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…
ByNon-fiction
Discover the latest non-fiction books and must-reads with the New Statesman’s expert reviews. Including biographies, music books, political writing and more.
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.
By
What does Rick Rubin actually do?
The star producer’s supremely vague manual on creativity does nothing to explain his craft.
By
Robert Kaplan’s tragic realism
Haunted by his misguided support for the Iraq War, the American writer turned to tragedy to understand the delusions of…
By
From Don Paterson to Brigitte Reimann: new titles reviewed in short
Also featuring Pegasus by Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud and Sensational by Ashley Ward.
By
The myth of America’s love affair with guns
In Bloodbath Nation Paul Auster says fixing the firearms crisis requires deep cultural change. What it really needs is political…
By
What Norman Mailer can teach us
It is right to condemn the writer’s violent chauvinism – but a literature that has lost the power to challenge is…
By
The business-lounge intellectual
With his new book, the FT’s Martin Wolf wants to rescue capitalism. But is it worth saving?
By
How the world turned global
Jonathan Sperber’s The Age of Interconnection surveys the second half of the 20th century but fails to explain the ideas…
By
Nietzsche, narwhals and the burden of consciousness
Justin Gregg’s witty exploration of animal intelligence is a useful guide – but there is more to human life than…
By
The meaning of Tyson Fury
He survived addiction and a suicide attempt to return to victory in the ring. Now the philosopher-fighter considers the “void”…
By
What cells tell us about life
Siddharta Mukherjee’s new study of how cells work reveals the complexities of the human body – and the science that…
By
Britain’s empire of science
How the Victorians bequeathed us their ideology of technoscientific progress.
By
The Light We Carry: Michelle Obama’s self-help slogans
In converting her life story into self-empowering bromides, the former first lady has exposed the limits of her politics.
By
The radical bookshops shaping Britain’s literary culture
Today’s indie bookshops are as influential in stirring up political and cultural life as those of the 1960s.
By
Death by PowerPoint: the global influence of McKinsey
A new book connects the consultancy firm to a series of social and economic crises. But how culpable is a…
By
What our homes reveal about ourselves
Living Rooms explores what domestic spaces say about class and belonging, from chintz to cleanfluencers.
By
How political failures led to the Grenfell Tower fire
Peter Apps’s book, Show Me the Bodies, forensically uncovers the truth about the disaster that killed 72 people in 2017.
By
The Mark Fisher generation
In 2009 Capitalist Realism sought to upend the status quo. As political paralysis returns, its message is as urgent as…
By
Mary Lou McDonald: behind the respectable face of Sinn Féin
A new biography charts the rapid political rise – and moral compromises – of Sinn Féin’s leader.
By