Books

A petite primer with grand ambitions excels in its secondary themes, says Michelle Baddeley

Tim Hall on a travelogue, covering 12 locations, with an abundance of ecological and cultural insights

Vladimir Tismaneanu lauds a posthumous and provocative work that reflects on the past but also on the current European predicament

The history of vaccinations in the US has as much to do with politics as medicine, says Helen Bynum

Howard P. Segal on an examination of the accelerating pace of life whose scope extends beyond fast food and computers

Now that digitisation has revolutionised the media, what are we watching - and how? By Sharon Wheeler

A compelling argument for strong-arm tactics against those who perpetrate abuse on the net. By Helen Fenwick

The veteran right-wing academic sets out his belief system. By A. W. Purdue

One-way secrets in a gripping exchange between a Kenyan and an Africanist trouble Joanna Lewis

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Do tales of derring-do contain tips for surviving in the cubicle jungles? David Green finds out

Tiffany Taylor on an investigation of the strategies for innovation involved in evolution

The Anglo-Jewish MP makes for a fascinating biographical subject, writes James Stevens Curl

A study of the Soviet leader is a brilliant portrait of a man of contradictions, says Robert Gellately

Jeremy Black on a significant study of the far-reaching effects of one diplomatic summit

Kristin M. Bakke on moving beyond standard intervention practice and involving local knowledge to end conflict

Michelle Aldridge on a comprehensive presentation of the case that human verbal communication emerges from use

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Jane Shaw on the folkloric, religious and medical matters surrounding a child miraculously forgoing food

This text plugs a gaping hole and shows that successful economies need women who are free to succeed, writes Victoria Bateman

Helen Keegan on a compelling account of the potential harms from intended and unintended self-disclosure

Despite a quibble over guides, a personal tour of classical literature delights Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

Most people receive from the welfare state what they pay in taxes, argues Danny Dorling

Robert Eaglestone on the literary reflections of one of France’s great post-war littérateurs

Philip Hoare admires a terrifying portrait of our impact on the sands that protect us from danger

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Mapping queer spaces is revealing, but ghettos are also places of the mind, says Sally R. Munt

Niamh Gallagher on an exploration of the pre-revolutionary world and how the dreams of young radicals turned to nightmares

Laurence Coupe praises a handbook for ecologically responsible living

Tallis enters a crowded arena when he asks what the arts mean nowadays, says Fred Inglis

Irene Glendinning evaluates a rare study of the effectiveness of STEM widening-participation schemes

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Tara Brabazon on a short but valuable study confronting digital dilemmas

Alison Stokes on a compelling exploration of our understanding of the planet’s past

A mashup of physics and culture illuminates the science of the very small, says Robert Lambourne

Emma Rees on a survey of present-day attitudes to homosexuality which gauges current levels of homophobia

Spyros Sofos on a detailed examination of Greece’s political and economic crisis

Christopher Belshaw on a work that ponders nihilism, procrastination and non-existence

Those who masqueraded as white scarred more than just themselves, finds Catherine Clinton

E. Stina Lyon admires a hybrid of personal memoir and post-war English social history

K. E. Gover assesses the case for the continuing relevance of Platonic thinking to modern life

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones on a merging of the sexy myth of superwomen and history of nomadic fighters

Rachel Hoffman on a reconceptualisation of conspiracy theory and its role in the modern world

Steve Redhead on a discussion of play as a means of interacting with the world around us

Maths problems are given an unusual twist when the living dead invade, says Noel-Ann Bradshaw

Dale Cooper on the methods of philanthropy in universities and how the UK has learned from the US tradition

Shahidha Bari on a notorious meeting of three of the great Romantics and the almost-forgotten figure who brought them together

Now in his ninth decade, sociologist Howard Becker has produced a classic, writes Les Gofton

Farzana Shaikh on a retread of a historian’s former work on Pakistan

Are our ever more monitored lives becoming safer as a result? John Gilbey sifts the evidence

Roger Morgan on the German city that enjoyed a golden age of culture that it never managed to reclaim

Rachel Bowlby on a modern style guide that aims to teach good writing in a non-prescriptivist way

Richard Williams on Hugh Hefner’s attention to the enhancement of pleasure through erotic design

Jonathan Mirsky on the attempts to impose thought reform on prisoners in pre-Communist China

Angela Smith on stories of the lives of 11 creatives interwoven to give an overview of the Great War from a range of perspectives

First-person accounts add complexity to popular notions of East Germany, writes Ulrike Zitzlsperger

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Is globalisation the next paradigm for a ‘discipline in crisis’? Richard Bosworth reviews the evidence

Tracey Warr on a study discussing the role of value judgements