The Mess We’re In by Annie Macmanus review – an immersive tale of music and messiness
A Dubliner moves to London to make it as a singer-songwriter in the DJ turned novelist’s evocative and lyrical coming-of-age story
Power and Progress review – why the tech-equals-progress narrative must be challenged
In an important new book, US economists Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson propose ways in which digital technology can be repurposed for human flourishing as well as private profit
The Last Honest Man: Frank Church and the fight to restrain US power
Pulitzer-winner James Risen calls the late Democratic senator an ‘American Cicero’ – and makes a strong case
Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer review – what’s your cancellation policy?
The American journalist’s thoughts on how we should respond to art created by dreadful people are muddled and poorly researched
The Great White Bard by Farah Karim-Cooper review – reclaiming Shakespeare
An inspiring analysis of Shakespeare and race restores his reputation as a playwright for all
The Wounded World review: brilliant biography of WEB Du Bois at war
Chad L Williams charts the great Black intellectual’s journey through the first world war. It makes essential reading
We Need New Names review – playful staging of NoViolet Bulawayo’s novel
Director Monique Touko keeps the tone lively with this tough story of Mugabe’s Zimbabwe in which the actors switch race, age and gender with ease
The best recent poetry – review roundup
Tomorrow Someone Will Arrest You by Meena Kandasamy; Divisible By Itself and One by Kae Tempest; To 2040 by Jorie Graham; Local Interest by Emily Hasler; The Ink Cloud Reader by Kit Fan
Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes audiobook review – a smart changing-places tale
Daisy Ridley narrates this clever novel about the converging fates of two women from opposite sides of the tracks
Politics: A Survivor’s Guide by Rafael Behr review – a masterful account of contemporary malaise
A heart attack prompts the Guardian journalist to investigate the underlying causes of our uniquely polarised moment
The Ghost Theatre by Mat Osman review – a pacy Elizabethan adventure
The Suede bassist’s alternative-history romp through the theatres and over the rooftops of Elizabethan London is full of charm and vigour
Fat Girl Dancing by Kris Kneen review – the intimacies and indignities of living in a fat body
This radical, compelling and sometimes heartbreaking memoir asks: why do we make it so difficult for fat people to live in their bodies, in the world?
The Experience Machine by Andy Clark review – how our brains really work
A cognitive philosopher explains how prediction, rather than perception, is the mind’s secret weapon
Greek Lessons by Han Kang review – studies in silence and solitude
A woman who has lost the power of speech forms a connection with a language teacher who is losing his sight in the Korean author’s striking examination of selfhood
The Archaeology of Loss by Sarah Tarlow review – till death do us part
A candid memoir that lays out the complexities of caring for an ailing partner