Book reviews are not the preserve of the literary dilettantes — they have real power

The self-justifying self-portrait of a journalist who never made it

Jack Kerouac’s reputation should rest on his whole oeuvre — not just his most famous novel

Done well, book reviews have never been more important

Owen Hatherley offers a vital but frequently flawed guide to post-war British architecture

Enough of reformers who want to turn schools upside-down without knowing which way is up

Gal Beckerman’s history of how high-speed communication prevents social change

Chuck Klosterman’s book sheds rose-tinted light on the decade

Escaped from Nazi Germany, a teenage boy found himself a prisoner in Britain

Michael Crick casts Farage as an almost vampiric figure, draining the life from others to sustain his decades of dominance