Review – Vikings: Rediscover the Legend, exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum

I have had problems with the Yorkshire Museum before. It has many beautiful, fascinating objects, a lot of which are presented and described thoughtfully. Elsewhere, particularly in the medieval area, there has been a frustrating tendency to leave objects (interesting as they are) by themselves and offer very little information about them. The artefact itself...

Review – Paper: Paging Through History, by Mark Kurlansky

A glance at Mark Kurlanksy's list of publications will reveal his particular area of interest - books on cod, the oyster and salt (among others) demonstrate a passion for telling the story of those particular facets of life which are simultaneously ubiquitous yet overlooked, or taken for granted. His history of the Basques takes a...