Who will come to the aid of the party?
Geoffrey Wheatcroft charts how the Conservative party lost the plot in The Strange Death of Tory England. But are they really dead and buried? Andrew Rawnsley isn't so sure.
Winnie takes all
Richard Holmes's life of Britain's great war leader, In the Footsteps of Churchill, is packed with startling detail, says Neal Ascherson.
Harmless drudge at work
Henry Hitchings celebrates Samuel Johnson's monumental achievement 250 years after the difficult birth of his masterpiece in Dr Johnson's Dictionary.
The men who fell to Earth
Nine astronauts who walked on the Moon are still alive, but their clouds of glory have gone dark. Andrew Smith tracks them down in Moondust.
The perfect score
Mike Figgis is enchanted by Julia Blackburn's biography of Lady Day, With Billie.
He’s still the top dog in Turkey
Orhan Pamuk merges the story of his childhood with the story of a city in his dazzling memoir, Istanbul, says Nouritza Matossian.
1:1.618 proves Hanks is Da Vinci
Stephen Petty: So the Jesus theory in The Da Vinci Code was a little hard to swallow. But surely that isn't the most memorable, life-changing aspect of the book.
Seventh heaven
There are no ambiguities in John Haffenden's vivid life of William Empson, says Adam Phillips.
Balkan eulogy
Vesna Goldsworthy's memoir of her native Yugoslavia, Chernobyl Strawberries, deserves to find a wide audience, says Tim Judah.
No wonder she had the blues
Julia Blackburn knits together a fascinating patchwork of first-hand testimony in her biography of a jazz genius, With Billie.
Come into the garden, Claude
Henri Cueco examines the minutiae of everyday life in his charming memoir, Conversations with my Gardener.
Never mind the Sex Pistols
Simon Reynolds argues that punk was just the precursor to a real period of British musical innovation in Rip It Up And Start Again.
Sweet little mystery
Tale of Tales has been called the greatest animated film ever. But what does it mean? By AS Byatt.
In search of Eden
Jill Sinclair takes a botanical trek with Jamaica Kincaid in Among Flowers.
Raising the tone
Lewis Lockwood is a subtle guide to Beethoven's heavenly music, says Nicholas Lezard.