Reviews Articles
Reconsidering Reparations, by Olúfẹmi O Táíwò
Olúfémi Táíwò is an academic philosopher who works in the intersection of climate justice and colonialism. This book has helped me better understand some of the issues.
The Doctor, by Robert Icke (Duke of York’s Theatre, London)
This brilliant play exposed some of my worst fears about the future of human beings. The story turns round a well-known, highly successful doctor trying to save the life of a fourteen-year-old, who has contracted sepsis after a failed, self-administered abortion.
How to be a Refugee: Life lessons by one who escaped the Holocaust, by Irene Gabriele Gill
Oxford Friend Irene Gill has written a truly remarkable book about the first eighty-nine years of her life. It begins with how she, her parents and siblings arrived in Oxford in 1939. Both parents were part Jewish, and needed to escape from Germany. Her father found employment at the university.
Friends and Comrades: How Quakers helped Russians survive famine and epidemic, by Sergei Nikitin
A century ago, British and US Quakers were amid the turmoil of the revolution in Russia, providing help to starving people. Today there is again strife and war in Europe. Sergei Nikitin’s book, translated by Suzanne Eades-Roberts, comes at a useful time.
The Boy at the Back of the Class, by Onjali Q Rauf
I thought this was a really good book. It made me think a lot about refugees and how badly they are treated here in this country.
All Ways Walk Cheerfully, by Peter Schweiger
Life is a patchwork of happenings, some planned for, many disjointed, and countless repetitive. The richer the incidents that make up these happenings, the richer the patchwork, and this book unpacks a fascinating and busy life in a refreshingly honest style – at times planned, at times disjointed, at times repetitive,...
Dovetailing: Gathered notes, by Clare Dearnaley
Dovetailing started life as a multi-dimensional exhibition of sculpture, music and film, held in the peaceful surroundings of Farfield Meeting House.
Uncivil worship and witness: Following the lamb into the new creation, by Michael J Gorman
I am in a curious position regarding this book, most of which I found helpful and illuminating. Its title denounces me as having read Revelation irresponsibly – it was through reading it in 1971 that I found myself steered towards Quakers. I was amazed to find that the images described had been...
Old Rage, by Sheila Hancock
As many readers will know, Sheila Hancock takes her Quakerism seriously. In this latest work of autobiography (covering 2016 to 2021), she begins with a note about becoming a dame. Should she accept? Is it in keeping with a Quaker belief in equality? She decides that to turn it down would be...
The Salt of the Earth, by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado
This 2014 film, which chronicles the life’s work of the photographer Sebastião Salgado, is a hard watch. The camera is pitiless, presenting horrific images – corpses in Rwanda, skeletal bodies in the Sahel – but with deep humanity and empathy.