Lead book review
As special enclaves proliferate, what are the consequences for democracy?
Zones of exception, freed from ordinary forms of regulation, are proliferating in bewildering varieties. Kwasi Kwarteng considers the consequences for democracy
The remarkable prescience of Alexis de Tocqueville
Toby Young is struck by how prescient Tocqueville’s observations have proved on the social and political structures of the many countries he visited
The biography Noël Coward deserves
Philip Hensher follows Noël Coward from precocious childhood to the vortex of fame
Is this the end of travel writing?
Viv Groskop shares Sara Wheeler’s fears that modern sensibilities are fatally threatening a centuries-old genre
A radical new theory about the origin of the universe may help explain our existence
Alexander Masters examines the top down cosmology proposed by Stephen Hawking and Thomas Hertog
The world has become a toxic prison – and a volcanic winter lurks on the horizon
Our own actions have created the toxic prison in which we now live, says Peter Frankopan, and the future looks terrifying. Adam Nicolson can only agree
What, if anything, unites Asia as a continent?
Is it merely a European construct – and what, if anything, do its diverse peoples have in common, wonders Peter Frankopan
The nightmare continues
The Cultural Revolution may have been officially forgotten, but it will always haunt Xinran and her generation
Has Salman Rushdie become his own pastiche?
Salman Rushdie returns to India with a full-throated mix of history, magic realism and dazzling storytelling, says James Walton
Here be dragons, dog-headed men and women growing on trees
Justin Marozzi celebrates the medieval naturalist Zakariyya Qazwini and his breathtaking bid to capture the marvels of creation
The radicals of 17th-century England began to think the unthinkable
Few periods match the British 17th century for turmoil and idealism.No wonder historians have repeatedly been drawn to it, says Lucy Hughes-Hallett
Spare reviewed: Harry is completely disingenuous – or an idiot
What makes the Duke of Sussex believe he can lead a charge against practitioners of the written word, wonders Philip Hensher
The imaginative energy of Katherine Mansfield
Claire Harman discusses ten of Mansfield’s short stories in connection with her tragically short life
The collectors’ obsession with rare medieval manuscripts
Jonathan Sumption describes the age-old obsession of bibliophiles with acquiring rare illuminated manuscripts
Tales of old Hollywood are always entertaining – even when they’re apocryphal
If the early days lacked glamour, they certainly provided the best anecdotes, according to a new oral history
Friedrich Hayek: a great political thinker rather than a great economist
Robert Skidelsky follows Friedrich Hayek’s progression from technical economics to political thinking after his battles with John Maynard Keynes
Anne Glenconner: ‘I took my courage from Princess Margaret’
At times Anne Glenconner seems like a Craig Brown parody – but no, she really exists, and we must celebrate her, says Hermione Eyre
A sunken wreck of a novel: Cormac McCarthy’s The Passenger reviewed
A great talent is wasted in Cormac McCarthy’s meandering tale of a mysterious plane crash and its aftermath, says Philip Hensher
Books of the year II – chosen by our regular reviewers
A further selection of recent books enjoyed by our regular reviewers – and a few that have disappointed them
Books of the Year I — chosen by our regular reviewers
Our regular reviewers choose the books they have most enjoyed reading in 2022
Who needed who most? The complex bond between Vera Brittain and Winifred Holtby
Claudia FitzHerbert explores the complex bond between two remarkable writers in the interwar years
We love you, Uncle Xi!
Tom Miller on the cult of personality that China’s ‘core leader’ has so ruthlessly constructed
A complex, driven, unhappy man: the truth about John le Carré
Adam Sisman on the private life of John le Carré, revealed in letters and a kiss-and-tell
The lonely passions of Emily Hale and Mary Trevelyan
Tom Williams describes how two women’s hopes of marrying T.S. Eliot came to nothing
The unpleasant truth about Joseph Roth
The Radetzky March must be one of the dozen greatest European novels – but its author was frighteningly unpleasant, says Philip Hensher