Reviews

Books: Shakespeare’s Restless World

Neil MacGregor's use of objects to explore the age of Shakespeare is a great read, writes Louise Gray

Modern British Childhood 1948-2012, Museum of Childhood, London

Sharon Heal on an exhibition that reveals how children's lives have changed over the past 60 years

Doctors, Dissection and Resurrection Men, Museum of London

Jonathan Conlin probes the Museum of London’s expose of a harrowing trade in body snatching

Catalogue: The Bowes Museum Cook Book

Instead of the usual exhibition publication, the Bowes Museum went for a cookbook, writes Francesca Young

On my bookshelf

A Scatter of Memories by Margaret Gardiner

Collective Observations: Folklore and Photography – from Benjamin Stone to Flickr, Towner, Eastbourne

Simon Stephens applauds an exhibition that precedes the creation of the Museum of British Folklore

The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge, Canterbury

Great name, great renovation and great displays, but Oliver Green is not sure the collections at the Beaney are up to scratch

In Pursuit of Art: Charles Eastlake’s Journey from Plymouth to the National Gallery, Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, Devon

Peter Mason enjoys a beautifully executed show about a 19th-century artist and administrator who laid the foundations for today's public galleries

Books: Counter-Tourism: The Handbook

Sharon Heal enjoys the rib-poking of the Crab Man

The Long March to Equality: Treasures of the Women’s Library, London

The material is movingly and often wittily presented, but Gemma McGrath feels more depth was needed to do justice to this compelling topic

Steam, Steel and Submarines, Chatham Historic Dockyard, Kent

Jane Insley says Chatham's newest gallery works well in the context of the whole dockyard site

The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge

Its world-class collections have been beautifully redisplayed, but Sara Selwood feels this museum needs to do more to engage the public