Trouble in the House of Windsor
New works by the journalists Tina Brown and Robert Hardman question whether the monarchy can survive without radical reform.
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.
Are premonitions more than coincidence?
The Premonitions Bureau by Sam Knight is a propulsive but flawed examination of the rationality of chance.
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The born-to-rule Oxford Tories
Simon Kuper’s book Chums tells the story of how one university taught the core of today’s Brexit government how to…
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Oded Galor explores the ancient roots of modern life
In his new history the economist chronicles how humanity escaped subsistence poverty, bringing prosperity, longevity and lasting inequality.
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Reviewed in short: New titles from Alison Colwell, Felipe Fernández-Armesto, Warsan Shire and Richard Mainwaring
No Excuses by Colwell, Straits by Fernández-Armesto, Bless the Daughter Raised By a Voice In Her Head by Shire and…
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How social media influencers are trying to combat the myths and misinformation around sex
Two new self-help books, Block, Delete, Move On and Losing It, seek to educate us about society’s sexual dysfunctions.
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What the Nazis did next
Danny Orbach’s intriguing book Fugitives details how former Third Reich officers sold their services to the West – and turned…
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Reviewed in short: New books by Douglas Stuart, Scholastique Mukasonga, Anna Qu and Margaret Willes
Young Mungo by Stuart, The Barefoot Woman by Mukasonga, Made in China by Qu and In the Shadow of St…
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Margaret Atwood’s self-fulfilling prophecies
For a literary oracle, the novelist is not too interested in what lies ahead.
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Reviewed in short: New books by Fernanda Melchor, Francis Young, Colin Barrett and Symeon Brown
Paradais by Melchor, Magic in Merlin's Realm by Young, Homesickness by Barrett and Get Rich or Lie Trying by Brown.
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Lucy Easthope reflects on life after catastrophe
The author reveals how the way we recover from disaster goes to the heart of what it means to be…
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Reviewed in short: New books from Brian Brivati, Anne Tyler, Helen Mort and Michelle Drouin
Losing Afghanistan by Brivati, French Braid by Tyler, A Line Above the Sky by Mort and Out of Touch by…
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Literature under Xi Jinping
Chinese fiction is booming, but authors cannot escape the regime’s tightening grip.
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Reviewed in short: New books from Cathy O’Neil, Tove Ditlevsen, Okechukwu Nzelu and Anthony Barnett
The Shame Machine by O'Neil, The Trouble With Happiness and Other Stories by Ditlevsen, Here Again Now by Nzelu and…
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How Global Britain props up Putin’s gangster state
Oliver Bullough’s Butler to the World shows how the UK’s enthusiasm for deregulation has made it a global haven for…
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Reviewed in short: New books from John L Williams, Toni Morrison, Marlon James and Samuel Fisher
CLR James: A Life Beyond the Boundaries by Williams, Recitatif by Morrison, Moon Witch, Spider King by James and Wivenhoe…
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In Sexual Revolution, Laurie Penny wages war against bad sex
This broad, ambitious book skilfully skewers everyday sexism, but Penny's feminist uprising underestimates those they wish to save.
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Morality after the Bomb
How Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley and Iris Murdoch transformed philosophy for a postwar world.
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Andrea Elliott’s story of American poverty is non-fiction writing at its best
Invisible Child follows Dasani Coates and her family in New York as they battle a racist system that is rigged…
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The politics of working out
Two books explore how exercise has been shaped by science, culture and the quest for autonomy. But does keeping fit…
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