Empireland: How Imperialism has Shaped Modern Britain by Sathnam Sanghera
Reviewed by Liz Dexter “If we don’t confront the reality of what happened in British empire, we will never be able to work out who we are or who we…
Hyphens & Hashtags* by Claire Cock-Starkey
Reviewed by Liz Dexter Subtitled “The stories behind the symbols on our keyboards” (the subtitle linked to the main title via an asterisk rather than a colon), this is a…
Grayson’s Art Club: The Exhibition (Manchester Art Gallery, 2020)
Reviewed by Liz Dexter Back at the beginning of the first lockdown, Grayson Perry, potter and tapestry maker extraordinaire and no stranger to intimate and challenging TV shows, ran an…
Unfinished Business: The Fight for Women’s Rights, edited by Polly Russell and Margaretta Jolly
Reviewed by Liz Dexter It used to be that we attended exhibitions and treated ourselves to the catalogue in the shop on the way out. Now, it’s more a case…
Fifty Words for Snow by Nancy Campbell
Reviewed by Liz Dexter I greatly enjoyed reading Nancy Campbell’s meditation on the icy places of the world, The Library of Ice. last year, so when I was alerted that…
Follies: An Architectural Journey by Rory Fraser
Reviewed by Liz Dexter A delightful little book put out by a relatively new publisher founded in 2017 with a rather intriguing list, this would make a lovely gift for…
Work: A History of How We Spend our Time by James Suzman
Reviewed by Liz Dexter I will say right away that this is probably not the book you think it will be. The subtitle suggests it will be a history of…
The Secret Life of Books: Why They Mean More than Words by Tom Mole
Paperback review by Liz Dexter Tom Mole, as Professor of English Literature and Book History at the University of Edinburgh, is certainly qualified to write this Christmas-present-worthy joy of a…
Wintering: A Season With Geese by Stephen Rutt
Reviewed by Liz Dexter Stephen Rutt and his partner move to Dumfries, to a flat near the Solway Firth, just as he’s finishing writing his first (wonderful) book The Seafarers…
Kitted Out: Style and Youth Culture in the Second World War by Caroline Young
Reviewed by Liz Dexter This extremely well-researched and authoritative book takes us through the Second World War, in the UK, the US, the Far and Middle East and Europe, through…
Unofficial Britain: Journeys Through Unexpected Places by Gareth E. Rees
Reviewed by Liz Dexter Opening notably and powerfully with a description of travelling through a traditional countryside location, innocent dry stone walls at first, then Civil War memories, a burning…
Horse Crazy: The Story of a Woman and a World in Love with an Animal by Sarah Maslin Nir
Review by Liz Dexter Sarah Maslin Nir is a staff reporter for the New York Times who, by her own admission, has sought out horses wherever she’s travelled to write…
The Book of Trespass by Nick Hayes
Reviewed by Liz Dexter A book that is in turns entertaining, lyrical and shocking, you won’t think about the countryside – or the rivers – of England in quite the…
The Oxford Illustrated History of the Book, ed. James Raven
Reviewed by Liz Dexter As you would expect from an Oxford Illustrated History of … this is a sumptuous production, world-wide in scope and bringing in chapters from experts from…
Grayson Perry by Jacky Klein & Grayson Perry
Reviewed by Liz Dexter This sumptuous book, that has a lot of content, in terms of both text and image, is a real treat – the only book so far…
Into the Tangled Bank by Lev Parikian
Review by Liz Dexter Lev Parikian is a conductor and, more recently, a birdwatcher, and you might have seen or read his book on birds, Why do Birds Suddenly Disappear?…
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
Paperback Review by Liz Dexter This Sunday Times bestseller, which was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, has been touted as…
Home Computers: 100 Icons that Defined a Digital Generation by Alex Wiltshire and John Short
Reviewed by Liz Dexter Being born in the early 70s, I reached the age where we develop interests just as the first cheaper home computers were coming in – the…
The Boundless Sea: A Human History of the Oceans by David Abulafia
Review by Liz Dexter The reason this book is in the news now is that it has been shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize (more on the shortlist here). I…
Art & Design, Craft & Photography
Ecology & Environment, Natural World
Non Fiction
Travel & the World
Tracks: Walking the Ancient Landscapes of Britain by Philip Hughes
Softback review by Liz Dexter This quietly stunning book will appeal to anyone interested in art, landscape, walking, geology, geography, maps and ancient monuments. Deceptively simple paintings reveal both the…
Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights by Helen Lewis
Review by Liz Dexter First of all a caveat, in case any keen-eyed reader finds my name in the acknowledgements: I did work on this book in my professional capacity,…
Let’s Talk: How English Conversation Works by David Crystal
Review by Liz Dexter “What makes a successful conversation?” is a question David Crystal considers asking people in his new book – and, well, how would you answer that question?…
A History of Pictures: From the Cave to the Computer Screen by Martin Gayford and David Hockney
Reviewed by Liz Dexter This is a new ‘compact’ edition of this book, with a revised final chapter bringing it all up to date, and reproductions of three new David…
Learning Languages in Early Modern England by John Gallagher
Review by Liz Dexter Has it ever struck you that before England obtained its empire, no one else in the world bothered to speak the language? Did you realise what…