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The intricate, complex ties of Jewishness with democracy and Israel are addressed in three challenging books
The National Book Award winner’s first foray into fiction melds the fantastical with the brutality of human bondage
By ridiculing the absurdity of Brexit, the author may achieve the opposite effect
Daron Acemoglu and James A Robinson ask: how do we balance protections with liberty?
A timely and enjoyable look at the personality of dictators and the need to defend democracy
The abrupt loss of a beloved home is at the heart of the ‘Bel Canto’ author’s powerful new novel
An enjoyable short-story collection tackles existential woes and contemporary concerns
A rich account of modern Britain that begins and ends with a bang
Our critic’s round-up of books by Kassandra Montag, David Koepp, Simon Morden, Jac Jemc and DK Fields
From the darkness of dictators, anti-Semitism and slavery — to ‘glowing’ concerns about artificial light
A portrait of the intellectual conscience of the babyboomer generation — faults and all
Most of us want to light up our lives — but what if it harms our health or the natural world?
His premise is that inequality is a choice societies make, not an inevitability
Here’s what to read to understand the complex fight between nationalism and globalism
A robust defence of the pursuit of corporate profit
Admirers of ‘Jeeves and Wooster’ author hope it will complete writer’s rehabilitation
The life of the Virago Press co-founder who was instrumental in celebrating female writers
Long sentences are tricky to pull off — but can be a shortcut to getting inside a character
An insightful new work on the origins of the country’s authoritarianism and its resonance today
An impish outlier in a slew of books for visitors to the Rugby World Cup and Tokyo Olympics
The latest novels from Tami Hoag, Jørn Lier Horst, Linwood Barclay, Attica Locke and more
After the failed plot against Hitler, families of the German resistance faced a cruel fate
The former wild child of French literature is back with another contrarian anti-hero
Janine Gibson helped bring his revelations of mass surveillance to the world. How much has changed since then?
The former Tory chairman reviews a memoir charting a well-meaning but mistake-ridden path to the EU referendum
The artist’s salty voice rings out in an indulgent and highly enjoyable biography
Data privacy and bias against women are among the themes explored in this year’s annual prize
An instructive account of a gruelling battle for equal pay at the BBC
Here’s what to read to understand the evolving situation in the city right now
Verbose tomes do not necessarily translate into sales to time-pressed buyers
The Israeli writer’s compact stories combine comedy and tragedy to often brilliant effect
An extraordinary account of the development of a continental cultured class told through three remarkable figures
A curious historical experiment from 1797 to get a man to live alone underground for seven years is spun out into a novel
Jessie Burton explores the propensity to label women’s writing as ‘autofiction’ and the dangers of such categorisation
Panoramic look at how ‘the greatest story ever told’ overthrew antiquity and formed the west
Fine work departs from the standard story on inequality to argue we are in a war of all against all
Up-and-coming writer pens joke-filled love letter to his home and its street hustle