The women who gave Tudor queens style, sense – and secrecy about sex
Sixteenth-century ladies-in-waiting are a beloved frippery of glossy TV. But as Nicola Clark shows, they often shaped international politics
Sixteenth-century ladies-in-waiting are a beloved frippery of glossy TV. But as Nicola Clark shows, they often shaped international politics
Saul David’s hugely entertaining Sky Warriors recalls the remarkable achievements of the British airborne forces during the Second World War
Ten Years to Save the West portrays the former PM as so un-self-aware she’s almost an innocent – and makes her job sound near-impossible
Knife is a tour-de-force, in which the great novelist takes his brutal near-murder and spins it into a majestic essay on art, pain and love
In the 1970s, the ex-Fab Four and their circle sank into mutual recriminations, if you trust this intriguing – albeit wayward – oral history
Emanuele Coccia’s Philosophy of the Home, a meditation on the way we live, is intellectually engrossing, but veers too far into abstraction
Noah Angell’s new book argues that the objects in our flagship institution are coming alive – but behind the zany idea is a tired polemic
Three new books attack English self-mythologisation, but they’re often wide of the mark – whereas a certain Green MP makes plenty of sense
Sociopaths shouldn’t be treated like monsters, argues Patric Gagne – a sociopath herself, and a therapist – in her eye-opening memoir
In The Prisoner, Vladimir Pereverzin recalls spending the 2010s behind bars and among killers – though his account seems oddly mild today
Adam Smyth’s The Book-Makers ranges from Benjamin Franklin to an eccentric typographer who threw all his type into the Thames
In The Illusionist, Robert Hutton explores how Dudley Clarke invented an ingenious new playbook of military subterfuge
Angus Hanton’s book Vassal State is a provocative and detailed study of how Britain’s economy fell victim to US power – and how to respond
Caroline Burt & Richard Partington’s new book Arise, England is a terrific account of the Plantagenets who ruled for over 300 years
In her formidable history of the 1913 Mental Deficiency Act and its effects, Sarah Wise uncovers a staggering range of injustices
Four strange 500-year-old instruments link Henry VIII’s fleet to the modern Royal Navy. A music archaeologist dives into their story
Trophy Lives, a superb book-length essay by Philippa Snow, dissects our relationship with the rich and famous – and why we can’t stop caring
In Not Your China Doll, a rich biography by Katie Gee Salisbury, Anna May Wong emerges as a thrilling actress and Asian-American trailblazer
Nuclear War, by Pulitzer-nominated Annie Jacobsen, uses interviews with security officials – and overblown prose – to narrate the apocalypse
Burnout, Hannah Proctor’s study of ‘the experience of political defeat’, is full of historical detail, but it’s messily put together