Christopher Ricks: Someone’s gotta hold of his art

If Christopher Ricks is better known for his admiration of Bob Dylan than for his own work, it doesn't seem to bother him. The new Oxford professor of poetry has a certain style, finds Donald MacLeod.

Out of steppe with Anton

Rosamund Bartlett's Chekhov: Scenes From a Life concentrates on his travelling - and somehow manages to ignore his writing.

More power to the tower

These days, everyone is interested in buildings, so the Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture is timely and welcome.

Guard of honour

Edward Pearce on Simon Ball's The Guardsmen, a study of political lives in the 20th century.

The Liver bird

June Purvis celebrates Susan Pedersen's biography of the overlooked founder of 'new feminism', Eleanor Rathbone and the Politics of Conscience

America’s founding yuppie

Jay Parini enjoys Benjamin Franklin: An American Life - Walter Isaacson's new biography of the writer, inventor, diplomat, wit and all-round bon vivant Benjamin Franklin.

Do not adjust your pen

Ursula Owen admires Where We Have Hope, Andrew Meldrum's brave account of reporting in a much-troubled African state.

Against all odds

Virginia Rounding is captivated by Two Babushkas, Masha Gessen's account of two grandmothers' experiences of life under Stalin.

Dead reckoning

David Riggs' biography, The World of Christopher Marlowe, moves beyond the conspiracy theories to paint a realistic picture of his life and shows just how different he was from Shakespeare, says Colin Burrow

Robert Burchfield

As the editor of the Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary, he inspired debate and dialogue about our language.

What’s the buzz?

Steven Poole takes an ear-awakening trip through the world of electronic sound art in Haunted Weather by David Toop.

Open access jeopardises academic publishers, Reed chief warns

The rise of open access publishing of scientific research could jeopardise the entire academic publishing industry, according to the chief executive of Reed Elsevier, the world's largest publisher of scientific journals. By Richard Wray.

Story of the Stasi holds secret of a bestseller

Prize for book on life beyond the Wall confirms rise of historical hits.

Freezing their socks off

Veronica Horwell considers the differing perspectives of a Brit and an American in Afghanistan, in Josiah the Great by Ben Macintyre and The Places in Between by Rory Stewart.