Humanities

The building design industry continues to construct glass ceilings, finds Flora Samuel

Fresh perspectives on a 19th-century Tory leader can be gleaned from his fiction, finds A.W. Purdue

New technology has changed how we approach the act of writing, finds John Gilbey

References to the university sector abound in an informative and lively study, says Gillian Youngs

Book of the week: Blacks were key agents in the international battle against slavery, Olivette Otele writes

Jörg Michael Dostal on whether one German thinker directly influenced Hitler’s geopolitics

Angelia Wilson on a time in gay culture that no one forgot

We are spellbound by an opus whose copies once gathered crumbs and scribbles, says Lisa Hopkins

A continent-hopping survey of garden cities mulls dreams, war and exclusion, says Richard J. Williams

A. W. Purdue on a bold and refreshing revisionist study

Rachel Dickinson on a study that asks if 19^th-century lifestyle choices can help us solve 21^st-century problems

Book of the week: Reconstructing Dante’s life via the Divine Comedy is a complex but enlightening task, says Prue Shaw

Hillegonda Rietveld on the consequences of a cultural shift from musical creativity to profit

Jane O’Grady on the development of empirical investigation in attempts to understand human behaviour

Joanna Bourke on a memoir focusing on secrets, grief and desire following a life-changing accident

However, director of the Oxford Martin School says 'disciplinary silos' were one factor contributing to 2008 financial crisis

But could arguments over washing-up, empty honesty boxes and milk be a thing of the past at De Montfort?

Robert Eaglestone admires the reasoning applied in the description of this moment as ‘postirony’

Book of the week: Tracey Warr on De Kooning’s iterative output and his fascination with the physicality of paint

Digital habits reveal the delicate dance between our public and private selves, says Tara Brabazon

James Delbourgo on a study of how scientists shared information and how through it they constructed the nation as an object of study

James Crouse on the exclusive, macho culture of recreational flyers in post-Second World War US

Kate Macdonald on the publications that used humour to share the trauma of the First World War

Book of the week: The Chinese government’s persecution of Fang Lizhi remains baffling, says Jonathan Mirsky

Jane O’Grady on a reminder that the development of communication was a collaboration

Paul Bernal on the role of corporate lobbyists in manipulating politics and law to align internet policy with business interests

Like Gollum’s ring, gadgets are irresistible. Learn to turn off, tune out and log off, says John Gilbey

Camille Hernández-Ramdwar on an insider’s perspective on the struggles and joys of committing to a little-known faith

New head of Staffordshire University says sector must think harder about whether classrooms and lecture halls on campus are suited to modern teaching methods

Lara Douds-Cook welcomes a colourful compendium of overlapping conflicts in a disintegrating and reconfiguring empire

A. W. Purdue on a perceptive look at those who shaped, and were shaped by, their times

Who wears the trousers? Women often played men in early Hollywood, and few were anything like the ‘monstrous butch’ archetype, Leanne Dawson finds

Before our obsession with sustainability, we liked our buildings disposable, says Annmarie Adams

Scousers’ acts of resilience are celebrated in a study of the city’s struggles, says Lisa Mckenzie

Andrew Hadfield on the achievements of an arguably overlooked figure

Millions went West for a better life, but there were casualties in the human traffic, says Hester Vaizey

Neil Gregor on a fine study of the ever-changing landscape of orchestral musical politics in Moscow

Twenty-five years after it was founded to promote openness in the post-Soviet era, the Central European University is grappling with new threats to democracy

All choices about what to exhibit or not make statements about sexuality, finds Lesley Hall

An account of the vanquishing of superstition and magic makes some imprudent leaps, says Biancamaria Fontana

Pomp and circulation throughout the Empire linked monarch and subjects, Donald MacRaild writes

Book of the week: For the poet told to lay down her pen on becoming a wife, writing was freedom, finds Catherine Clinton

Richard Joyner on who is ahead in the race for dominance between science and religion

Lucy Wooding on the constant suspicion and division in the Elizabethan court

Helen Bynum on what made a married woman committed to the cause walk away from it all

Hillary Clinton is not the first woman to run for the White House. Elizabeth Cobbs enjoys an entertaining look at her and her predecessors

Professor Webley was ‘inspired leader’ and will be ‘sorely missed’, say colleagues of the acclaimed academic

Memoir of scholar who fought for recognition will strike a chord with many women, says June Purvis

Book of the week: A portrait of the failure who became Führer detects early signs of a Final Solution, says Robert Gellately

Following textual ‘clues’ sheds little new light on an ancient literary figure, says Barbara Graziosi

David Revill on a provocative and insightful work that explores our creative and ambient sonic environment and how we perceive it

Donald MacRaild on how the Scots see themselves and their place in the UK

Eva Shan Chou on a study of how anglophone texts have come to overshadow many vernacular writings

Joanna Lewis on a theory that valuing character over achievement helped to limit queasiness about the imperial project

Ken Plummer on a lively and provocative run-through of 18 major works by the towering figure of musical theatre

US PhD applicant Sabine Parrish recalls an unpleasant encounter with UK immigration

Study suggests there may be long-term benefits from publishing, but critics warn of ‘too much, too soon’

Countries like Singapore are turning to broad-based education just as the US turns away from it, says Trisha Craig

Candida Moss on a work tracing the history of thinkers who saw no place for the deities

As 14 February approaches, Tim Worth looks at a couple of choice Collinses and remembers what Georgian ladies had to put up with