The philosopher and author of The Fourfold Remedy: Epicurus and the Art of Happiness on Asterix, architecture, Aristippus and discovering the power of ideas
The author of The Richer, The Poorer on how Orwell, Steinbeck and Galbraith sparked an interest in poverty and inequality, taking a long view and fighting back
The author of Treasured: How Tutankhamun Shaped a Century on finding girls and women in history, archaeology’s ‘heroic’ age and the cultural impact of ‘Egyptomania’
The cultural historian and author of The Art of Self-Improvement on positive transformations, the Stoic approach to life, and what self-help books can reveal about individuals and society
The professor of psychiatry and author of Of Fear and Strangers discusses learning about America from Twain, the ‘history of xenophobia’ and how to address it
The historian and author of Pulp Empire: The Secret History of Comic Book Imperialism on cool kids, a comic book shop as edgy as its contents, and international culture wars
The professor of the history of medicine and author of Broken Dreams on teenage angst, exploring medical pasts and getting to the heart of midlife crises
The sociology professor tells Matthew Reisz about her rural childhood, satisfying a hunger for the wider world through reading, and her (scholarly) interest in unfaithful men
The historian and author of Fat on finding the door into the historical and cultural study of fatness and exploring the meanings of eating and not eating in the West
The former professor of imperial and global history and author of Unlocking the World: Port Cities and Globalization in the Age of Steam on old favourites, empire and commerce, and horse power
The professor of communication and media and author of The Politicization of Mumsnet discusses social media’s good and bad, debates over gender and feminism, and Val McDermid’s Scotland
The Classics scholar and author of Mapping the Afterlife: From Homer to Dante talks about discovering Roman Britain in the Australian heat and how a sports-car-driving teacher fuelled her interest in Latin
The professor of French studies and author of Today Sardines Are Not for Sale: A Street Protest in Occupied Paris explains how exploring small, overlooked episodes brings human drama to history
The history lecturer and author of Rummage: A History of the Things We Have Reused, Recycled and Refused to Let Go discusses her fascination with waste and reuse and how to write about ephemeral themes
The historian and author of The Politics of Humiliation discusses fairy tales and myths, the history of emotions, and the relationships between victim, perpetrators and onlookers
The author of The Olympic Games: A Critical Approach discusses seeing sport through ‘a feminist, anti-racist lens’, anti-doping efforts and Outback Noir
The historian and author of Information Hunters on the literary puzzles that inspired her historical sleuthing, the librarians and archivists whose work supported the Allies in wartime Europe, and the thorny issues around preserving documentation
Adam Kucharski, author of The Rules of Contagion, on books that piqued his interest in mathematics, and those that showed how maths could be applied to serve public health by modelling infectious diseases – and happiness
The professor of European history and author of Migrant City on first encountering English at school, studying London as an ethnic immigrant capital, and intersections of race and politics
The cultural historian, whose latest book The Imposteress Rabbit Breeder explores the case of an 18th-century woman said to have given birth to rabbits, discusses libraries, women’s bodies and how they interact with culture to shape female lives
The author of The Outsiders: Refugees in Europe since 1492 discusses tracing the rises and falls of empires in atlases, understanding the pain of mass displacements and the pleasure of simultaneously reading and listening to music
The lecturer in international business and strategy and author of Supermarket USA on big books, the ‘Cold War Farms Race’ and jazzed-up propaganda battles
The political scientist and author of The Politics of Petulance: America in an Age of Immaturity on fictional fascinations, mature reflections and dancing to the music of Powell
The author on the journey from historical fiction and 18th-century Gothic Italian fiction in English to exploring how the Mediterranean shaped the British imagination
The professor of English at the University of Minnesota talks about her love of mystery and adventure and how this translates to writing about past lives
Cat Zero, a novel by Jennifer Rohn, an infectious disease researcher, shines light on the backbiting and tensions of lab life as an unlikely team of scientists work to save the cats of Kent from a mysterious virus
In Randomistas, Andrew Leigh, a former professor of economics turned MP, channels his inner nerd to pen a ode to the joys of randomised trials, finds Matthew Reisz
The author of Comparative Literature: A Very Short Introduction on Graham Greene, the classics as gateway to different literatures and a reading tip for English readers in the age of Brexit
In Hormonal, Martie Haselton writes in a style that is lively, popular and confessional, but still scientifically rigorous – a bit like chick lit with footnotes
The contributions to come from a conference held last year at the threatened Central European University and discuss why it’s so vital to defend the academy’s core values
Writer’s Luck: A Memoir: 1976-1991, from the author of celebrated comic campus novels and former professor of English literature, offers a vivid picture of a lost world
The historian and author of In Search of the Phoenicians on reading the Bible under the blankets, DIY Latin lessons and the keys to unlocking the ancient world
How should we choose which titles to review when recurrent themes arise, and how ought we to feel when strong feelings are used to ‘sell’ academic content?
