Bringing the dead back to life
The world of South Africa’s /Xam Bushmen blended vision and reality, human and animal – until it was brutally destroyed.
ByHistory books
Discover all the New Statesman’s latest articles and reviews of history books. Here you can find expert opinion on the best reads for 2022.
How the empire degraded Britain
Three new histories reveal the corrosive effects of colonialism and slavery on today’s British politics.
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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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A history of nuclear catastrophe
Seen by many as a route to net zero, nuclear power is haunted by its past disasters.
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What Antony Beevor gets wrong about Russia
The historian’s new book Russia: Revolution and Civil War 1917-1921 fails to understand that brutality is powered by ideas.
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How nostalgia fuels the culture wars
In her new book Rule, Nostalgia, Hannah Rose Woods explores how illusory and contested golden ages have haunted Britain since…
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Rebels Against the Raj: A morality tale for Modi’s nationalist India
A new history of the Westerners who fought with Gandhi to free India from British rule has lessons for the…
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Gilbert Murray: the Oxford don who made Greek chic
Daisy Dunn’s charismatic interwar history of Oxford illuminates the wide influence of the celebrated classicist and his circle.
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The strange allure of the strongman leader
Authoritarians and autocrats continue to flourish despite a long parade of inadequacy. Can liberal democracy strike back?
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Trouble in the House of Windsor
New works by the journalists Tina Brown and Robert Hardman question whether the monarchy can survive without radical reform.
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What the Nazis did next
Danny Orbach’s intriguing book Fugitives details how former Third Reich officers sold their services to the West – and turned…
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Morality after the Bomb
How Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley and Iris Murdoch transformed philosophy for a postwar world.
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What to read in 2022: non-fiction
From politics and science to history and pop, the essential books for the year ahead.
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The New Statesman’s best books of 2021
The year’s essential reading in 20 titles.
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How fear makes us human
The late David Graeber’s history of early human societies presents civilisation as a descent from anarchy into servility. But was…
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Misunderstanding Margaret Thatcher
How Margaret Thatcher consolidated her power – not thanks to the Falklands War, but because of an opposition that underestimated…
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History according to EH Carr
The historian was prescient in warning that the value of facts depends on who wields them.
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The madness of King Henry VI
The mental illness of monarchs has been a fruitful subject for historians, but in Henry VI’s case his illness led…
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Were men really accused of witchcraft?
For many, it is the Salem witch trials that immediately spring to mind when thinking about the topic. But there…
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The story of Adam and Eve: exploring the myth of the original sinners
Stephen Greenblatt’s book is a pellucid and absorbing account of the Biblical tale’s great significance.
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