It is true but simplistic to say the Irish Great Famine (1845-1851) was caused by a potato blight that struck Europe. The reaction of the governing colonial power, Britain, allows for asking whether the famine was an act of genocide.   Sean Sheehan    A new book by Padraic X. […]

The political situation that the narrative of Mikhail Bulgakov’s “The white guard” is rooted in was as volatile as it was exciting.    Sean Sheehan   There were two revolutions in Russia in 1917 but it is the second one that earns its capital letters. The October Revolution brought the […]

Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” is one of those paintings you probably cannot remember where and how you saw it for the first time.   Sean Sheehan   Like the “Mona Lisa” it has already and always been there and now, instantly logged when seen again, probably does not receive much […]

An interest in photography is being challenged by a steady diet of photobooks devoted to a photographer’s pet project that do little to provoke reflection beyond wondering how such banal work ever finds a publisher.   Sean Sheehan   A welcome relief is a new book devoted to the work […]

The whole world knows what Israel is doing but the historical background – what took place in 1948 – is not as well known. Salman Abu Sitta was a child of ten when it happened and he remembers what took place in his memoir “Mapping my return”.   Sean Sheehan […]