After the great "trigger warning" debate of spring 2014, this semester marks the first time many university instructors are deciding how to address the psychological welfare of their students.

One of the unexpected benefits of preparing an anthology is the chance to read through enough mediocre literature to begin to ask yourself what “mediocre” actually means. While co-editing a book of Sudanese short stories in English translation with Raph Cormack, I’ve learned that distinguishing the great stories from the mediocre raises questions about competing literary aesthetics.

The well-known US security expert, Brian Jenkins, famously declared in 1974, that “terrorism is theatre”. And over the last few weeks, the brutal videotaped beheadings of British and American hostages by Islamic State militants have proved the prescience of his statement with horrifying clarity.