What are you reading? – 18 July 2019 Our regular look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers By Contributors 18 July
Pier Groups: Art and Sex along the New York Waterfront, by Jonathan Weinberg Barry Reay praises a skilful reconstruction of a vibrant moment in New York’s art and sexual histories By Barry Reay 18 July
Pirates: A New History, from Vikings to Somali Raiders, by Peter Lehr Sarah Kinkel assesses a wide-ranging survey of buccaneers over the ages By Sarah Kinkel 18 July
A Haven and a Hell: The Ghetto in Black America, by Lance Freeman Bryan Cheyette is intrigued by an account that accentuates the positive as well as the negative aspects of ghetto life By Bryan Cheyette 18 July
The Man in the Glass House: Philip Johnson, Architect of the Modern Century, by Mark Lamster Annmarie Adams assesses a revealing new life of a complex and controversial ‘tastemaker’ By Annmarie Adams 18 July
Rewriting Indie Cinema: Improvisation, Psychodrama, and the Screenplay, by J.J. Murphy Lucy Bolton reflects on the links between the action on screen and real life in American independent cinema By Lucy Bolton 4 July
A Sonnet to Science: Scientists and Their Poetry, by Sam Illingworth Tom McLeish delves into the complex relations between scientific and poetic creativity By Tom McLeish 4 July
Automating the News: How Algorithms Are Rewriting the Media, by Nicholas Diakopoulos Sharon Wheeler celebrates the core journalistic skills that changing technology are unlikely to render obsolete By Sharon Wheeler 4 July
Escape from Earth: A Secret History of the Space Rocket, by Fraser MacDonald Commies, wizards, women…Alice Gorman is delighted by an account that overturns most of what we thought we knew about the early US space effort By Alice Gorman 4 July
Is Gender Fluid?: A Primer for the 21st Century, by Sally Hines Susan Matthews is unimpressed by an attempt to rethink our understanding of biological sex, gender and identity By Susan Matthews 27 June
Quaint, Exquisite: Victorian Aesthetics and the Idea of Japan, by Grace E. Lavery Gail Marshall applauds an impressive analysis of our changing images of Japan By Gail Marshall 27 June
The Revolution That Wasn’t: How Digital Activism Favors Conservatives, by Jen Schradie John Gilbey assesses a sobering account of why the internet doesn’t work for radicals By John Gilbey 27 June
Hot Carbon: Carbon-14 and a Revolution in Science, by John F. Marra Richard Joyner applauds a book celebrating the many applications of carbon dating By Richard Joyner 27 June
Why Cities Look the Way They Do, by Richard J. Williams Flora Samuel welcomes an irreverent analysis of today’s cities By Flora Samuel 20 June
Culture in Nazi Germany, by Michael H. Kater James Stevens Curl has reservations about an account of the art produced under totalitarianism By James Stevens Curl 20 June
Proof and Falsity, by Nils Kürbis Stephen Mumford considers a bold attempt to unravel what we mean by the little word ‘not’ By Stephen Mumford 20 June
The Shining, by K. J. Donnelly Nathan Abrams considers an attempt to unravel the mysteries of Kubrick’s cult masterpiece By Nathan Abrams 20 June
Thomas Berry: A Biography, by Mary Evelyn Tucker, John Grim and Andrew Angyal Ursula King enjoys an insiders’ account of a leading ecological and spiritual thinker By Ursula King 13 June
Catafalque: Carl Jung and the End of Humanity, by Peter Kingsley Robert A. Segal is wary of an attempt to offer a definitive new interpretation of Jung By Robert A. Segal 13 June
The Scramble for Europe: Young Africa on Its Way to the Old Continent, by Stephen Smith Ruben Andersson finds old fears repackaged in a thin academic offering By Ruben Andersson 13 June
Days of Awe: Reimagining Jewishness in Solidarity with Palestinians, by Atalia Omer David Katz is unimpressed by an attempt to imagine a different Israel from elsewhere By David Katz 13 June
What are you reading? – 6 June 2019 A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers By Matthew Reisz 6 June
Book of Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval World, edited by Elizabeth Morrison with Larisa Grollemond Sarah Peverley thrills to a lavish overview of the strange world of bestiaries By Sarah Peverley 6 June
The Hum of the World: A Philosophy of Listening, by Lawrence Kramer John Shand wrestles with a difficult but intriguing account of the background noise that sets the stage for sound By John Shand 6 June
Finding Our Place in the Universe: How We Discovered Laniakea – the Milky Way’s Home, by Hélène Courtois Cait MacPhee enjoys a fascinating tour of our not-too-local neighbourhood By Cait MacPhee 6 June
