Edward Said’s influential imperial critique, Alexander the Great’s long artistic afterlife, mosquitoes’ place in empire, and black activists’ efforts to ‘decolonise Britain’
Writers’ relationships with their mothers; doctors are people too; Hilter’s passion for celluloid; a journey through mental illness; and the birth of the world’s first independent air force
Revolution in Ukraine; the complexities of judging; international espionage past and present; neurogastronomy; and the surprising longevity of the kibbutz
Cultural forces written on the body; rules for living; the big impact of small thefts; an insight into Edwardian archaeology in Egypt; Michael Sandel in China
A whirlwind tour of universities, a timely survey of Iran’s past, an intriguing nose-around the Byzantine Empire, and a fascinating study of revolution in Egypt
Get up to speed with dolphins; get a whiff of Victorian dandies; get a look at a secretive artist’s life and work; and get a glimpse of our disappearing nature
The key players behind game theory; human rights; the microbial life on your kitchen counter; the beauty of maths; and the sedation of our perception of beauty
Cultivating climate-friendly habits, a masculine discourse on devilry, how to power up and power through scholarly writing, and Black Power’s push into the centre
Why you need a ‘No’ hat, rethinking the economic wisdom of ‘necessary luxuries’, restoring financial power to the people, and lessons learned from teaching prisoners to read
Africa’s 17th-century warrior queen; the modern equivalent of tinkering in your shed; mergers and acquisitions in the world of HE; and what tax havens really do to the economy
Guide for a scientific career, suitable for ages 8 and up; the cultural temperature of ‘climate’; on why gender inequality is still with us; and the Russian Revolution from below
The latest recommended reading takes in a Marxist view of the history of the US academy, Norse sagas (walrus penis bone, check), leisure time inequality, and American army victors and their spoils
A fresh run at Homer; unseen dirty work; all the lols of yoof-speak; and the link between Ayn Rand’s bad thoughts, worse writing and financial catastrophe
Tomes deserving of your time include our island story in art, rescuing religion from jihadis and Islamophobes, going to town on an egg and a veritable word-fest
This week’s bookish things to do: brush up your Shakespeare, explore a mother of a holiday, put paid to the rentiers and count the cost of London’s Olympics
Hey presto! This week’s books to astonish and enlighten survey modern magic in Asia, physics with a feminist focus, the work of Elizabeth Bishop and the museum as creative spark
Dutch goddesses, the tragedy of the commons, Justin Trudeau’s dad and putting what’s left of the UK’s family silver to good use: must-read academic titles
