Recovering the lost history of Gaza
Decades of conflict and displacement have obliterated the history of one of the world’s oldest human settlements
ByBook reviews
Read all the latest book reviews from the New Statesman and discover the best novels, non-fiction, essays and biographies. If you’re looking for something more specific, explore our sections dedicated to politics books and history books.
Books of the year 2025
New Statesman writers and guests – including Jonathan Franzen, Jacqueline Rose, Marina Warner and Slavoj Žižek – choose their favourite…
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England’s literary Catholic converts
Oscar Wilde, Evelyn Waugh and Graham Greene thought it was the “real” faith even when they disliked it
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Alasdair MacIntyre’s absent centre
August 1971: Terry Eagleton reviews Alasdair MacIntyre
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Inside the mind of Luigi Mangione
A biography of the man on trial for anti-corporate murder seeks to disrupt the hero narrative that has grown around…
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In the autumn of Salman Rushdie
The author’s late style in The Eleventh Hour, his new collection of fiction, reveals a venerable writer displaced by time
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Jeanette Winterson’s thousand and one yawns
The author’s latest novel blandly reimagines the Arabian Nights tales
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Iris Murdoch’s poems were better left in the attic
A cache of newly unearthed works is not the “thrilling literary discovery” their publisher claims
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John Updike’s intimate voice
The novelist’s collected correspondence reveals a narrative of striving, sex and success
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Islam is part of European history
Historians’ dismissal of the continent’s Muslim legacy is helping to feed contemporary divisions
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Big tech’s futile attempt to kill death
Silicon Valley is pursuing immortality with religious zeal – but what’s the point?
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Rewilding Rory Stewart
Deeply rooted in the landscape of the Borders, The Rest Is Politics co-host is a rural romantic at heart
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Ringo Starr, the god with feet of clay
A new book about the drummer reveals a Beatle who felt like he never quite fit
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Who killed Pasolini?
Olivia Laing’s new tale of gay love imagines the murder of the Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini
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Britain’s Fawlty state of mind
Fifty years after it was first aired, Fawlty Towers now looks ahead of its time
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Klaus Kinski, wrath of god
Benjamin Myers’ new novel follows the actor trailing both chaos and charisma in one infamous theatre production about Christ
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Jon Fosse’s war on convention
In his first novel since winning the Nobel Prize, the Norwegian author heads a radical counter-movement in publishing that spurns…
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Wolf Moon and the fight against Franco
Julio Llamazares’ 1985 novel – newly translated in English – is a refusal to forget the brutality of the Spanish…
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The prophecies of Paul Kingsnorth
In his new book, Against the Machine, the former ecologist blames technology for the coming climate apocalypse
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Surviving 491 days in Hamas captivity
Eli Sharabi’s agonising memoir explores how the world nearly forgot the Gaza hostages
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