Humanities

Fred Inglis finds much to savour in a shrewd and affectionate study of a cherished satirical sitcom

Gary Day extols a fascinating study of Modern Library books

Shakespeare’s use of legal rhetoric is the force behind much of his drama, says Willy Maley

Richard Bosworth on the revolutionaries, Romantics, tourists and Fascists that have shaped the Italian city

Katharine Reeve on the fundamental impact of paper on human life, work and culture

A cross-class relationship burns bright in a study of an experiment in ethical living, says Nadia Valman

Sharon Wheeler applauds a rigorous and passionate appraisal of Conan Doyle’s literary contemporaries

Are we primarily biological entities, or embodied consciousnesses? Christopher Belshaw on a fine book examining the arguments

John Shand on a message that is undermined exaggeration

Paul Bernal finds much to admire in this compelling examination of the diverse events the group has been involved in

A tale of the priest, the boy, his aunt and her arrest in 1762 is first-rate micro-history, says Alec Ryrie

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones on a study of the muscle and myth movies of the 1950s and 1960s

David Salter is moved by reflections on changing attitudes to mortality across cultures and time

Philip Hoare on an alternative look at Britain - from hidden canal systems to ancient energy circuits

Paul Bernal admires an analysis of the sanctified ‘neutrality’ of the encyclopedia we all love to hate

Roger Morgan lauds a biography charting Labour statesman’s rise from a colliery to the Cabinet

Film-makers are challenging mainstream media depictions of state terror, finds Linnie Blake

Clare Griffiths on the things that were remembered and the things that were forgotten about the crisis

Ana Carolina Hosne on a 17th-century figure who had ‘imperial ambitions’ for the Society of Jesus

Racial structure is cemented by theories on the fixed nature of the ‘other’, finds Yolanda T. Moses

Shahidha Bari on a collection of essays concentrating on four American writers

Untangling our emotional commitment to books is a complicated affair, says Deborah Rogers

Hester Vaizey on the political and religious divisions across a lesser known part of the Iron Curtain

Clare Griffiths on a fresh perspective of social and public history through the author’s personal investigation of her own genealogy

A potent study revisits familiar territory and gives new insights into tales for children, finds Shahidha Bari

Jane O’Grady on a debate between two philosophers, who offer elegant ‘solutions’

Alex Danchev considers a history of a small but influential group of cultural ‘hijackers’

An examination of our bathroom habits is a little…constipated, finds Peter J. Smith

Fred Inglis salutes a big-hearted exploration of society’s obsession with youthfulness

Giulia Miller writes on the weird backstory to a female superhero, from women’s suffrage to lie detectors

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

Philip Clarke asks whether ecological issues can be solved by studying aboriginal knowledge

Clare Brant on a form of writing that offers a unique insight into the private lives of women

Martin Cohen on a brief but powerful look at the history of avarice in society and what can be done to temper its more extreme elements

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tracey Warr on a study discussing the role of value judgements

Tom Palaima considers a compact history of the ideas about our inner voice

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