Books

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Katrina Schlunke finds exotic tales of Pacific island encounters to be most revealing

An attempt to solve the mystery of a lost Aztec treasure doesn't crack it, says Alan Sandstrom

We'll swim together or sink separately, finds Charles R. Middleton

The claim that there is life on Mars - and beyond - is sadly not yet proven, writes Ian Crawford

Cary Nelson's latest book considers the dark forces ranged against free speech in the academy. Only collective action can save higher education, the activist and AAUP president tells Zoë Corbyn

All this magnificent study of Pax Britannica lacks is the scent of sweat and blood, writes Joanna Lewis

As insecurity increasingly defines work, Rosalind Gill glimpses the emerging global 'precariat'

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Arrogance and avarice caused the crash, and they're still going strong, learns Michelle Baddeley

An evolutionary anthropologist's theory needs further developing, says Steven Rose

The obsession with the private lives of the famous is not a new phenomenon, writes Sharon Ruston

Ursula Martin discovers much about an IT pioneer's work, but too little about her personality

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

A fresh look at an old controversy is revealing, finds Martin Cohen

Barbara Graziosi enjoys the clarity of a summary of the Iliad but finds some comparisons narrow

Kevin Fong reaches an uncomfortable realisation that science communicators need to improve

A cool critique of Web 2.0 needs a pedagogic angle, writes Tara Brabazon

Delightful images of America's difficult birth are let down by textual inaccuracies, writes Michael Heale