Surely William Tyndale did a huge service to English speakers by making it possible for us to read the Bible in our own language? Not at all, says James Simpson in his book Burning To Read. Tyndale locked a sacred text in a prison of paper, inspiring literal fundamentalism and hatred around the world. Anthony Grafton considers this interpretation alongside Lucien X. Polastron’s new book on creativity and destruction in the world’s great libraries.

Was not the American Civil War defined by views of freedom? No, says Drew Gilpin Faust. It was death, not liberty, which marked out the conflict. He applies the same process of demythology, says Ari Kelman, that Paul Fussell applied to the First World War and Nicholson Baker has just attempted for the Second.

Surely good English-speaking folk can at least agree on the virtues of the badger? Well, once upon a time they could. Christopher Perrins leads the natural history section of this issue with a hymn of praise to the Collins New Naturalists series, which for sixty years has tracked our enthusiasm for the countryside. The best-selling The Badger (1948) boosted the popularity of Old Brock and created a country star. These days, the British debate is all about killing him for his part in transferring TB to cows.

Kingsley vs Martin? Which is the better Amis? Is either “any good”? Alan Brownjohn reviews Neil Powell’s account of two literary generations and approves a “blunt appraisal” that has been absent too long.

Who is paying for the olives when Theophanes has lunch with Antoninus? As long as the fourth-century Egyptian businessman Theophanes of Hermopolis keeps his expense account up to date, it seems clear that someone other than him will eventually pick up the bill. John Ray considers some well-detailed travel claims for sausages, dried figs and vermouth on the road to ancient Syria.

Peter Stothard

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