The terrible contradictions of Tolstoy
Maxim Gorky’s reminiscences about his literary hero are just as avant-garde today as they were in the 1920s
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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.
Kamala Harris cares too much about being nice
The presidential candidate’s new book, 107 Days, shows a lack of curiosity about what voters want
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Christopher Marlowe’s stage fright
Stephen Greenblatt’s attempt to reconstruct the playwright’s story is brilliant – but Marlowe the man remains a mystery
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Arundhati Roy’s Mother Mary is a fierce chronicle of self-invention
The novelist and activist details how she fashioned herself out of collisions with her mother
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Whigs and Tories shaped modern Britain
George Owers’s new book about the two-party political system is rich in history – but it misses one vital detail.
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A glimpse into fractured France
Andrew Hussey’s book on a “divided nation” veers too close to the personal over the political when diagnosing the Fifth…
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Jung Chang’s critical distance
In her sequel to Wild Swans, the exiled author reflects on China from her adopted British home.
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The quiet power of noble craft
James Fox’s stories of stonewalling and lettercutting take readers a world away from craft-shop kitsch.
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Do youth clubs still matter?
British youth clubs began as social experiments and ended up safe havens for creativity and culture. What happens when they…
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The struggle for Greenland
As Elizabeth Buchanan’s new history shows, Donald Trump is not the first foreigner to covet the Arctic territory. But his…
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Christianity’s political ascent
Alice Roberts’ history of the late Roman empire dispels the notion of a faith for the poor and oppressed –…
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Robert Louis Stevenson’s adventures in storytelling
A new biography reveals the author as shaped by conflicting influences – and affirms his status as a serious writer.
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Asa Briggs, professor of everything
The historian and educator’s achievements were as long and varied as his contacts book.
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The history of nuclear science
Two new accounts of the atomic age overlook its deadly past.
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Kevin Keegan’s visions of the future
The footballer was restless, as if he never quite found what he was searching for.
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English cricket’s greatest record
One wet summer over a century ago, Gilbert Jessop gave the country something to be cheerful about.
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The politics of murder
The history of assassinations, as Simon Ball points out in his book Death to Order, is one of myth-making, bungled…
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150 years of the bizarre Hans Christian Andersen
His oddball stories were driven by his outsider status and strange appearance.
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Are emojis killing language?
Keith Houston’s history of the little emoticons charts how quickly technology has changed how we think and communicate.
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The Salt Path and the sins of memoir
We are all unreliable narrators of our own lives.
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