Bowled over by @jfb1066.bsky.social's review of COLLAPSE in this month's @litreview.bsky.social! ‘Original and thought-provoking … Collapse represents an ambitious and scholarly achievement ... it sets a new standard for writing the history of warfare’. A good day! literaryreview.co.uk/peoples-war

Jonathan Boff - People’s War

Jonathan Boff: People’s War - Collapse: A Global History of the Second World War, 1931–1941 by Jonathan Fennell

literaryreview.co.uk

Out now! Literary Review's August 2026 issue, featuring Emma Smith on New World imports Ian Thomson on Mario Vargas Llosa Seamus Perry on Sylvia Plath Hamish de Bretton-Gordon on biological warfare Simon Garfield on pens and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk

It's Booker Prize longlist day! Enjoy a selection of our reviews of the longlisted books, free for 24 hours: literaryreview.co.uk/on-the-same-... literaryreview.co.uk/just-project... literaryreview.co.uk/tweed-tragedy literaryreview.co.uk/analyse-this-2 literaryreview.co.uk/call-to-nature

My review of Julia Ebner's new book "The Language of Terrorists" now out in Literary Review. With my past reviews on national security, constitutional and legal topics, find it here literaryreview.co.uk/contributors... (£ - it's a great periodical and I guess they have to live).

Literary Review - For People Who Devour Books

Book reviews by David Anderson

literaryreview.co.uk

In 2022, six commercial scuba-diving instructors found themselves in the heart of global political warfare. Michael Burleigh investigates the Nord Stream explosions and the civilians behind them. literaryreview.co.uk/six-of-the-b...

Michael Burleigh - Six of the Best

Michael Burleigh: Six of the Best - The Nord Stream Conspiracy: The Inside Story of the Explosions that Shook the World by Bojan Pancevski

literaryreview.co.uk

With an eye for spectacle and a penchant for an actress in a crinoline, Napoleon III has been dismissed as an embarrassing failure. Jonathan Keates wonders if he was a calculating opportunist or a forgotten visionary. literaryreview.co.uk/taller-with-...

Jonathan Keates - Taller with the Charm On

Jonathan Keates: Taller with the Charm On - The People’s Emperor: The Unlikely Rise and Spectacular Fall of Napoleon III by Edward Shawcross

literaryreview.co.uk

Wrote on Michael Smith’s excellent Strangers on the Shore ( @whiterabbitbks.bsky.social ) for this month’s @litreview.bsky.social — I hope you find a copy and enjoy it as much as I did literaryreview.co.uk/sea-sand-sor...

Christopher Webb - Sea, Sand & Sorrow

Christopher Webb: Sea, Sand & Sorrow - Strangers on the Shore by Michael Smith

literaryreview.co.uk

Hot off the press in the latest @litreview.bsky.social: my review of @twhittermarsh.bsky.social's book on the origins of Christianity and the Age of Augustus. (TLDR: it's well worth a read.)

Out now! Literary Review's July 2026 issue, featuring Richard Carwardine on Abraham Lincoln Levi Roach on Rome and Christianity Jonathan Keates on Napoleon III Stephen Smith on Cuba Michael Burleigh on Nord Stream and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk

We're very pleased to see Colin Kidd's Twilight of the Dons reviewed in @litreview.bsky.social! This work looks at the rise and shifts of postwar Oxbridge and its influence. Read more here:

William Whyte - Pass the Cherries

William Whyte: Pass the Cherries - Twilight of the Dons: British Intellectuals from World War II to Thatcherism by Colin Kidd

literaryreview.co.uk

George Forster’s role aboard Captain Cook’s Resolution has long been overlooked, concealing the true Enlightenment celebrity he was.   Peter Moore explores how such a well-travelled individual made sense of the world. literaryreview.co.uk/out-of-the-a...

Peter Moore - Out of the Armchair

Peter Moore: Out of the Armchair - The Traveller: The Revolutionary Life of George Forster and his Search for Humanity by Andrea Wulf

literaryreview.co.uk

In the middle decades of the 20th century, knowing the correct order to circulate fruit after dinner could qualify you to teach at Oxford. William Whyte wonders whether the decline of the dons has really been so terrible. literaryreview.co.uk/pass-the-che...

William Whyte - Pass the Cherries

William Whyte: Pass the Cherries - Twilight of the Dons: British Intellectuals from World War II to Thatcherism by Colin Kidd

literaryreview.co.uk

What does it really mean to call Spinoza an atheist? Joe Moshenska reviews Steven Nadler’s "compelling" Spinoza, Atheist in @litreview.bsky.social. Read more:

Joe Moshenska - A Man of Substance

Joe Moshenska: A Man of Substance - Spinoza, Atheist by Steven Nadler

literaryreview.co.uk

Following its controversy-courting adaptation for the big screen, Wuthering Heights has found new fans - but we still know relatively little about its author. John Mullan wonders how we can trace Emily Brontë’s life. literaryreview.co.uk/out-on-the-w...

John Mullan - Out on the Wily, Windy Moors

John Mullan: Out on the Wily, Windy Moors - This Dark Night: The Life of Emily Brontë by Deborah Lutz

literaryreview.co.uk

You begin to hate the plastics industry the further you get into Plastic Inc. @bethgardiner.bsky.social charts the industry’s use of disinformation, lobbying, legal sabre-rattling and lawsuits to emasculate or eliminate legal and regulatory constraints. My Plastic Inc review @litreview.bsky.social

Ian Fraser - Bottling It

Ian Fraser: Bottling It - Plastic Inc.: Big Oil, Big Money and the Plan to Trash our Future by Beth Gardiner

literaryreview.co.uk

Out now! Literary Review's June 2026 issue, featuring Peter Moore on George Forster @annegperkins.bsky.social on the Balfour family William Whyte on British dons Ian Thomson on the fall of the USSR John Mullan on Emily Brontë and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk

Very grateful for the early responses to This Little World. John Guy in Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social: literaryreview.co.uk/concerning-s...

John Guy - Concerning Strangers

John Guy: Concerning Strangers - This Little World: A New History of Tudor and Stuart England by Nandini Das

literaryreview.co.uk

Those who work in private equity are serious about confidentiality, despite the often enormous consequences of their actions. @nixonsimon.bsky.social searches for the weak points of this guarded industry. literaryreview.co.uk/hush-money

Simon Nixon - Hush Money

Simon Nixon: Hush Money - The Asset Class: How Private Equity Turned Capitalism Against Itself by Hettie O'Brien

literaryreview.co.uk

Winston Churchill's devotion to the monarchy was fervent; he viewed the sovereign as the very fount of honour and majesty. Piers Brendon investigates the theatrical nature of Churchill's loyalty to the crown. literaryreview.co.uk/top-hat-rubb...

Piers Brendon - Top Hat, Rubber Stamp

Piers Brendon: Top Hat, Rubber Stamp - Churchill and the Crown by Ted Powell

literaryreview.co.uk

This issue contains my review of @hettieobrien.bsky.social excellent and very timely new book on the private equity industry. Do give it a read - and then buy her book!

Literary Review@litreview.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Out now! Literary Review's May 2026 issue, featuring Ritchie Robertson on Weimar @chasd2.bsky.social on Louise Bourgeois John Guy on the Tudors Kirsten Tambling on dogs in art @nixonsimon.bsky.social on private equity and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk

@helenpearson.bsky.social’s new book Beyond Belief "offers some healthy pragmatism" says @adamjkucharski.bsky.social for @litreview.bsky.social (£): literaryreview.co.uk/on-second-th...

Literary Review - For People Who Devour Books

In the Current Issue: Ritchie Robertson on Weimar * Charles Darwent on Louise Bourgeois * John Guy on the Tudors * Kirsten Tambling on dogs in art * Piers Brendon on Churchill and the crown * Saul…

literaryreview.co.uk

Anthony Pagden calls @georgiosvarouxakis.bsky.social’s The West "remarkable" in his review for @litreview.bsky.social. Read more here:

Anthony Pagden - Room for Improvement

Anthony Pagden: Room for Improvement - The West: The History of an Idea by Georgios Varouxakis

literaryreview.co.uk

For years, the classical tradition has trained female musicians to do away with their vocal break, smoothing it over in the quest for an idealised tone. @marenmein.bsky.social explores the politics and ideas that have controlled the female voice. literaryreview.co.uk/while-the-mu...

Maren Meinhardt - While the Music Lasts

Maren Meinhardt: While the Music Lasts - Vocal Break: On Women, Music and Power by Lauren Elkin

literaryreview.co.uk

Dogs are everywhere in art, at the feet of scholars and St Jeromes, posing with their owners and striding through Paris. What can we learn about ourselves, Kirsten Tambling wonders, from the ways we depict our animal companions? literaryreview.co.uk/artists-best...

Kirsten Tambling - Artist’s Best Friend

Kirsten Tambling: Artist’s Best Friend - The Dog’s Gaze: A Visual History by Thomas W Laqueur

literaryreview.co.uk

I wrote about Brandon Taylor's Minor Black Figures and the "millennial novel" for the May issue of @litreview.bsky.social: literaryreview.co.uk/brushes-with...

Mythili Rao - Brushes with Fame

Mythili Rao: Brushes with Fame - Minor Black Figures by Brandon Taylor

literaryreview.co.uk

Nigel Andrew calls Marlene Zuk's Outsider Animals "[A] breezily written, very readable book," in his review for @litreview.bsky.social. Read more here (£): literaryreview.co.uk/snakes-on-th...

Literary Review - For People Who Devour Books

In the Current Issue: Ritchie Robertson on Weimar * Charles Darwent on Louise Bourgeois * John Guy on the Tudors * Kirsten Tambling on dogs in art * Piers Brendon on Churchill and the crown * Saul…

literaryreview.co.uk

A delightful review of THE ASSET CLASS made the cover of this month's Literary Review, and starts with the brilliant line: "Some of the most disagreeable people I have encountered in three decades of financial journalism work in private equity" Read it here! literaryreview.co.uk/hush-money

This "fascinating new book….showcases her skill at separating the well-meaning from the well-researched" "Beyond Belief offers some healthy pragmatism” on use of evidence. Thank you @adamjkucharski.bsky.social for this great review in @litreview.bsky.social £ literaryreview.co.uk/on-second-th...

Adam Kucharski - On Second Thoughts

Adam Kucharski: On Second Thoughts - Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works by Helen Pearson

literaryreview.co.uk

@litreview.bsky.social calls @pjtheeconomist.bsky.social "the ideal guide to the complexities of the UK distribution of income and wealth," in their review of his new book, Challenging Inequalities. Read more here:

Howard Davies - Who Ate All the Pie?

Howard Davies: Who Ate All the Pie? - Challenging Inequalities: How We Got Stuck and Where We Go Next by Paul Johnson

literaryreview.co.uk

Out now! Literary Review's May 2026 issue, featuring Ritchie Robertson on Weimar @chasd2.bsky.social on Louise Bourgeois John Guy on the Tudors Kirsten Tambling on dogs in art @nixonsimon.bsky.social on private equity and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk