Books

A vivid but oddly unresolved picture

This biography of Constable is but a partial portrait

Timely reminder of the true price of oil

‘Disorder’ argues convincingly that world history now hinges on the price of oil

Narcisssism and the naked arts graduate

This call for an overhaul of the sex industry is self-indulgent and short-sighted

Welcome returns for three Irish writers

Why is the publishing industry so obsessed with debuts?

Young Stalin’s unlikely London holiday

Stephen May’s new novel is a triumph of historical fiction

An underground war

This history of resistance in the Second World War is as moving as it is comprehensive

Who actually got Brexit done?

Mark Francois’s Brexit book is a timely corrective to the Cummings narrative

Can our duties set us free?

Jacob Phillips’ new book challenges the assumption that freedom lies in unconstraint

A bitter brew from darkest Peru

Iain Sinclair on the trail of his Victorian ancestor

In Darwin’s dreamland

A two-year stint on an island in Lake Victoria makes for a poignant and memorable memoir