Babi Yar: a harrowing masterpiece of Ukraine under Nazi rule
Anatoly Kuznetsov’s classic account of the 1941 massacre of Ukrainians is republished as Kyiv suffers the ravages of war again.
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.
Angela Saini: “Societies haven’t always been male-dominated”
The British science writer argues that patriarchy is newer and more fragile than we think.
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Secrets of the womb
Leah Hazard’s new book shows how this complex, life-giving muscle has been maligned and misunderstood.
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Jordan Peterson: Agent of chaos
The Canadian psychologist's quest for order is thwarted by the tragicomedy of his own life.
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Bernie Sanders: the president who never was
The politician’s new work is a limited and soporific harangue. How did he twice get close to becoming leader of…
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The myths of “the north”
Alex Niven’s The North Will Rise Again is a missed chance – a sustained swipe at a government long gone…
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How consultancy bleeds Britain dry
In The Big Con Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington reveal how management consultants promise to fix governments but end up…
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What does a good 21st-century immigration policy look like?
Immigration presents us with a moral and political quandary. Can two books help us decide what to do?
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The best non-fiction books for 2023
From politics and Big Tech to history and identity, the essential books for the year ahead.
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The infinite art of John Donne
His life was blighted by poverty, but his poetry made exhilarating connections between sex, faith and death.
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Michael Bracewell’s anatomy of English nostalgia
In Unfinished Business one of our finest cultural critics returns to fiction with a meditation on memory and national decline.
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From Brian Dillon to Tara Zahra: new titles reviewed in short
Also featuring Masters of the Lost Land by Heriberto Araujo and I Am Still With You by Emmanuel Iduma.
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Dickens and his demons
How the novelist hid his cruel side – infidelity, bullying callousness, malice – in plain sight in his fiction.
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The blurred ethics of memoir
Blake Morrison’s account of sibling tragedy passes its moral questions on to the reader.
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A reckoning for Silicon Valley
Malcolm Harris’s new book shows how Californian capitalism has thrived by exploiting an unequal world. But could the “Palo Alto…
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Pamela Anderson’s fantasy life
In her memoir Love, Pamela the model and actress reveals that despite the trauma and abuse she still sees her…
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Victory City: Salman Rushdie’s story factory
Rushdie’s new novel, completed before his attack, is a fable that displays his overweening faith in narrative.
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From Cariad Lloyd to Ayòbámi Adébáyò: new titles reviewed in short
Also featuring Tomorrow Perhaps the Future by Sarah Watling and Away From Beloved Lover by Dee Peyok.
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The myth of England’s “fair play” fetish
In sport and politics, the English boast that they always play by the rules – but history tells a different…
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Ghosts of the Cultural Revolution
Tania Branigan’s Red Memory shows how Xi Jinping’s China is erasing the violence and tyranny of Mao’s purges from history.
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