Boris Johnson is writing a memoir. Will we be able to trust it?
The problem with prime ministers’ autobiographies. Plus: self-indulgent podcasts, perfect pianos and the genius of Vermeer.
ByPolitics books
Find the New Statesman’s latest politics book reviews and our curated lists featuring the best writing on politics.
The business-lounge intellectual
With his new book, the FT’s Martin Wolf wants to rescue capitalism. But is it worth saving?
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Books of the year 2022
New Statesman writers and guests choose their favourite reading of the year.
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The instant political histories that nobody needs
Hasty biographies of Liz Truss and Boris Johnson by Westminster journalists show the perils of rushing to judge the recent…
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What politicians get wrong about war
From Kosovo to Ukraine, Lawrence Freedman’s book Command explores the catastrophes that occur when state and military strategy collide.
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How political failures led to the Grenfell Tower fire
Peter Apps’s book, Show Me the Bodies, forensically uncovers the truth about the disaster that killed 72 people in 2017.
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Mary Lou McDonald: behind the respectable face of Sinn Féin
A new biography charts the rapid political rise – and moral compromises – of Sinn Féin’s leader.
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Nouriel Roubini: a new Great Depression is coming
The economist who predicted the 2008 crash warns that a combination of uncontrolled inflation and ballooning debt will push the…
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How Donald Trump rose to power
Maggie Haberman’s Confidence Man is the best account yet of Trump’s path to the presidency – and a crucial guide…
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How oil become the world’s most contested resource
Keith Fisher’s A Pipeline Runs Through It charts how oil revolutionised transport and war, and continues to shape today’s geopolitics.
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Booker winner Shehan Karunatilaka: “You don’t know who you’re going to offend”
The Sri Lankan novelist on growing up amid civil war, turning trauma into satire, and winning the 2022 prize.
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How the housing crisis shaped modern Britain
The country is blighted by landlordism, homelessness and Thatcher’s legacy.
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We can’t consign Boris Johnson to history yet
Andrew Gimson’s biography of the former prime minister describes a man who can pull off a miracle. With the Tories…
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What Harold Wilson can teach Keir Starmer
A new biography shows how one of Labour’s most successful leaders kept the party united at all costs.
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The long shadow of Chairman Mao
How China’s uneven ascent has been driven by debt and the Communist Party’s obsessive pursuit of social stability.
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The lessons of Corbynism
In their new books, Andrew Murray and James Schneider ask what the left can learn from its time in control…
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What is to be done about money?
A new economic history examines how and why money has always been inextricably linked to politics and power.
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British diplomacy in the dock
A former diplomat’s new book reveals that, for 25 years, UK foreign policy has left mainly harm and disorder in…
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The 15 best books for summer
The New Statesman’s selection of essential recent releases.
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The limits of black and white thinking
Ibram X Kendi’s new book, How to Raise an Antiracist, is overly simplistic and dogmatic.
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