Books

Book of the week: Richard Joyner on a proselytiser for science who emphasised the ethical issues of advancement

Beware the beginning is one lesson to take from a vital and timely study, says Robert Eaglestone

This study shines a valuable spotlight on what UK and US media and politicians have began to call ‘the left behind’, says Lisa Mckenzie

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

We flock to pop-ups and the beach in Paris but anxiety is never far behind, says Richard Williams

US and UK campuses are putting their corporate interests before the public good, says Paul Bernal

Big questions remain unanswered about an important female Modernist theatre-maker all but written out of history, says Liz Schafer

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Book of the Week: Emma Rees praises an effort to show how to turn personal traumas into political resistance

What were Heisenberg’s intentions for his work on a nuclear bomb for Hitler, asks Graham Farmelo

The professor in Greek history and author of Democracy’s Slaves discusses theatre’s power, ancient political systems and tackling Gravity’s Rainbow

Laura Frost wonders if an ambitious author’s tales of erotic adventure were sexed up by others

Olivette Otele on a timely reappraisal of the decision by some French territories to remain in the republic

A study of racism, where texture ends and taste begins, an oral history of Cuba, higher education’s place, and journalism today

Polyamory could shed light on whether love is mainly biological or social, says Jane O’Grady

Neil Gregor on the various types of orchestral life under the Nazis

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Images of two beasts carried ideas about science and communication, says Simon Underdown

Sarah Wise on how the insanity plea developed in English law and why ‘homicidal mania’ became acceptable to experts

A study explores how individual instances shape universal truths across subjects, says Janet Sayers

Tara Brabazon on a study examining the concept and forms of liveness in media studies

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Shahidha Bari on a rich account of all the voices that shaped and reshaped the Arabian Nights

A survey of the labour landscape under the Chinese Communist Party would be stronger with more voices of working people, says Jonathan Mirsky

The behavioural scientist on the call of the wild, Jane Goodall, research in remote places, and her waiting-to-be-read pile

Book of the week: The perennial female fantasy of man embodies a host of contradictory types, says Laura Frost

Look at the data. The truth is out there, but all must face what they find, says Shane O’Mara

A subterranaut burrows beneath ice and sand in search of hidden depths, writes Lewis Dartnell

Guide for a scientific career, suitable for ages 8 and up; the cultural temperature of ‘climate’; on why gender inequality is still with us; and the Russian Revolution from below

A study of the North African country lays bare a ruler at war with his own people, says Joanna Lewis

Ulrike Zitzlsperger on how international media coverage of the end of a physical divide shaped the narrative and the meaning of the event

Far from passive responders to capitalism, women were involved from the start, Victoria Bateman says

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Only diligence and vigilance can keep us ahead of microorganisms that make us ill, Helen Bynum says

Friends can help undergraduates blossom, but there’s not enough mixing of students from different backgrounds, says Lorenza Antonucci

The author and philosopher on his journey from Western thought to early Arabic scholarship as well as novels that detail daily life in today’s Muslim world

Tracey Warr on a pair of masters who, with ethereality and earthiness, respectively, puts the captivatingly quotidian on canvas 

Kate Macdonald on a study of how garments changed their wearers in early 20th-century Britain

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Book of the week: Tara Shears enjoys a gossipy tale of the booms and busts involved in collaborative frontier science

Helen Bynum on a multilayered tale of an illness’ history that takes in art, science and more

Book of the week: our distrust of female testimony in all its forms is proof feminism still has far to go, says Laura Frost

Sir David Bell fails to recognise the portrait of v-cs in a critique of neoliberalism in the US academy

Timely lessons from the AV club; what’s on Dante’s mind; Europe’s research powerhouse; and stripteases and naked protests

Cait MacPhee on a gallop through the history of the universe, the planets, life on Earth and more

After years of suppressing the renminbi, China strives for a global currency, says Anna Watson

Hear all about it: René Wolf listens in for chapter and verse on the history and art of the audiobook

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Anti-Semitism was a key pillar of the carefully built cult of Marian worship, says Rachel Moss

A study of adolescents’ spaces unlocks mysteries and nostalgia. Enter if you dare, says Emma Rees

The Paul Sears distinguished professor at Oberlin College on the hottest climate change literature, gifting nature books and post-US election reading

From the first fires to other forms of prohibition, a first-rate study charts a complex history, says Robert Gellately

Spanning 200,000 years of human trading, this study considers the influence of technology and the fallout of global interconnectedness, says Juliet Webster

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

A study probes a silent global epidemic: addiction to prescription medication, says David Healy

Book of the Week: lack of effective antitrust oversight leaves us at the mercy of digital platforms, says Julia Powles

Scholars and senior sector figures reveal their favourite titles – read for work, for pleasure or both – published this year

The Left are busy looking back instead of devising laws to address inequalities, says Danny Dorling

Britain got sober patriotism, purpose and more from its post-war leader, says Gordon Marsden

An expert’s personal guide helps Helen Bynum to get better acquainted with the fascinating ubiquitous microorganisms that live on and in us