Six journeys that changed the world
The 20th century, for better and for worse, was the communist century.
ByNon-fiction
Discover the latest non-fiction books and must-reads with the New Statesman’s expert reviews. Including biographies, music books, political writing and more.
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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Ignore the pessimists – we are living through a literary golden age
Literature is booming. Literary culture needs to catch up.
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How terror came home on 7/7
In Three Weeks in July, Adam Wishart and James Nally show how the Islamist bomb attacks of July 2005 changed…
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The endless variety of England’s folk traditions
Lally MacBeth’s attempt to chronicle of-the-people culture in detail is a treasure trove of both British folk memory and new…
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The earworms of Erik Satie
The dapper composer who invented background music was driven by a profound if offbeat religiosity.
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Jacinda Ardern’s unexamined life
In her memoir, the former prime minister seems more concerned with the symbols of politics than the actual politics the prompted…
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Giorgia Meloni’s selective memory
The Italian prime minister’s autobiography revises her and her country’s history. But Meloni’s success is a template for right populist…
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How a Moscow archivist exposed the KGB, file by file
Gordon Corera’s account of the audacious counter-intelligence operative Vasili Mitrokhin is non-fiction that reads like a spy thriller.
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How to do it like a movie star
The lessons an intimacy coordinator is teaching the film industry about real sex apply off screen and on.
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Princess Diana’s kinder Britain
A new biography plays down the royal’s cultural impact – but she softened the hard edges of the Thatcher era.
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The ghost of Muriel Spark
In her work and life the writer was obsessed with biography – but when she authorised her own she loathed…
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English literature’s last stand
Stefan Collini’s new book explores why such a prestigious academic discipline finds itself on the margins of modern society.
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How Russia became a franchise of the Wagner Group
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s coup was the beginning, not the end of a new age of mercenary conflict.
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The People’s Republic of iPhone
How Apple unwittingly assisted China’s global technological dominance.
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Have we reached peak humanity?
Johan Norberg’s history of civilisation is an impressive conceptual achievement – but it has little to say about our own…
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Neo-Nazi safari
How close can any journalist get to the English far right?
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From Helen Oyeyemi to bell hooks: new books reviewed in short
Also featuring Irascible by Adrian Clark and Richard Calvocoressi and To Have or to Hold by Sophie Pavelle.
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The vagus nerve industry
Can a small and unassuming bundle of fibres really be the key to better health and a longer life?
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America’s broken commonwealth
The nation’s founding myth was based on faith and solidarity – but it also contained the roots of today’s democratic…
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