Portside

Why do reality television’s most popular stars so uncannily resemble the heroines of the 19th-century writer’s work?

How many devils does it take to make hell? The poet Charlotte Muse brings a requiem for the horror of Cambodia.

In Burning Country, journalist Robin Yassin-Kassab and human rights activist Leila Al-Shami make plain that no matter how long the Syrian war rages or how distant a political settlement may appear, the world owes it to the Syrian people to hear their stories and support their cause. The book portrays the opposition as a movement of protest against Bashar al-Assad's brutal regime, something missed abroad amid the factionalism and power politics driving the conflict.

The Noise of Time, the new novel by Julian Barnes, is a fictionalized portrait of Dmitri Shostakovich, perhaps the most famous Russian composer of the Soviet era. Leslie Rieder, in this review, gives us a peek into the "utterly fascinating" tale Barnes has woven.

It begins with a short sequence in Sri Lanka: the civil war is over, the Liberation Tigers are burning their dead comrades’ bodies and swapping fatigues for civilian clothes to try and melt into the general population. In a refugee camp, a young woman is looking for unaccompanied children to be part of a hastily thrown together fake family, to help one such fighter get clear of the battle zone and into Europe.

The 2016 Google Food Trends report confirmed consumers are seeking out functional ingredients, global flavors and customizable snacks, and revealed a few surprise findings, too

Kunta Kinte and his family’s struggle to survive is rendered in a sleeker, visually gripping package without diluting the historical vestiges that endure in America.

The exiled Persian poet Majid Naficy draws on Christian parable (the Book of Matthew), suggesting that some of the irate voices on our streets are not enemies but prophets.

In David Looseley's take on the iconic French chanteuse Edith Piaf, her notoriously elusive life story is rendered as cultural history, drawing out what Piaf meant - and still means - to France and to her wider audience. Looseley notes that her musical persona was highly and brilliantly constructed. She projected a stage mask of suffering that was all the more affecting because the audience saw there was deprivation behind it. With Piaf, you underwent her.

This new book reconsiders the social and political impact of the energy crisis of the mid 1970s.