Books

Catherine Rottenberg enjoys an analysis of a new generation of characters who are transforming the narrative possibilities for women on screen

The philosopher and author of The Fourfold Remedy: Epicurus and the Art of Happiness on Asterix, architecture, Aristippus and discovering the power of ideas

Stefano Bloch applauds a brilliant account of what street art can reveal about people, places and politics

Carrie Tirado Bramen enjoys a wide-ranging analysis of an important concept that has recently been neglected by scholars

Michael Marinetto enjoys a bold attempt to challenge one of the great pieties of our time

A look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Nathan Abrams is impressed by a comprehensive attempt to survey the ways Nazi atrocities have been represented on screen

June Purvis enjoys a group biography that offers new insights into the role of British working-class women in the struggle for the vote 

Neve Gordon has reservations about an ambitious analysis ranging across continents and centuries

The author of The Richer, The Poorer on how Orwell, Steinbeck and Galbraith sparked an interest in poverty and inequality, taking a long view and fighting back

Robert Eaglestone reflects on the limits of hagiography

Robert A. Segal is unconvinced by an argument about the depth of religious racism

Chris Knight wishes that the authors of this hugely ambitious study had gone back further and taken greater account of Africa

A look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Emma Rees is impressed by a disturbing study of how universities largely fail to address their employees’ grievances

Peter J. Smith gets drowned in the detail of an ambitious study of the playwright’s milieu

Peter Osborne is intrigued by an account of the political and philosophical ideas that shaped the West German left

The author of Treasured: How Tutankhamun Shaped a Century on finding girls and women in history, archaeology’s ‘heroic’ age and the cultural impact of ‘Egyptomania’

Geoffrey Cantor has mixed feelings about a bold attempt to put a 14th-century friar at the heart of our understanding of science

Lucy Bolton is intrigued by an analysis of changing racial attitudes based on the career of a great Hollywood icon

Linsey McGoey applauds a bold account of the ‘dark money’ fuelling the culture wars on campus

A look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Ruby Guyatt enjoys a wide-ranging account of how developments in religion have often been shaped by changes in the climate

Martin Cohen takes issue with a polemic that seems to skate over some of the deeper dimensions of logic and scientific method

Serena Masino is intrigued by a wide-ranging exploration of how political and economic factors play a crucial role in many diseases 

The cultural historian and author of The Art of Self-Improvement on positive transformations, the Stoic approach to life, and what self-help books can reveal about individuals and society

John Gilbey is intrigued and disturbed by an occasionally irreverent account of how environmental disaster haunts popular culture 

Susan McHugh enjoys a detailed analysis of how our relations with dogs reveal some essential truths about what it means to be human

Cait MacPhee praises a rather-too-rapid tour of the frontiers of physical knowledge

A look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

John Barry enjoys a bold attempt to rethink our political priorities in the light of the ecological crisis

Peter J. Smith enjoys a powerful analysis of how the work of the Bard cuts through simplistic notions of national identity

Despite its insights into democracy, this loosely linked collection of previously published essays and reviews leaves Lennard Davis unimpressed 

The professor of psychiatry and author of Of Fear and Strangers discusses learning about America from Twain, the ‘history of xenophobia’ and how to address it

Ann Hughes enjoys a richly detailed account of how Henry VIII imposed his power over the church

Richard J. Williams applauds an unusually optimistic case for environmentalism

Lincoln Allison enjoys an overview of the great political thinkers very different from the kind he grew up with

A look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Johann N. Neem enjoys a sharp historical analysis of why the humanities always seem to be overpromising on what they can do

Georgina Murray applauds a bold attempt to put gender at the heart of a wider political critique

Shane O’Mara is both fascinated and disappointed by a bold attempt to provide an ‘overarching framework’ for how the brain works

The Iranian-American academic, who explores the experience of life split between two cultures in Hyphen, on the politics of punctuation

R. C. Richardson enjoys a vivid account of how the French Revolution helped shape new ways of understanding the past

Angelia R. Wilson applauds an analysis seeking to bring far more diverse voices into the study of politics

Not before time, the female partners whose intellectual contributions enhanced their husbands’ work get long-overdue credit, writes Emma Rees

A look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Deborah D. Rogers is unconvinced by an ambitious attempt to apply the insights of neuroscience to centuries of literature

Geoffrey Alderman admires a definitive account of a wartime massacre that remains controversial today

Michael Marinetto applauds an attempt to consider the challenges of our technological future without lapsing into moral panic

The historian and author of Pulp Empire: The Secret History of Comic Book Imperialism on cool kids, a comic book shop as edgy as its contents, and international culture wars

Lincoln Allison is not wholly convinced by an analysis of the forces that shape history

Charlotte Jones enjoys a historical account of radical politics that may have important lessons for today

The summer is traditionally when academics turn to the big, serious books they don’t otherwise have time for or grab the chance for a bit of escapism. The pandemic has raised some major new issues they might want to grapple with but also increased the need to switch off. Here our contributors offer their personal thoughts on what they are going to read for enlightenment and for fun

Jeremy MacClancy is broadly convinced by the argument that his discipline is finally coming in to its own

A look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers 

Stephen Mumford enjoys a brilliant analysis of what has gone wrong with the world’s most popular sport, which is less convincing on solutions

David Owen on a compelling case for interdisciplinary analysis of refugee economies

Catherine Rottenberg considers a bold critique of all the pressures and half-baked scientific advice that constrain the lives of mothers

A look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Lisa Hopkins enjoys a vivid picture of the part of London where Shakespeare once resided