Humanities

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

Robyn Arianrhod on the complex and contradictory life of the greatest physicist of all time

Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman on an intricate history of the role of America on the global stage

Biancamaria Fontana on the tangled connections between historical events and mental illness

Andrew Blake appreciates a new view of the relationship between Empire and cultural hybridity

Roberta Locatelli on an audacious venture to elucidate representations of thoughts and desires

David Salter on a comprehensive analysis of the diverse work of a ‘poet of contradictions’

Virginia Trimble on a book that aims to explain the universe and its contents in terms of natural processes

A look at theatre in the Elizabethan court indulges in some fantasies of its own, says Willy Maley

Mary Evans on a study of the US feminist movement from the 19th century

Jane O’Grady on what it means to be mature in an infantilising culture

Richard Bosworth lauds a study of a complex and enduringly valuable work of scholarship

Lynne Segal on an Israeli scholar’s persuasive arguments against his country’s myths of identity

Peter J. Smith applauds a study of an innovative company of actors and their influence on Elizabethan theatre

Tracey Warr on an examination of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work – his inspirations and his relationship to artistic and ideological debates of the late 20th century

Roger Morgan on an exploration of the current state of our political institutions

Rachel Moss praises an elegant account that sets a charismatic Maid of Orleans in political context

A comprehensive but compact new history of the war is reviewed by R. C. Richardson

Vladimir Tismaneanu on a book that argues against the self-righteousness of neoliberalism

Willy Maley praises a beautifully written account of the poet’s disaffection with the masses

Sally R. Munt lauds an ethnographic study of men who are ‘out’ about their weight

Barbara Graziosi on a study of female labour and ancient Greek poetry

John Barber on a vivid analysis of the last months of the collapse of the USSR

Rachel Bowlby on a comprehensive history of literary theory and the various forms of criticism

Shahidha Bari savours a celebration of our relationship with food across genres and cultures

Geoffrey Galt Harpham on a timely reminder of the common root of modern human sciences

Jane O’Grady on a celebration of the importance of philosophy in the science of our everyday lives

Christina Hellmich on an examination of the enduring nature of the Taliban

Joy Hendry hopes for insights that look beyond stereotypes in this study of a nation in flux

Conor Gearty on why the United Nations is successful at developing and promoting human rights but fails in protecting them

Sharon Wheeler on an ambitious investigation of crime fiction and its relation to modern society

Murray Smith learns much from an examination of the existential questions in a classic cinematic adaptation

Ellen Carol DuBois extols a study of a scientific theory’s impact on the pursuit of empowerment

A lack of disciplinary expertise in digital cultures undermines this study, finds Tara Brabazon

A. W. Purdue on a British institution that changed lives but has been largely ignored by historians

Nigel Rodenhurst is dispirited by one-sided scholarship and an unwillingness to challenge a literary reputation

A. W. Purdue extols a powerful contribution to the debate over the decision for war

Leslie Gofton finds this fusion of memoir and essay blending academic learning, popular culture and politics fails to fully satisfy

A light-hearted approach to a harrowing subject is illuminating and packs a punch, finds Tom Palaima

An examination of viewing habits illuminates the lives of Arabic people who have made their home in Europe, finds Zahera Harb

A study of heliocentrism rightly acknowledges the work of Islamic astronomers, writes Peter Barker

Niamh Gallagher on the women who challenged the consensus of who could serve at the front

An analysis of anti-Semitic ideology illuminates a number of its contradictions, says Roger Morgan

Does formal teaching of jazz contradict the improvisation that is at its core? Trevor Herbert examines the evidence

Three different religious standpoints are not merely distinct but incompatible, says Robert A. Segal

Richard Wilk on a spicy mix of autobiography, food history and travel

A compelling effort to inspire ethical concern for endangered species is marred only by jargon-laden interludes, finds Wenfei Tong

Despite popular wisdom, time did not stop in the Most Serene Republic after all, says Kate Ferris

Jonathan Mirsky on how Mao unwittingly helped to stir up and then crushed a longing for democracy and equality among millions of young people

Peter J. Smith is left bewildered by an ambitious attempt to identify the units that make up Shakespeare’s plays

Alexander du Toit lauds a detailed account of a bizarre 20th-century political experiment

Kerstin Hoge on a manifesto correcting the view that the language we speak affects how we think

Barbara Graziosi ponders the different types who, over several centuries, criss-crossed the Mediterranean

Robert Eaglestone applauds a lively exploration of intertextuality in a work fit for a post-Wikipedia age

Simon Underdown on a meticulously researched analysis of two camps’ opposing arguments over Darwin’s work

Kristin Aune discovers the wide-ranging views and behaviour of ‘nones’ - the religiously unaffiliated