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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Discover the latest non-fiction books and must-reads with the New Statesman’s expert reviews. Including biographies, music books, political writing and more.
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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Samuel Pepys’s diary of a somebody
Kate Loveman’s history of a national treasure preserves Pepys’s charm while revealing a discomfiting historical world.
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Xi Jinping’s daddy issues
The Chinese president’s concept of power was forged by the suffering of his revolutionary father, Xi Zhongxun.
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Six journeys that changed the world
The 20th century, for better and for worse, was the communist century.
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How to read Morgan McSweeney
Why is the Starmer’s chief adviser turning to Alexander Karp, a Silicon Valley billionaire, for inspiration?
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