Times Literary Supplement

Ian Thomson first wrote the Times Literary Supplement in the late 1980s, contributing on a range of subjects. The TLS first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to the Times, but became a separate publication in 1941.

In the Beginning was Boredom: Alberto Moravia, chronicler of bourgeois ennui

Published: 25 September 2015

 

History

Published: 01 July 2011

Estonian Life Stories ed Rutt Hinrikus.”Most of my life’s journey is behind me”, says one contributor, with evident relief. In 1941 her sister had vanished in the deeps of Novosibirsk, a statistic among the millions of Siberian dead.

 

Graham Greene’s chance encounter with a model spy

Published: 01 March 2006

Graham Greene in Tallinn. Article.

 

Music

Published: 02 July 2014

Verve by Richard Havers. At funeral in New Orleans in 1901, Joe “King” Oliver played a blues-toned dirge on the trumpet. This was the new music that they would soon call jazz. A century on from the hothouse stomps of Duke Ellington and the angular doodlings of Thelonious Monk, jazz survives as an important musical…

 

Burn nights

Published: 24 June 2014

Hatchet Job by Mark Kermode. Mark Kermode reviews films for a living. His forte, in the minds of many, is the scathing put-down; any director he considers overrated (or who has perhaps undeservedly won an Oscar) is neatly tossed and gored.

 

Memoirs

Published: 03 January 2014

Of Jewish Race by Reno Modiano.  Translated by Mirna Cicioni and Susan Walker.

 

History

Published: 22 November 2013

Between Giants: The battle for the Baltics in World War II by Pritt Buttar.

 

Biography

Published: 12 April 2013

Nessuna Pieta per Pasolini by Stefano Maccioni, Domenico Valter Rizzo, Simona Ruffini.

 

Travel

Published: 01 June 2012

Estonia by Alexander Theroux.

 

Organised Crime in Italy

Published: 13 April 2012

Mafia Brotherhoods by John Dickie.

 

Biography

Published: 20 January 2012

Jimmy Cliff by David Katz.

 

Music

Published: 25 November 2011

Studio One Records by Steve Barrow and Stuart Baker.

 

Diana McCaulay

Published: 29 April 2011

Dog Heart by Diana McCaulay.

 

Music

Published: 21 January 2011

Bossa Nova by Giles Peterson and Stuart Baker.

 

Diaries of Mussolini’s mistress

Published: 30 June 2010

Mussolini Segreto by Claretta Petacci. In March 1919, an obscure political agitator, Benito Mussolini, assembled a ragbag of black-shirted followers in Milan and launched the movement that was to become, two years later, the National Fascist Party. As a child growing up in Fascist Italy, Claretta Petacci was dutifully adoring of…

 

History

Published: 07 May 2010

Murder Without Hatred: Estonians and the Holocaust by Anton Weiss-Wendt.

 

British fiction and the cultural in-between

Published: 22 April 2009

Black West Indian culture is synonymous with youth culture in Britain today, where a Jamaican inflection has long been hip even among white teenagers. In recent years, a cross-cultural genre of British fiction has evolved out of this urban ethnic ferment. Hip-hop savvy and brocaded with…

Times Literary Supplement

Times Literary Supplement

Ian Thomson has written for the Times Literary Supplement on a number of subjects.

 

History

Published: 01 July 2011

…depending on whether the Red Army or the Wehrmacht had conscripted them. “Most of my life’s journey is behind me”, says one contributor, with evident relief. In 1941 her sister had vanished in the deeps of Novosibirsk, a statistic among the millions of Siberian dead.IanThomson

Our Man in Tallinn

Published: 03 March 2006

…him. Graham Greene himself died twenty years later -six months short of his eighty-seventh birthday. “Our Man in Tallinn” is taken from Articles of Faith: The collected Tablet journalism of Graham Greene, edited with an introduction by IanThomson, which is published later this month.

Graham Greene’s chance encounter with a model spy

Published: 01 March 2006

…visit him. Graham Greene himself died twenty years later  six months short of his eighty-seventh birthday. This piece is taken from Articles of Faith: The collected Tablet journalism of Graham Greene, edited with an introduction by IanThomson, which is published later this month.

Music

Published: 02 July 2014

At funeral in New Orleans in 1901, Joe “King” Oliver played a blues-toned dirge on the trumpet. This was the new music that they would soon call jazz. A century on from the hothouse stomps of Duke Ellington and the angular doodlings of Thelonious Monk, jazz survives as an important musical…

Burn nights

Published: 24 June 2014

Mar Kermode reviews films for a living. His forte, in the minds of many, is the scathing put-down; any director he considers overrated (or who has perhaps undeservedly won an Oscar) is neatly tossed and gored. Hatchet Job, Kermode’s third book, considers the art of film criticism in all its…

Memoirs

Published: 03 January 2014

Reno Modiano OF JEWISH RACE Translated by Mirna Cicioni and Susan Walker 134pp. Vagabond Voices.

History

Published: 22 November 2013

Pri Buttar BETWEEN GIANTS The battle for the Baltics in World War II 400pp. Osprey.

Biography

Published: 12 April 2013

Steano Maccioni, Domenico Valter Rizzo, Simona Ruffini NESSUNA PIETÀ PER PASOLINI 159pp. Editori Internazionali Riuniti.

Travel

Published: 01 June 2012

Aleander Theroux ESTONIA A ramble through the periphery 352pp. Fantagraphic Books.

John Dickie MAFIA BROTHERHOODS Camorra

Published: 13 April 2012

Joh Dickie MAFIA BROTHERHOODS Camorra, Mafia, ‘Ndrangheta: the rise of the Honoured Societies 447pp. Sceptre.

Biography

Published: 20 January 2012

Davd Katz JIMMY CLIFF An unauthorised biography 262pp. Signal.

Music

Published: 25 November 2011

Stee Barrow and Stuart Baker STUDIO ONE RECORDS Album cover art 216pp. Soul Jazz Books.

Diana McCaulay

Published: 29 April 2011

Diaa McCaulay DOG-HEART 244pp. Peepal Tree Press.

Music

Published: 21 January 2011

Giles Peterson and Stuart Baker…

Diaries of Mussolini’s mistress

Published: 30 June 2010

In arch 1919, an obscure political agitator, Benito Mussolini, assembled a ragbag of black-shirted followers in Milan and launched the movement that was to become, two years later, the National Fascist Party. As a child growing up in Fascist Italy, Claretta Petacci was dutifully adoring of…

History

Published: 07 May 2010

Antn Weiss-Wendt MURDER WITHOUT HATRED Estonians and the Holocaust 476pp. Syracuse University Press.

John Wyndham PLAN FOR CHAOS […]

Published: 26 March 2010

Joh Wyndham PLAN FOR CHAOS 234pp. Penguin.

Travel

Published: 09 October 2009

British fiction and the cultural in-between

Published: 22 April 2009

Blak West Indian culture is synonymous with youth culture in Britain today, where a Jamaican inflection has long been hip even among white teenagers. In recent years, a cross-cultural genre of British fiction has evolved out of this urban ethnic ferment. Hip-hop savvy and brocaded with…