A life without peace
A new collection of autobiographical prose reveals the turbulent inner life of the celebrated poet Robert Lowell.
ByBiographies
Read all the latest reviews from New Statesman writers of biographies and memoirs.
Nora Ephron and the art of self-narrative
The writer and film-maker poured her life into her journalism and romcoms. What can a new biography tell us that…
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The lying life of Emmanuel Carrère
In his new book, Yoga, the French literary star is fixated on truth – so why does he play fast…
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The book Pete Doherty didn’t write
This “memoir” is essentially a transcript of hours of rambling interviews. Even the Libertines frontman himself thinks it’s “completely shocking”.
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The banality of Vladimir Putin
A new biography of the Russian president details the extraordinary rise of an unremarkable man who learned how to exercise…
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How TS Eliot found happiness
Withdrawn and prejudiced, the poet is hard to warm to – but Robert Crawford’s new biography shows how Eliot’s second…
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Geoff Dyer and the art of slacking off
The author’s workshy alter-egos made his books a delight. Now in sober late middle age, has the ultimate skiver lost…
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Henry Kissinger’s whitewashing of Richard Nixon
The American diplomat’s new book, Leadership, is undermined by his self-serving portrait of his thuggish former boss.
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Reflections of the elusive Jean Rhys
The novelist wrote four dark, slyly autobiographical novels – then vanished for 25 years. A new biography hopes to separate…
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From bullied to billionaire – the inevitable triumph of Elon Musk
In a new biography, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO is portrayed as a troubled visionary who views success as a…
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Zero: Jeremy Hunt’s book on the NHS is well intentioned – but misses 90 per cent of the story
Candid on short-staffing and underfunding, ministerial memoir Zero omits the healthcare that happens in the community.
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The joyless rise of Anna Wintour
Amy Odell’s new account of the iron-fisted Vogue editor’s ascent struggles to find the human being behind the shades.
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The rise and fall of the literary bloke
John Walsh’s excitable account of carousing with Martin Amis and other “big beasts” of the Eighties is a paean to…
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It’s his life: the secluded world of Talk Talk frontman Mark Hollis
Uneasy with his fame and fiercely private, the post-rock pioneer left behind a musical legacy of extraordinary beauty.
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From the NS archive: What remains of Aneurin Bevan
26 October 1962: Prompted by Michael Foot's biography of Aneurin Bevan, John Freeman gathers his thoughts about the father of…
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Elton John’s Me: a bracingly open and spectacularly funny autobiography
Dignity is thrillingly cast aside in this riotously entertaining book full of premium celebrity tittle-tattle.
ByTelling truths
Iris Origo: Marchesa of Val d'Orcia Caroline Moorehead John Murray, 361pp, £22 ISBN 071
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