From the war in Ukraine to the life of Roger Deakin: new books reviewed in short
Also featuring Anna Metcalfe’s Chrysalis and Octavia Bright’s This Ragged Grace.
ByBook reviews
Read all the latest book reviews from the New Statesman and discover the best novels, non-fiction, essays and biographies. If you’re looking for something more specific, explore our sections dedicated to politics books and history books.
The science of fandom
What communities devoted to hero-worship tell us about the psychology of belonging.
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The meaning of Essex
Built for commuters, the county created a brash new consumerist identity. But its success has come at a price.
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An insider’s tale of Tory chaos
Whips, a parliamentary romp by the former No 10 adviser Cleo Watson, is fact barely disguised as fiction.
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From Guy Gunaratne to the science of allergies: new books reviewed in short
Also featuring M John Harrison's Wish I Was Here and Jonathan Miles on the French Riviera.
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Britain’s care deficit
By relegating the elderly and sick to the margins of life, we ignore the fact that one day we will…
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The triumph of cash
How universal basic income was adapted for the neoliberal era.
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Europe’s false dawn
After the revolutions of 1848, liberals helped create a conservative international order that has shaped the world since.
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The memeification of George Orwell
The writer has become a national treasure, moral arbiter and begetter of biographies: do we need a new one?
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From Katja Hoyer to Charles Foster: new books reviewed in short
Also featuring Why is this Lying Bastard Lying to Me? by Rob Burley and The Happy Couple by Naoise Dolan.
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Why read life-writing?
Joanna Biggs’ A Life of One’s Own looks to the letters and journals of literary women for guidance. Can they…
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Soldiers in love
Men at War, Luke Turner’s tender account of servicemen’s transgressive private lives, transforms our understanding of the Second World War.
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Catherine Lacey’s biography that isn’t
In inventing a figure who rubbed shoulders with David Bowie and Susan Sontag, the American novelist thrillingly subverts the conventions…
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Plumbing the depths of Boris Johnson’s incompetence
Anthony Seldon’s account of Johnson’s time in Downing Street confirms he was hopelessly out of his depth.
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The invention of God
David Baddiel’s new book argues that a deity that saves us from death is confected from human desire.
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The politics of the new space race
Tim Marshall’s The Future of Geography shows how great powers – and Elon Musk – are looking to the stars…
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Westminster is broken
Ian Dunt’s new book reveals Britain as a country of inept civil servants, deluded ministers, blinkered journalists and unscrutinised power.
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The problem with Peter Frankopan’s theory of history
The Earth Transformed seeks to tell the story of climate change without confronting global capitalism. The result is a book…
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The dark heart of the Tory Party
By reckoning with Britain’s nasty side, the Conservatives have claimed its soul.
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An idiot’s guide to cancel culture
What do we do with the art of monstrous men? Claire Dederer’s flimsy, simplistic new book has no answers.
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