US Edition
Russia’s lust for empire is pathological – historians should make that clear
In Hubris, Jonathan Haslam argues that Nato’s expansion has caused Russian aggression – but this view of history is much too narrow
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Wake up! You’re being tricked by propaganda
Scott Anthony’s fascinating new book, The Story of British Propaganda Film, challenges conventional assumptions about government ‘marketing’
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These nostalgic children’s tales are rare gems – just ask Charlie Mackesy
Vicky Cowie’s wonderfully old-fashioned Tales from Muggleswick Wood, gorgeously illustrated by Mackesy, will appeal to any grandchild
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The mysterious Argentinian novella that ‘dazzled’ Borges
In Ángel Bonomini’s bizarre and brilliant The Novices of Lerna, a man is invited to a university – where he finds 23 men identical to him
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The best poetry books of 2024 so far
Our Poetry Book of the Month reviews include a playful collection by Fabio Morábito and a remarkable posthumous debut from Gboyega Odubanjo
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How the fearless John Milton foresaw our age of chilling censorship
At a time when police knock on journalists’ doors, the radical poet remains relevant 350 years on
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How not to save a dying cinema
Esther Kinsky’s account of reopening an abandoned cinema, Seeing Further, is beautifully written – but is foiled by its own romantic hubris
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Has ‘wokeness’ killed the English literature degree?
With universities starting to axe the course, the subject that helped shape Britain’s national identity is falling into crisis
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Why Alex James is a Britpop Jeremy Clarkson
The Blur bassist’s memoir of the band’s reunion, Over the Rainbow, is louche and amusing – even with all the mentions of his wine brand
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Is English a racist language? Not really
Whose Language is English?, by academic Jieun Kiaer, is a promising linguistic project – but the thesis is incoherent and often unconvincing
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Lisa Jewell: ‘My controlling ex-husband didn’t let me have my own phone or door key’
The prolific author opens up about escaping a coercive relationship, her outsized TikTok following and her unlikely partnership with Marvel
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A beautiful homage to the poetry of the Shipping Forecast
As the Shipping Forecast turns 100, Meg Clothier’s book of the same name vividly brings to life its history and quasi-mysticism
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A very loving letter to Odesa – once poet’s haven, now Russian target
In Undefeatable, Julian Evans recounts his 30-year relationship with the Ukrainian city – and a local woman – in beautifully evocative style
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This rediscovered children’s story is a lyrical delight
Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz’s fairy tale went forgotten for years. Now journalist Jonathan Freedland has written an enchanting adaptation
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Why Cormac McCarthy’s illicit affair changes everything we knew about his fiction
The news that McCarthy groomed a teenage girl has shocked the literary world – and revealed the enormous impact she had on his work
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One Day author David Nicholls: ‘I’m not a conventional romantic’
The writer, whose latest novel has won Amazon Book of Year, on loneliness, love, ageing – and why long walks are a ‘kind of therapy’
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Was Tsar Nicholas II to blame for his family’s gory end?
The Last Tsar, by Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, is a mesmerising and damning account of the Russian ruler’s failures at home and on the battlefield
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Barbara Taylor Bradford’s 10 rules for life
From matrimony to sexism, the late novelist had sage advice for each of life’s obstacles
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Angela Merkel is anxious about her legacy – and her memoir shows it
The former chancellor’s autobiography, Freedom, is unlikely to lend her a Churchillian place in modern German history
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Even at 86, Barbara Taylor Bradford taught me a lot about sex
Her husband was her Prince Charming, she adored Margaret Thatcher – and she truly was the inimitable queen of the blockbuster
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Should we thank Islam for the most beautiful buildings in Christendom?
Islamesque, by Diane Darke, makes a fascinating case for Muslim influence on Romanesque architecture – but with far too little evidence
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Britain has become a land of horrible tower blocks and ring roads – these ‘visionaries’ are to blame
Our blitzed cities gave rise to deluded town planners – and we are still suffering the consequences
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The American who dated Nazis and spied for the Soviets
Brendan McNally’s biography of Martha Dodd, Traitor’s Odyssey, has a fascinating subject. Why, then, does he refuse to take her seriously?
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Is this the most harrowing writer of the 20th century?
A newly published collection of Djuna Barnes’s short fiction, I Am Alien to Life, stars rotting corpses, grieving loners and men with whips
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A guide to all the monsters you might glimpse this Christmas
Sarah Clegg’s The Dead of Winter is a fascinating – if overambitious – history of winter festivities, from the Krampus to the Carnevale
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The best books for wine lovers
With Christmas fast approaching, here are the perfect stocking fillers for wine lovers
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Baillie Gifford winner Richard Flanagan: ‘We shouldn’t divide the world into aggressors and victims’
The author on how HG Wells inspired the bombing of Hiroshima, rejecting the prize money – and why books shouldn’t push ‘ideology’
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Want to live forever? Be sure to preserve your brain
In The Future Loves You, Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston boldly argues that we’ll one day be able to ‘abolish death’ – that is, if anyone wants to
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A story of Berlin, obsession and some unfortunate daddy issues
Curtis Garner’s bold and unflinching debut novel, Isaac, follows a young writer’s struggles as he falls into a toxic relationship
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All the ways Vanity Fair messed up the literary scoop of the year
Vanity Fair has revealed that Cormac McCarthy ran away with a 16-year-old girl. But this fascinating scoop is ruined by questionable writing
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Why Russia’s oppression of Ukraine stretches back centuries
Eugene Finkel wrote Intent to Destroy to ‘fight back’ against a Russian spy – the result is a fascinating history of a toxic relationship
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Nadine Dorries’s bizarre tale of the Conservative party demise is painful, odd – and a bore
Downfall, the ex-MP’s sequel to The Plot, reads less like a true-crime thriller and more like a monologue overheard on a night bus
