James Bentley – författare

The elegance of Tuscany’s grand cities is found on a more intimate scale in its numerous small towns and villages, the most charming of which are celebrated in this revised, compact edition of the bestselling book. Thirty-six villages from all over Tuscany feature here, from those clustered around the great cities of Lucca and Florence, which produce some of the finest olive oil and are home to some of the world’s greatest works of art, to the Chianti region and the valley of the Orcia, devoted to the cultivation of aromatic herbs. The vivid, highly descriptive accounts of each village are accompanied by page after page of marvellous colour photographs. ‘Beautifully composed photographs … graceful, knowledgeable text’ – Country Living ‘Breathtaking photographs … the riches and variety of Tuscany are laid out for all to see … a well balanced, well presented and well written exploration of one of Italy’s most beautiful regions’ – Contemporary Review

Christianity has for centuries been the dominant religion in Europe and in much of the world beyond. Marxism has inspired the widest and deepest social movements of modern times. The encounters between the two have been correspondingly arduous and complex, ranging from drawn combat to dialogue.In this absorbing study, James Bentley reconstructs one key sequence in the history of the relationship: the dialogue between Marxists and Christians in the German-speaking countries of Europe over the past hundred years. Bentley offers a rich and detailed discussion of the explorations, debates and controversies of the period.The Christian writers discussed here include Blumhardt, Barth and Solle; among Marxists, such contrasting figures as Kautsky and Bloch receive concentrated attention.The historical and political settings of the dialogue are constantly present in Bentley''s study-from the First World War to the Vietnamese revolution, from the rise of Stalin to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.Between Marx and Christ makes a fascinating scholarly contribution to the history of European thought-and casts unexpected light on the intellectual origins of latter-day "theology of liberation."