Beyond the Valley: How Innovators around the World Are Overcoming Inequality and Shaping the Technologies of Tomorrow, by Ramesh Srinivasan Nathan Schneider would like more detail about how we can escape the embrace of the technological giants By Nathan Schneider 24 October
City on a Hill: Urban Idealism in America from the Puritans to the Present, by Alex Krieger Richard J. Williams enjoys a wide-ranging account of the utopianism that underpins the planning of towns and cities in the US By Richard J. Williams 17 October
Jewish Emancipation: A History across Five Centuries, by David Sorkin Geoffrey Alderman has reservations about a sweeping study of half a millennium of Jewish history By Geoffrey Alderman 17 October
Tragedy since 9/11: Reading a World out of Joint, by Jennifer Wallace Robert Eaglestone praises a bold attempt to reveal how much of our moral thinking is still conducted in the shadow of the ancient Greeks By Robert Eaglestone 17 October
Total Mobilization: World War II and American Literature, by Roy Scranton Miryam Sivan questions an attempt to show that the image of the traumatised soldier was used to cleanse the American army of its guilt By Miryam Sivan 17 October
Make It the Same: Poetry in the Age of Global Media, by Jacob Edmond Martin Dyar applauds an analysis of the ways poetry has ingeniously adapted itself to cultural change By Martin Dyar 10 October
Born Yesterday: Inexperience and the Early Realist Novel, by Stephanie Insley Hershinow Charlotte Jones enjoys an account of early English fiction exploring what novelists made of their naive unworldly heroines By Charlotte Jones 10 October
Power Trip: The Story of Energy, by Michael E. Webber Nick Norman enjoys a bold attempt to track the past, present and future of energy By Nick Norman 10 October
An Instinct for Truth: Curiosity and the Moral Character of Science, by Robert T. Pennock Harry Collins takes issue with an outdated account of the relations between science and society By Harry Collins 10 October
Me, Me, Me?: The Search for Community in Post-war England, by Jon Lawrence Book of the week: A. W. Purdue is impressed by a bold attempt to rethink the relationship between solidarity and ambition By A.W. Purdue 10 October
Lesbian Cinema After Queer Theory, by Clara Bradbury-Rance Davina Quinlivan welcomes a bold new overview of where lesbian cinema is going today By Davina Quinlivan 3 October
Football: The Philosophy Behind the Game, by Stephen Mumford Michael Wheeler enjoys an account of how philosophy can illuminate many aspects of ‘the beautiful game’ By Michael Wheeler 3 October
Books interview: Elizabeth Otto The author of Haunted Bauhaus on youthful mysteries, rediscovering lost women in the archives and queering history By Matthew Reisz 3 October
Effective Personal Tutoring in Higher Education, by David Lochtie, Emily McIntosh, Andrew Stork and Ben W. Walker Harriet Dunbar-Morris applauds a new guide to how academics can serve as coaches and ‘signposters’ 3 October
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, by David Epstein Randy Robertson urges universities to look again at the downsides of highly specialist degrees By Randy Robertson 3 October
What are you reading? – 26 September 2019 A fortnightly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers By Matthew Reisz 26 September
Great State: China and the World, by Timothy Brook Jonathan Mirsky applauds a bold attempt to take the long view of Chinese history By Jonathan Mirsky 26 September
The Quality of the Archaeological Record, by Charles Perreault Susan Greaney has reservations about reducing the discipline’s human interest factor By Susan Greaney 26 September
Remembrance of Things Present: The Invention of the Time Capsule, by Nick Yablon Steven Groarke reflects on the strange process of trying to preserve a historical instant for posterity By Steven Groarke 26 September
On Trial for Reason: Science, Religion, and Culture in the Galileo Affair, by Maurice Finocchiaro Geoffrey Cantor on a pioneering natural philosopher whose conflicts with doctrine became the stuff of myth By Geoffrey Cantor 26 September
Email, by Randy Malamud John Gilbey enjoys a quirky tour of the communications tool we seem unable to do without By John Gilbey 19 September
The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness Is Widespread but Can’t Be Computed, by Christof Koch Steven Rose is unconvinced by an ambitious attempt to explain consciousness By Steven Rose 19 September
Our Non-Christian Nation: How Atheists, Satanists, Pagans, and Others Are Demanding Their Rightful Place in Public Life, by Jay Wexler Robert A. Segal applauds a striking analysis of the real relations between church and state in the US By Robert A. Segal 19 September
The Wealth of Religions: The Political Economy of Believing and Belonging, by Rachel M. McCleary and Robert J. Barro Torkel Brekke is unconvinced by a new version of an old argument about the economics of belief By Torkel Brekke 19 September
Composing Capital: Classical Music in the Neoliberal Era, by Marianna Ritchey Andrew Blake explains why Beethoven’s days may be numbered By Andrew Blake 12 September
Sex, Death, and Minuets: Anna Magdalena Bach and Her Musical Notebooks, by David Yearsley Benjamin Ivry assesses an attempt to humanise the unapproachable genius of J. S. Bach By Benjamin Ivry 12 September
Fear of Breakdown: Politics and Psychoanalysis, by Noëlle McAfee Devorah Baum is fascinated by a look at how politics needs to take much greater account of the experiences of early childhood By Devorah Baum 12 September
To Begin the World Over Again: How the American Revolution Devastated the Globe, by Matthew Lockwood Elizabeth Cobbs is unconvinced by a lively revisionist account of what the American Revolution did to the wider world By Elizabeth Cobbs 12 September
What are you reading? – 12 September 2019 Our fortnightly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers By Matthew Reisz 12 September
When Bishops Meet, by John W. O’Malley John Cornwell wonders whether a major new Catholic council could help address the challenges the Church faces today By John Cornwell 5 September
Professorial Pathways: Academic Careers in a Global Perspective, edited by Martin J. Finkelstein and Glen A. Jones Aniko Horvath considers a collection that illuminates the deeper causes of the everyday irritations of life as an academic By Aniko Horvath 5 September
Traditions of Death and Burial, by Helen Frisby James Stevens Curl enjoys a brief survey of changing British attitudes to the saying of final farewells By James Stevens Curl 5 September
Is the Cemetery Dead? by David Charles Sloane Douglas J. Davies considers an analysis of how funerary practices can take much greater account of ecological concerns By Douglas J. Davies 5 September
Mind in Motion: How Action Shapes Thought, by Barbara Tversky Constantine Sandis praises a bold account of how our thought is inextricably bound up with our interactions with the world By Constantine Sandis 29 August
The Cosmopolitan Tradition: A Noble but Flawed Ideal, by Martha C. Nussbaum Lior Erez is largely impressed by an attempt to adapt the ancient ideals of cosmopolitanism to the challenges of today By Lior Erez 29 August
What are you reading? – 29 August 2019 A fortnightly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers By Matthew Reisz 29 August
Hitler: Only the World Was Enough, by Brendan Simms Robert Gellately is unconvinced by the emphases in a new interpretation of Hitler’s life and career By Robert Gellately 29 August
The Book of Minor Perverts: Sexology, Etiology, and the Emergences of Sexuality, by Benjamin Kahan Barry Reay assesses a book charting the complexities of the history of sexuality By Barry Reay 29 August
The Fear of Child Sexuality: Young People, Sex, and Agency, by Steven Angelides Joanna Bourke is impressed by a bold attempt to shed light on one of the last taboos By Joanna Bourke 22 August
A History of Ambiguity, by Anthony Ossa-Richardson Robert Eaglestone is thrilled by an intellectual tour de force By Robert Eaglestone 22 August
The Government of No One: The Theory and Practice of Anarchism, by Ruth Kinna Jorell Meléndez-Badillo considers a globe-spanning study of the political philosophy that explores it at the intellectual and the street level By Jorell Meléndez-Badillo 22 August
Mother: An Unconventional History, by Sarah Knott Rachel Moss praises a pioneering analysis that vividly captures the ‘fragmentary’ quality of both the experience of mothering a child and the historical record about it By Rachel Moss 22 August
Books editor’s blog: why make hard copies so hard to come by? Matthew Reisz deplores the refusal of some publishers to supply review copies of their books By Matthew Reisz 22 August
Humour, by Terry Eagleton Chloe Chard considers a wide-ranging but not very focused attempt to illuminate jokes By Chloe Chard 15 August
London and the Emergence of a European Art Market, 1780-1820, edited by Susanna Avery-Quash and Christian Huemer Emma Barker reflects on the art market of two centuries ago – and how it compares with that of today By Emma Barker 15 August
Black Utopia: The History of an Idea from Black Nationalism to Afrofuturism, by Alex Zamalin Kehinde Andrews is disappointed by a survey of thinking designed to take us beyond the limits of current politics By Kehinde Andrews 15 August
Reaching for the Moon: A Short History of the Space Race, by Roger D. Launius Julie Michelle Klinger enjoys a compelling account of one strand of the global space race By Julie Michelle Klinger 15 August
What are you reading? – 15 August 2019 Our fortnightly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers By Matthew Reisz 15 August
Paternity: The Elusive Quest for the Father, by Nara B. Milanich Lennard Davis praises a definitive account of DNA testing By Lennard Davis 8 August
Nationalizing Sex: Fertility, Fear, and Power, by Richard Togman Emma Rees is impressed by a wide-ranging study of how governments have encouraged and discouraged citizens to have children By Emma Rees 8 August
Charros: How Mexican Cowboys Are Remapping Race and American Identity, by Laura R. Barraclough Angelia R. Wilson enjoys a subtle analysis of the political uses of the figure of the ‘Mexican cowboy’ By Angelia R. Wilson 8 August
Addicted to Christ: Remaking Men in Puerto Rican Pentecostal Drug Ministries, by Helena Hansen David Lehmann praises an ambitious attempt to take religion seriously on its own terms By David Lehmann 8 August
What are you reading? – 1 August 2019 Our fortnightly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers By Matthew Reisz 1 August
Science Policy under Thatcher, by Jon Agar Richard Joyner remembers a difficult era for British science By Richard Joyner 1 August
Plate Tectonics and Great Earthquakes: 50 Years of Earth-Shaking Events, by Lynn R. Sykes Luca Dal Zilio welcomes a compelling insider’s account of our increasing understanding of the science of earthquakes By Luca Dal Zilio 1 August
War and Chance: Assessing Uncertainty in International Politics, by Jeffrey A. Friedman A.W. Purdue is unconvinced by an attempt to put military planning on a more scientific footing By A.W. Purdue 1 August
Judge Thy Neighbor: Denunciations in the Spanish Inquisition, Romanov Russia, and Nazi Germany, by Patrick Bergemann Zoë Waxman considers an analysis of the age-old tendency to report people next door to the authorities By Zoë Waxman 1 August
Night Raiders: Burglary & the Making of Modern Urban Life in London, 1860-1968, by Eloise Moss Clive Bloom considers the development of a particularly disturbing form of crime By Clive Bloom 25 July
McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality, by Ronald E. Purser Kathryn Ecclestone considers a bold attempt to take mindfulness to task By Kathryn Ecclestone 25 July
Cracks in the Ivory Tower: The Moral Mess of Higher Education, by Jason Brennan and Phillip Magness David L. Wheeler is only partly convinced by an attempt to put higher education under the ethical spotlight By David L. Wheeler 25 July
