before the outbreak of World War I with Karl Radek waiting to hear if he has been expelled from the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SDP).   Sean Sheehan   The matter is controversial and Lenin does not support his expulsion. Radek suspects, all too […]

Michael Marder’s pocket-sized “Philosophy for passengers” is the perfect book to fit in your backpack or wheelie when making a journey.   Sean Sheehan   You are, at some stage, consumed by the exhilaration or dread that is prompting the travel but this book, acting as both distraction and therapy, […]

Military histories tend to be less-than-riveting for readers who are not war buffs – and who wants to join that club? – but novels based around non-fictional episodes of warfare can fill the gap created by our need to know more about significant moments of military history.   Sean Sheehan […]