Humanities

Gary Day on a new biography that breathes some life into the war poet

Jon Turney on an editor whose work with popular science writers helped to re-establish the genre

Steve Redhead finds a lack of sophistication in this analysis of the online gaming community

William Poole on how a culture of literary commonplacing gradually gave way to one of scientific record-keeping

An autobiographical tale of country music fandom resonates with Susan Deacy

Elena Lombardi lauds a persuasive invitation to everyone yet to be beguiled by the Divine Comedy

Christina Scharff on an exploration of the pleasure, curiosity and guilt that accompany this pastime

Claire Chambers on how the national imaginings of the English changed during the Romantic period separating out notions of class and race

Ulrike Zitzlsperger on how the ‘vertical railway’ has changed our society and our buildings

New data enrich an account of the activists who refused to be counted in 1911, says June Purvis

Caroline Warman suggests that a complex period is oversimplified as the result of a forceful agenda

Advice from an astronomer would have benefited this exploration of connections between two subjects, says Virginia Trimble

Sigrid Sterckx on a Derrida-inspired analysis of calculation, incalculability and ending life

Laurence Coupe admires scholarly insights of a kind the REF could never hope to measure

Howard Segal on an analysis of six small-scale projects and their participants’ experiences

Barbara Graziosi on the ‘management consultant’ whose advice was sought for more than 1,000 years

Helen Smith takes a tour of a landmark year in literary and religious Jacobean culture

Jules Pretty salutes an account revealing an unnerving alteration in a place and its ecosystems

Perceptive questions abound in this Western-oriented discussion, says Ursula King

Julia Droeber praises an interrogation of the image of the Muslim man

Colourful travellers’ accounts move the start date for a rite of passage, discovers Claire Jowitt

Eva Shan Chou on a study of British knowledge - as opposed to fanciful assumptions - of China in the Romantic period

Richard Williams on architectural criticism and how its narrowness affects our built landscape

An exploration of mannequins as objects of lust makes fascinating reading for Laura Frost

The conflict takes a backseat to questions about the state of ideological and cultural thinking, says Angela K. Smith

Shahidha Bari delights in a lucid and graceful philosophical probing of self-consciousness

Tara Brabazon ponders an exploration of youth and new technology

Shattering stereotypes starts with sharing everyday experiences, suggests Annabel Tremlett

Peter J. Smith on the question of the Bard’s faith

Clive Bloom praises an admirable introduction to the magical and political connections of a controversial figure

Colin Higgins on a history of printed materials that have uses but no readers

David Revill tunes in to an ambivalence about capturing live musical performances

Peter Messent redefines the concept with close readings and illuminating insights

Mercedes Camino on a cultural analysis spanning seven decades

Discussion of underground and emergent queer cultures are interesting, but Caroline Osella wishes for more insight from a respected scholar

Eva Shan Chou lauds an original, erudite portrait of a writer whose courage matched her creativity

Gary Day on an exploration of new technologies’ effects on artists’ representation of the world

Ronald Hutton praises a tour de force on the causes of the English Civil War

Marilyn Young on the development of human rights as an important issue in the US

Her Star Trek dream dashed, Noel-Ann Bradshaw is still delighted by the science of impossible tales

A demonstration of the need for modern muckrakers also celebrates the best work journalism can do, finds Tim Luckhurst

Jonathan Mirsky on a selective view of the Chinese political elite

Jonathan Mirsky on a merciless dissection of a seemingly unstoppable country

Claire Chambers on how the colonial legacy is reflected in Mancunian writers’ work

Mega-budget shows are not a guaranteed recipe for success, says Janet Wasko. It’s not that simple

A. W. Purdue on the changing social lives of the aristocracy and gentry between the wars

Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman on the give and take between the two superpowers since the Soviet collapse

Silicon Valley’s stars ceaselessly shape their image to a neoliberal ideal, Finola Kerrigan discovers

Laura Frost on a portrayal of abstinence not as an absence of sex, but as an organisation of pleasure

Anna Hickey-Moody on study of how performers have addressed disability in their compositions and performances

Barbara Graziosi discovers what went on in the bedroom in ancient Greece

Gregory Kent explores the affective consequences of war

A. W. Purdue on how children shared in the nation’s experience of the First World War

Post-war history from East and West perspectives creates vivid impressions for Roger Morgan

The latest work from a leading literary critic expounds a wealth of ideas, says Robert Eaglestone

Search differently, says Sarah Ison

Peter Gwyn finds an attempt to put More’s writings into historical context less than clear

Authors emulating Western literature have created their own voice, says Robert Appelbaum

The simple life may be a carefully contrived one, says Biancamaria Fontana

Violence, accident and luck have all made this young federal union, says Donald MacRaild