Books

Dinah Casson’s book will inspire and galvanise anyone involved in British provincial museums

What about the past should and could be mapped, and how to do so, are vexed issues in cartographic studies

The Story of Scottish Art is not a scholarly work of art history; it gives an easy-to-read account of artists’ lives with a faintly awestruck tone

Despite its length, Philip Mansel’s biography of the Sun King is ‘a welcome prize for any reviewer’

There is a great deal to look forward to this year, and hopefully not that much to dread

Andy Friend provides a readable account of Nash’s life, but omits important detail about how the artist made others feel

Bringing back the Net Book Agreement would be a good start for badly-paid authors

Put down the pandemic novels: Here’s my favourite fiction of 2020

George Orwell has a gift for the unusual and the memorable that means that even his half-forgotten novels are well worth discovering once again

A BDSM book by a group keen to challenge gender norms is oddly conventional