The woman who made the rape kit
This story of Martha Goddard’s forensic method does more than reclaim her role in history – it gives her a…
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Discover the latest non-fiction books and must-reads with the New Statesman’s expert reviews. Including biographies, music books, political writing and more.
The contested life of Roger Casement
The Irish nationalist was caught in the fault lines between empire and nation, colonised and coloniser, public face and private…
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“There is no such thing as Starmerism”
An account of the Labour Party’s rise to power presents the PM as a man with a deep aversion to…
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The brutal world of the Brothers Grimm
The folklorists’ fairy tales, in which moral laws are suspended and violence abounds, were no stranger than the progressive fantasies…
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Bill Gates vs Ren Zhengfei
The Microsoft and Huawei founders have competing visions of technological dominance. Which will endure?
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The secret history of the poles
How glaciers hold the key to Earth’s deep past.
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How WG Sebald found his form
His studies of Austrian writers, at times more fiction than fact, offer a guide to the artist he would become.
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The radical women who made modern dance
A new book explores three generations of dancers who looked beyond the stage to turn movement into a tool of…
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The moderate voices of the English Civil War
A story of two friends who took opposite sides asks: does ideology always triumph over loyalty?
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The myth of the teenager
Adolescents suffer from an image problem. Matilda Gosling’s Teenagers: The Evidence Base looks at the facts to dispel unhelpful stereotypes.
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The Pierre Bonnard renaissance
The enigmatic French painter is seen by many as a league below Matisse. But a new book proves them wrong…
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The confessions of Pope Francis
Can Hope, his autobiographical meditations on migration, sexuality and war, assuage a Catholic church in crisis?
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Lessons from the afterlife
In A Second Act, intensive care doctor Matt Morgan collects stories from patients who returned from death. Can they teach…
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25 books to read in 2025
From AI to the Beatles and from Pope Francis to Jung Chang, here are the new books to look out…
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The 20 best books of 2024
The New Statesman’s choice of the year’s essential fiction and non-fiction.
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Joan Didion vs Eve Babitz
Lili Anolik’s dual biography reveals the writers’ vicious battle to be the true voice of 1970s California.
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The meaning of ecstasy
Simon Critchley’s On Mysticism shows how the language of religious rapture can help us teach us how to live.
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In praise of herd mentality
The best crowds are joyful expressions of democracy and belonging. So why do we fear them so much?
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Chris Hoy’s race against time
The Olympic cyclist’s memoir All that Matters reflects on the terminal cancer diagnosis that tested his resilience to the limit.
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Kevin Roberts’s fire-breathing American right
In his book Dawn’s Early Light, the architect of Project 2025 preaches the necessity of burning Washington’s “elite” institutions to…
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