Billy Bragg writes an uptempo history of skiffle’s golden age
Roots, Radicals and Rockers is full of great characters and vignettes of bracingly different times.
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How Henry David Thoreau still surprises, 200 years after his birth
The rich legacy of the American nature writer, tax dodger, moralist, activist . . . and pencil manufacturer.
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Chris Patten’s memoir First Confession is wrong about the reasons for Brexit
Former Tory leader Michael Howard says the book will be enjoyed by readers, whether or not they agree with its author’s opinions.
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Kingdom Cons rises above a mere tale of lost innocence
Yuri Herrera’s writing reinvents its own territory, with streetwise mischief and canonical splendour.
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The Rise of the Outsiders: how populists shattered the status quo
Author Steve Richards says mainstream parties have been forced to reconsider where the centre lies.
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How Gustave Flaubert captured the turbulent politics of his age
The great French writer loathed corruption, but he didn’t much like people power either.
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David Mitchell: almost everything I’d been told about my son’s autism was wrong
What a silent Japanese boy with an alphabet grid taught me about the creative power of the brain.
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The definitive list of the most underrated Harry Potter characters
From Frank Bryce to Charity Burbage.
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