A Life Beyond Boundaries, by Benedict Anderson Book of the week: Joanna Lewis on nationalism’s truest friend and the books that made him a world authority By Joanna Lewis 2 June
The Slow Professor: Challenging the Culture of Speed in the Academy Book of the week: Academics need to hit the brakes and work to change the system they’re in, says Emma Rees By Emma Rees 26 May
The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition, by Manisha Sinha Book of the week: Blacks were key agents in the international battle against slavery, Olivette Otele writes By Olivette Otele 19 May
Dante: The Story of his Life, by Marco Santagata, translated by Richard Dixon Book of the week: Reconstructing Dante’s life via the Divine Comedy is a complex but enlightening task, says Prue Shaw By Prue Shaw 12 May
Lab Girl, by Hope Jahren Book of the week: A spirited palaeobotanist’s memoir splices flora with friendship and family, says Cait MacPhee By Cait MacPhee 5 May
Willem de Kooning Nonstop: Cherchez la Femme, by Rosalind E. Krauss Book of the week: Tracey Warr on De Kooning’s iterative output and his fascination with the physicality of paint By Tracey Warr 28 April
The Most Wanted Man in China: My Journey from Scientist to Enemy of the State, by Fang Lizhi Book of the week: The Chinese government’s persecution of Fang Lizhi remains baffling, says Jonathan Mirsky By Jonathan Mirsky 21 April
Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space, by Janna Levin Book of the week: Marcus Chown on a portrait of those who drove the Ligo project and helped to find gravitational waves By Marcus Chown 14 April
15 Million Degrees: A Journey to the Centre of the Sun, by Lucie Green Book of the week: The Sun’s magnetic fields make it much more than a dull ball of hot gas, says Marcus Chown By Marcus Chown 7 April
A Better Politics: How Government Can Make Us Happier, by Danny Dorling Book of the week: Facts and figures can get you only so far when it comes to political change, says Gordon Marsden By Gordon Marsden 31 March
Elaine Showalter on Julia Ward Howe, a poet against all the odds of her era Book of the week: For the poet told to lay down her pen on becoming a wife, writing was freedom, finds Catherine Clinton By Catherine Clinton 24 March
Wisdom’s Workshop: The Rise of the Modern University, by James Axtell Book of the week: the former universities minister reviews James Axtell's account of the institutions that educate the US elite By David Willetts 17 March
What Works: Gender Equality by Design, by Iris Bohnet Book of the week: With people vulnerable to bias, lack of diversity might be better tackled at organisational level, Victoria Bateman says By Victoria Bateman 10 March
Hitler: A Biography – Volume One: Ascent 1889-1939, by Volker Ullrich Book of the week: A portrait of the failure who became Führer detects early signs of a Final Solution, says Robert Gellately By Robert Gellately 3 March
The Political Origins of Inequality, by Simon Reid-Henry Book of the week: Angelia Wilson on a call for us to take seriously our political responsibility for global poverty By Angelia R. Wilson 25 February
When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi Book of the week: In an extraordinary voice, a neurosurgeon wrestles with his looming untimely death, says Jennifer Rohn By Jennifer Rohn 18 February
Thunder and Lightning: Weather Past, Present and Future, by Lauren Redniss Book of the week: Exquisite images trigger the sensations of terror and wonder that nature inspires, says Philip Hoare By Philip Hoare 11 February
The Trolley Problem Mysteries, by F. M. Kamm Book of the week: Jane O’Grady on a thought experiment that is an endless platform for exploring ethical principles By Jane O’Grady 4 February
Final Solution: The Fate of the Jews 1933-49, by David Cesarani Book of the week: Two approaches to the Holocaust are blended in a pioneering historian’s last work, Neil Gregor writes By Neil Gregor 27 January
Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe, by Lisa Randall Book of the week: An invisible force causes extinctions – science or sci-fi? Nature will decide, says Marcus Chown By Marcus Chown 21 January
Gangs of Russia: From the Streets to the Corridors of Power, by Svetlana Stephenson Book of the week: Tim Hall on post-Soviet criminal clans, diverse and complex groups to whom lawlessness is anathema By Tim Hall 14 January
Why Minsky Matters: An Introduction to the Work of a Maverick Economist Book of the week: Economic instability is inevitable – what matters is our efforts to limit it, says Victoria Bateman of L. Randall Wray's latest book By Victoria Bateman 7 January
Wilhelmina Geddes: Life and Work, by Nicola Gordon Bowe Book of the week: Jasmine Allen admires the monumental scale and meticulous detail of a stained glass artist’s work By Jasmine Allen 17 December
Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly, by Judith Butler Book of the week: A shared sense of precarity is at the heart of recent disparate mass protests, says Mary Evans By Mary Evans 10 December
The Other Paris: An Illustrated Journey through a City’s Poor and Bohemian Past, by Luc Sante Book of the week: Beneath a bourgeois veneer is a secret history of defunct jobs and fascinating lives, says Paul White By Paul White 3 December
Why Torture Doesn’t Work: The Neuroscience of Interrogation, by Shane O’Mara Book of the week: Ethics aside, no useful information is to be gained from ‘coercive questioning’, says Steven Rose By Steven Rose 26 November
The Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains, by Thomas W. Laqueur Book of the week: Brace yourself for unusual keepsakes in a study of our attachment to corpses, says Deborah Lutz By Deborah Lutz 19 November
Everything to Nothing: The Poetry of the Great War, Revolution and the Transformation of Europe, by Geert Buelens Deborah Longworth salutes the range and reach in Everything to Nothing By Deborah Longworth 12 November
The Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Scourge of Tax Havens, by Gabriel Zucman Richard Murphy praises a bold effort to halt tax-dodging by the 1 per cent By Richard Murphy 5 November
On Stalin’s Team: The Years of Living Dangerously in Soviet Politics, by Sheila Fitzpatrick Lara Cook lauds a study of the comrades who kept the Man of Steel company for 30 years By Lara Cook 29 October
The Con Men: Hustling in New York City, by Terry Williams and Trevor B. Milton From living rent-free to Madoff’s fraud, a study of scams forces us to face our sins, says Dick Hobbs By Dick Hobbs 22 October
The Cunning of Uncertainty, by Helga Nowotny Flora Samuel on a revelatory call for researchers to embrace context, culture and the unknown By Flora Samuel 15 October
Hume: An Intellectual Biography, by James A. Harris Jacqueline Broad discovers admiration for a misunderstood and misrepresented philosopher By Jacqueline Broad 8 October
Strip Cultures: Finding America in Las Vegas, by The Project on Vegas: Susan Willis, Stacy Jameson, Karen Klugman and Jane Kuenz A work of distinction offers fresh insights into the hedonism and hangovers, says Richard J. Williams By Richard J. Williams 1 October
Fashion Victims: The Dangers of Dress Past and Present, by Alison Matthews David Stomach-churning detail reminds us of the blood, sweat and tears in clothes, says Shahidha Bari By Shahidha Bari 24 September
Intelligence in the Flesh: Why Your Mind Needs Your Body Much More than It Thinks, by Guy Claxton From emotions to waiting tables, our physical frame deserves more credit, finds Joanna Bryson By Joanna Bryson 17 September
The Invention of Science: A New History of the Scientific Revolution, by David Wootton Landmark discoveries have relied on some unexpected connections, says Richard Joyner By Richard Joyner 10 September
Culture, Capitals and Graduate Futures: Degrees of Class, by Ciaran Burke Early experience of class has a large effect on the working lives of graduates, discovers Huw Morris By Huw Morris 3 September
The Man Who Closed the Asylums: Franco Basaglia and the Revolution in Mental Health Care, by John Foot Helen Bynum welcomes a study of the psychiatrist who ended the jail-like seclusion of patients By Helen Bynum 27 August
SlutWalk: Feminism, Activism and Media, by Kaitlynn Mendes Emma Rees on the social networking origins of a 21st-century political movement By Emma Rees 20 August
Crisis at Work: Identity and the End of Career, by Jesse Potter Bankers swap cufflinks for cassocks in an era of reinvention not defined by pay, finds Leslie Gofton By Les Gofton 13 August
Critical Reflections on Ownership, by Mary Warnock A study of private property reminds us to reflect on the things we don’t control, finds Jane O’Grady By Jane O’Grady 6 August
The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack and Other Cautionary Tales from Human Evolution, by Ian Tattersall Simon Underdown on our origin story’s twists, turns and red herrings By Simon Underdown 30 July
The Matter Factory: A History of the Chemistry Laboratory, by Peter J. T. Morris The workspaces of pioneering scientists are laid bare in an insightful text, finds Richard Joyner By Richard Joyner 23 July
Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs, by Lauren A. Rivera To become a Master of the Universe, you must work hard but play harder, finds Angelia Wilson By Angelia R. Wilson 16 July
The Guardians: The League of Nations and the Crisis of Empire, by Susan Pedersen Niamh Gallagher on a body that, in chipping away at imperial rule, shaped the modern world By Niamh Gallagher 2 July
The Brontë Cabinet: Three Lives in Nine Objects, by Deborah Lutz Personal items belonging to the literary sisters illuminate their wild genius, says Shahidha Bari By Shahidha Bari 25 June
The Ocean, the Bird and the Scholar: Essays on Poets and Poetry, by Helen Vendler Elizabeth Greene lauds an eminent critic’s fine close reading of Wallace Stevens and others By Elizabeth Greene 18 June
Cosmopolitan Sexualities: Hope and the Humanist Imagination, by Ken Plummer A sexology for our age examines a global and multifaceted part of humanity, says Sally R. Munt By Sally R. Munt 11 June
Cakes, Custard and Category Theory: Easy Recipes for Understanding Complex Maths, by Eugenia Cheng Noel-Ann Bradshaw is inspired by a book with all the right ingredients for explaining a tricky subject By Noel-Ann Bradshaw 4 June
Siena: City of Secrets, by Jane Tylus Discover the Tuscan metropolis in a study suffused with all the vitality of the Palio, says Philip Cooke By Philip Cooke 28 May
How to Clone a Mammoth: The Science of De-extinction, by Beth Shapiro Work to bring creatures back from the dead is a tale of wonder and warning, writes Tiffany Taylor By Tiffany Taylor 21 May
Beyond: Our Future in Space, by Chris Impey This examination of space exploration has its feet firmly on the ground, writes Monica Grady By Monica Grady 14 May
The Wandering Mind: What the Brain Does When You’re Not Looking, by Michael C. Corballis Daydreaming relies on memory and our past helps us imagine future possibilities, finds Luna Centifanti 7 May
The Great Divide, by Joseph Stiglitz Rising inequality can be addressed without taking to the barricades, Victoria Bateman suggests 30 April
The Invaders: How Humans and Their Dogs Drove Neanderthals to Extinction, by Pat Shipman A lupine alliance may have helped Homo sapiens to beat the competition, says Simon Underdown 23 April
The Power of the Past: Understanding Cross-Class Marriages, by Jessi Streib A study of American couples who married out of their socio-economic culture intrigues Mary Evans 16 April
Great Shakespeare Actors: Burbage to Branagh, by Stanley Wells The first act in an entertaining study of gifted stage performers is the most powerful, says Lisa Hopkins 9 April
Mark Rothko: Toward the Light in the Chapel, by Annie Cohen-Solal A sense of not belonging coloured an outsider’s journey to the avant-garde, learns Tracey Warr 2 April
How to Write a Thesis, by Umberto Eco This guide gets right to the heart of the virtues that make a scholar, Robert Eaglestone discovers 19 March
