Books

A small number of eye-wateringly expensive private schools are ruining Britain – and one stands out from the rest

Great writers give us more than just good stories to read, they help us define ourselves and our place in the world

An exile’s redemptive return to track four generations of family history in the “backyard of a country that still thinks it’s an empire”

Martin Amis once confided his belief that his literary legacy would not last long. It was one of the rare occasions that he was wrong

In an age of stultified self-censorship and blandness, we have lost an author who always ran towards gunfire

How the KGB took their Cold War tactics from a Chinese military strategist who died 500 years before the birth of Christ - and why they still work

In this extract from his new book, our editor-at-large reflects on why The People’s Vote failed... and what makes a successful campaign

Artificial intelligence can create a so-so approximation of what John Betjeman might have made of Brexit. But can it write with soul?

The American right’s culture battles are creating empty shelves in Republican states. Could Britain join in with this madness?

Forget the headlines. Children's reading comprehension is on the decline, and their books are to blame

A new book eschews cosy nostalgia to explore the fractures that Europe’s picture postcard tourist traps keep hidden

Two new novels evoke the eeriness thrumming through small coastal towns, where lives wash up like the debris on the beach

They all did. But they campaigned for it anyway

The irony at the heart of his moral philosophy is as relevant today as it was in the 18th century

Painstakingly plotted, the Swedish author’s bestselling debut Collected Works weighs in at 733 pages – over a quarter of a million words

Looking at the blurred and bloody borders of Habsburg history through the writings of Joseph Roth

Even the greatest of writers – from John Steinbeck to Maya Angelou – suffer from the idea that they’re about to be found out

Raising the spectre of ‘war’ against Covid promoted irrational panic

The great European author, who died earlier this month, didn’t leave Croatia – her country left her

In the literary snake pit, writers and critics tend to either suck up to one another frantically, or bite down hard so as to inject their venom yet deeper

The era of gentle persuasion, finding understanding and preventing conflict seems to be coming to an end. Can it be revived?

How Brigitte Reimann, once an idealistic socialist, wrote one of Germany’s great post-war novels

The Cuddy author has a rare gift for finding the right voice for the right people in the right era

Should undiscovered Terry Pratchett stories, and other posthumous work, be published?

Celebrating 100 years of the subversive eccentric feted by the Beatles and John Peel

The exiled reporter who turned soldier to fight against Putin’s invaders

Svetlana Alexievich’s books chart the horrors of history through witness testimony rather than fiction

A gripping work of literary fiction – soon to be a Netflix series – sheds light on the Sámi’s plight

Are bulging bookshelves really “smug and cultish” – or sources of much-needed tranquility?

Prince Harry and his wife may be absurd, but the reaction to his book shows almost everything he says about his family, and the press, is true

What a new collection by some of France’s greatest writers tells us about the art of the short story

I set out on a quest to find the grave of a someone I never knew, thanks to a book with a story