Wednesday's Notes

Timothy Mowl,"Blood and Mistletoe," THES, 20 August, reviews Ronald Hutton's Blood and Mistletoe: The History of the Druids in Britain.

Rebecca Leach reviews Elizabeth Outka's Consuming Traditions: Modernity, Modernism, and the Commodified Authentic for the THES, 20 August.

Janet Maslin,"Scarecrow, Lion, Tin Man and Freud, Too," NYT, 23 August, reviews Rebecca Loncraine's The Real Wizard of Oz: The Life and Times of L. Frank Baum.

At History Today, Martin Evans's"After the Cold War" launches a series of essays that look at changing attitudes to history in once Communist nations. Catherine Merridale's"Haunted by Stalin" looks at competing versions of Russia's past as functions of current political alternatives.

Matthew Reisz,"Free Radical," THES, 20 August, interviews George Scialabba, the author of What Are Intellectuals Good For?