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…
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.
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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Do we really need Rawls?
Daniel Chandler’s much-hyped new book says that, in an age of polarisation, the American philosopher offers a blueprint for society.
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Is a feminist marriage possible?
A new history takes in everything from ancient Roman weddings to Don’t Tell the Bride to ask: can we redefine…
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The 14 best books of the year so far
The New Statesman’s selection of essential reads for this spring.
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The decline of the Literary Bloke
In featuring just four men, Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists confirms what we already knew: the literary male has…
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From Amy Key to Tom Clark: new books reviewed in short
Also featuring Eve by Claire Horn and A Stranger in Your Own City by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad.
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The best children’s books for spring 2023
Find animal magic and globe-trotting thrills in new books for young readers.
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George Eliot’s marriage plot
In her work, the novelist developed a radical philosophy of relationships. In her life, she put it into practice.
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The IRA’s blank assassin
The Brighton bomb killed five people but failed to hit its target, Margaret Thatcher.
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Where are all the good books on sex?
Polly Barton’s “oral history” of porn shows the myopia of cultural criticism drawn from personal experience. We desperately need a…
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The limits of humanism
How do we reconcile our capacity for good and evil? Humanist thinking does not have all the answers.
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How-to guides have taken over everything
But real change happens outside of the parameters of pamphlets and manifestos.
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How Noël Coward became the archetypal English success
A new biography shows how he began life as a revolutionary and ended it hosting the Queen Mother.
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The history of the American South is as contested as ever
In the home of both the Confederacy and the civil rights movement, the past is never dead.
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The feminist case against progress
From sex-positivity to abortion, liberal advances have dehumanised women, argues Mary Harrington – but “nature” is not always as kind as…
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Who is criticism for?
Seth Rogen’s protest against bad reviews misunderstands the role of the critic in the fight against mediocrity.
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