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Literary Review

@litreview.bsky.social

500 followers 256 following 67 posts

Britain's leading monthly literary magazine. For people who devour books. Read our latest: literaryreview.co.uk Get our free newsletter: eepurl.com/daK84f

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Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 22h

Out now! Literary Review's October 2026 issue, featuring Nicholas Dames on the novel @jfb1066.bsky.social on Napoleon’s marshals John Adamson on the Glorious Revolution @eriklinstrum.bsky.social on confiscation @janetanderson.bsky.social on small dogs and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk

Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

James Marriott believes that we are living through the ‘Disenlightenment’, where reading has been swapped out for reel-watching. Is it really that bleak? @anthonygottlieb.bsky.social weighs in. literaryreview.co.uk/zombie-ipoca...

literaryreview.co.uk

Anthony Gottlieb - Zombie iPocalypse

Anthony Gottlieb: Zombie iPocalypse - The New Dark Ages: The End of Reading and the Dawn of the Post-Literate Society by James Marriott

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Sarah Pyke @sarahpyke.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I love this card catalogue so much. Here's a short piece I wrote for @litreview.bsky.social about it (and my great-grandmother's wartime reading diary) earlier this year literaryreview.co.uk/list-of-a-li...

Bookends piece in Literary Review magazine

Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

With over seven hundred novels to her name, Barbara Cartland could count Princess Diana and Colonel Gaddafi among her fans. Wendy Holden makes a case for reconsidering a woman too easily written off as absurd. literaryreview.co.uk/preposterous...

literaryreview.co.uk

Wendy Holden - Preposterously Pink

Wendy Holden: Preposterously Pink - The Great Dictator: A Life of Barbara Cartland by Matthew Sweet

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New York Review Books @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

"She was Venus come down from Mount Olympus." Virginia Verasis, Countess of Castiglione, the Victorian beauty who seduced Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte to get France on the side of Italian independence, is the subject of a brilliant new biography by Benedetta Craveri. @litreview.bsky.social.

literaryreview.co.uk

Jonathan Keates - Fixer from Florence

Jonathan Keates: Fixer from Florence - La Contessa by Benedetta Craveri (Translated from Italian by Alex Andriesse)

Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Out now! Literary Review's September 2026 issue, featuring Kathryn Hughes on Anita Brookner Richard Vinen on Eric Hobsbawm Andrew Preston on Francis Fukuyama Howard Davies on government debt Wendy Holden on Barbara Cartland and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk

Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Cicero's life was bookended by two momentous events: the fall of Roman Republic and the rise of the future Augustus. Llewelyn Morgan asks what his letters reveal about this turning point in history. literaryreview.co.uk/letters-from...

literaryreview.co.uk

Llewelyn Morgan - Letters from a Cataclysm

Llewelyn Morgan: Letters from a Cataclysm - Orator: The Life of Cicero and the End of the Roman Republic by Catharine Edwards

Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

A flurry of recent Plath paraphernalia has come to a head with a new edition of her collected poems. Seamus Perry rejoices at the manifold, mutable woman who emerges to challenge Ted Hughes’s 1981 edition. literaryreview.co.uk/a-bulbous-moon

literaryreview.co.uk

Seamus Perry - A Bulbous Moon

Seamus Perry: A Bulbous Moon - The Poems of Sylvia Plath by Amanda Golden & Karen V Kukil (eds)

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Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Scared of spiders? In her fascinating new book, Arachnomania, Maria Tatar explains why spiders have haunted our stories, fears, and imaginations for centuries. Read Lorraine Daston's review in @litreview.bsky.social: literaryreview.co.uk/web-of-intri...

literaryreview.co.uk

Lorraine Daston - Web of Intrigue

Lorraine Daston: Web of Intrigue - Arachnomania: Spiders and the Cultural Work They Do for Us by Maria Tatar

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Zoe Guttenplan @zoeguttenplan.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

I wrote about Rachel Cusk’s new novel for the August issue of @litreview.bsky.social literaryreview.co.uk/lights-camer...

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Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

“Daniel A. Bell has produced a highly original, thoughtful and often witty account of why these thinkers still matter.” Read Rana Mitter's review of Why Ancient Chinese Political Thought Matters in @litreview.bsky.social: literaryreview.co.uk/precedents-o...

literaryreview.co.uk

Rana Mitter - Precedents of China

Rana Mitter: Precedents of China - Why Ancient Chinese Political Thought Matters: Four Dialogues on China’s Past, Present, and Future by Daniel A Bell

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Jonathan Fennell @jonathanfennell.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Bowled over by @jfb1066.bsky.social's review of COLLAPSE in this month's @litreview.bsky.social! ‘Original and thought-provoking … Collapse represents an ambitious and scholarly achievement ... it sets a new standard for writing the history of warfare’. A good day! literaryreview.co.uk/peoples-war

literaryreview.co.uk

Jonathan Boff - People’s War

Jonathan Boff: People’s War - Collapse: A Global History of the Second World War, 1931–1941 by Jonathan Fennell

Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Out now! Literary Review's August 2026 issue, featuring Emma Smith on New World imports Ian Thomson on Mario Vargas Llosa Seamus Perry on Sylvia Plath Hamish de Bretton-Gordon on biological warfare Simon Garfield on pens and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk

Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

It's Booker Prize longlist day! Enjoy a selection of our reviews of the longlisted books, free for 24 hours: literaryreview.co.uk/on-the-same-... literaryreview.co.uk/just-project... literaryreview.co.uk/tweed-tragedy literaryreview.co.uk/analyse-this-2 literaryreview.co.uk/call-to-nature

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David Anderson @bricksilk.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

My review of Julia Ebner's new book "The Language of Terrorists" now out in Literary Review. With my past reviews on national security, constitutional and legal topics, find it here literaryreview.co.uk/contributors... (£ - it's a great periodical and I guess they have to live).

literaryreview.co.uk

Literary Review - For People Who Devour Books

Book reviews by David Anderson

Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

In 2022, six commercial scuba-diving instructors found themselves in the heart of global political warfare. Michael Burleigh investigates the Nord Stream explosions and the civilians behind them. literaryreview.co.uk/six-of-the-b...

literaryreview.co.uk

Michael Burleigh - Six of the Best

Michael Burleigh: Six of the Best - The Nord Stream Conspiracy: The Inside Story of the Explosions that Shook the World by Bojan Pancevski

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Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

With an eye for spectacle and a penchant for an actress in a crinoline, Napoleon III has been dismissed as an embarrassing failure. Jonathan Keates wonders if he was a calculating opportunist or a forgotten visionary. literaryreview.co.uk/taller-with-...

literaryreview.co.uk

Jonathan Keates - Taller with the Charm On

Jonathan Keates: Taller with the Charm On - The People’s Emperor: The Unlikely Rise and Spectacular Fall of Napoleon III by Edward Shawcross

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christopher webb @christopherwebb.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Wrote on Michael Smith’s excellent Strangers on the Shore ( @whiterabbitbks.bsky.social ) for this month’s @litreview.bsky.social — I hope you find a copy and enjoy it as much as I did literaryreview.co.uk/sea-sand-sor...

literaryreview.co.uk

Christopher Webb - Sea, Sand & Sorrow

Christopher Webb: Sea, Sand & Sorrow - Strangers on the Shore by Michael Smith

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Levi Roach @proflroach.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Hot off the press in the latest @litreview.bsky.social: my review of @twhittermarsh.bsky.social's book on the origins of Christianity and the Age of Augustus. (TLDR: it's well worth a read.)

A photo of my review of Whitmarsh's book in the latest Literary Review.

Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Out now! Literary Review's July 2026 issue, featuring Richard Carwardine on Abraham Lincoln Levi Roach on Rome and Christianity Jonathan Keates on Napoleon III Stephen Smith on Cuba Michael Burleigh on Nord Stream and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk

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Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

We're very pleased to see Colin Kidd's Twilight of the Dons reviewed in @litreview.bsky.social! This work looks at the rise and shifts of postwar Oxbridge and its influence. Read more here:

literaryreview.co.uk

William Whyte - Pass the Cherries

William Whyte: Pass the Cherries - Twilight of the Dons: British Intellectuals from World War II to Thatcherism by Colin Kidd

Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

George Forster’s role aboard Captain Cook’s Resolution has long been overlooked, concealing the true Enlightenment celebrity he was. Peter Moore explores how such a well-travelled individual made sense of the world. literaryreview.co.uk/out-of-the-a...

literaryreview.co.uk

Peter Moore - Out of the Armchair

Peter Moore: Out of the Armchair - The Traveller: The Revolutionary Life of George Forster and his Search for Humanity by Andrea Wulf

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Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

In the middle decades of the 20th century, knowing the correct order to circulate fruit after dinner could qualify you to teach at Oxford. William Whyte wonders whether the decline of the dons has really been so terrible. literaryreview.co.uk/pass-the-che...

literaryreview.co.uk

William Whyte - Pass the Cherries

William Whyte: Pass the Cherries - Twilight of the Dons: British Intellectuals from World War II to Thatcherism by Colin Kidd

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Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

What does it really mean to call Spinoza an atheist? Joe Moshenska reviews Steven Nadler’s "compelling" Spinoza, Atheist in @litreview.bsky.social. Read more:

literaryreview.co.uk

Joe Moshenska - A Man of Substance

Joe Moshenska: A Man of Substance - Spinoza, Atheist by Steven Nadler

Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Following its controversy-courting adaptation for the big screen, Wuthering Heights has found new fans - but we still know relatively little about its author. John Mullan wonders how we can trace Emily Brontë’s life. literaryreview.co.uk/out-on-the-w...

literaryreview.co.uk

John Mullan - Out on the Wily, Windy Moors

John Mullan: Out on the Wily, Windy Moors - This Dark Night: The Life of Emily Brontë by Deborah Lutz

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Ian Fraser @ianfraser.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

You begin to hate the plastics industry the further you get into Plastic Inc. @bethgardiner.bsky.social charts the industry’s use of disinformation, lobbying, legal sabre-rattling and lawsuits to emasculate or eliminate legal and regulatory constraints. My Plastic Inc review @litreview.bsky.social

literaryreview.co.uk

Ian Fraser - Bottling It

Ian Fraser: Bottling It - Plastic Inc.: Big Oil, Big Money and the Plan to Trash our Future by Beth Gardiner

Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Out now! Literary Review's June 2026 issue, featuring Peter Moore on George Forster @annegperkins.bsky.social on the Balfour family William Whyte on British dons Ian Thomson on the fall of the USSR John Mullan on Emily Brontë and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk

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Nandini Das @rentravailer.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Very grateful for the early responses to This Little World. John Guy in Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social: literaryreview.co.uk/concerning-s...

literaryreview.co.uk

John Guy - Concerning Strangers

John Guy: Concerning Strangers - This Little World: A New History of Tudor and Stuart England by Nandini Das

Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Those who work in private equity are serious about confidentiality, despite the often enormous consequences of their actions. @nixonsimon.bsky.social searches for the weak points of this guarded industry. literaryreview.co.uk/hush-money

literaryreview.co.uk

Simon Nixon - Hush Money

Simon Nixon: Hush Money - The Asset Class: How Private Equity Turned Capitalism Against Itself by Hettie O'Brien

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Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Winston Churchill's devotion to the monarchy was fervent; he viewed the sovereign as the very fount of honour and majesty. Piers Brendon investigates the theatrical nature of Churchill's loyalty to the crown. literaryreview.co.uk/top-hat-rubb...

literaryreview.co.uk

Piers Brendon - Top Hat, Rubber Stamp

Piers Brendon: Top Hat, Rubber Stamp - Churchill and the Crown by Ted Powell

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Simon Nixon @nixonsimon.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

This issue contains my review of @hettieobrien.bsky.social excellent and very timely new book on the private equity industry. Do give it a read - and then buy her book!

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Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

@helenpearson.bsky.social’s new book Beyond Belief "offers some healthy pragmatism" says @adamjkucharski.bsky.social for @litreview.bsky.social (£): literaryreview.co.uk/on-second-th...

literaryreview.co.uk

Literary Review - For People Who Devour Books

In the Current Issue: Ritchie Robertson on Weimar * Charles Darwent on Louise Bourgeois * John Guy on the Tudors * Kirsten Tambling on dogs in art * Piers Brendon on Churchill and the crown * Saul…

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Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Anthony Pagden calls @georgiosvarouxakis.bsky.social’s The West "remarkable" in his review for @litreview.bsky.social. Read more here:

literaryreview.co.uk

Anthony Pagden - Room for Improvement

Anthony Pagden: Room for Improvement - The West: The History of an Idea by Georgios Varouxakis

Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

For years, the classical tradition has trained female musicians to do away with their vocal break, smoothing it over in the quest for an idealised tone. @marenmein.bsky.social explores the politics and ideas that have controlled the female voice. literaryreview.co.uk/while-the-mu...

literaryreview.co.uk

Maren Meinhardt - While the Music Lasts

Maren Meinhardt: While the Music Lasts - Vocal Break: On Women, Music and Power by Lauren Elkin

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Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Dogs are everywhere in art, at the feet of scholars and St Jeromes, posing with their owners and striding through Paris. What can we learn about ourselves, Kirsten Tambling wonders, from the ways we depict our animal companions? literaryreview.co.uk/artists-best...

literaryreview.co.uk

Kirsten Tambling - Artist’s Best Friend

Kirsten Tambling: Artist’s Best Friend - The Dog’s Gaze: A Visual History by Thomas W Laqueur

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Mythili Rao @mythili.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

I wrote about Brandon Taylor's Minor Black Figures and the "millennial novel" for the May issue of @litreview.bsky.social: literaryreview.co.uk/brushes-with...

literaryreview.co.uk

Mythili Rao - Brushes with Fame

Mythili Rao: Brushes with Fame - Minor Black Figures by Brandon Taylor

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Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Nigel Andrew calls Marlene Zuk's Outsider Animals "[A] breezily written, very readable book," in his review for @litreview.bsky.social. Read more here (£): literaryreview.co.uk/snakes-on-th...

literaryreview.co.uk

Literary Review - For People Who Devour Books

In the Current Issue: Ritchie Robertson on Weimar * Charles Darwent on Louise Bourgeois * John Guy on the Tudors * Kirsten Tambling on dogs in art * Piers Brendon on Churchill and the crown * Saul…

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Hettie O’Brien @hettieobrien.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

A delightful review of THE ASSET CLASS made the cover of this month's Literary Review, and starts with the brilliant line: "Some of the most disagreeable people I have encountered in three decades of financial journalism work in private equity" Read it here! literaryreview.co.uk/hush-money

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Helen Pearson @helenpearson.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

This "fascinating new book….showcases her skill at separating the well-meaning from the well-researched" "Beyond Belief offers some healthy pragmatism” on use of evidence. Thank you @adamjkucharski.bsky.social for this great review in @litreview.bsky.social £ literaryreview.co.uk/on-second-th...

literaryreview.co.uk

Adam Kucharski - On Second Thoughts

Adam Kucharski: On Second Thoughts - Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works by Helen Pearson

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Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

@litreview.bsky.social calls @pjtheeconomist.bsky.social "the ideal guide to the complexities of the UK distribution of income and wealth," in their review of his new book, Challenging Inequalities. Read more here:

literaryreview.co.uk

Howard Davies - Who Ate All the Pie?

Howard Davies: Who Ate All the Pie? - Challenging Inequalities: How We Got Stuck and Where We Go Next by Paul Johnson

Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Out now! Literary Review's May 2026 issue, featuring Ritchie Robertson on Weimar @chasd2.bsky.social on Louise Bourgeois John Guy on the Tudors Kirsten Tambling on dogs in art @nixonsimon.bsky.social on private equity and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk

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Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Check out this review of Frank Callanan’s James Joyce: A Political Life in @litreview.bsky.social! This major new biography reveals how politics profoundly shaped Joyce’s life, thought, and writings:

literaryreview.co.uk

Colin MacCabe - Parnell’s Shadow

Colin MacCabe: Parnell’s Shadow - James Joyce: A Political Life by Frank Callanan

Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

From Alexandra’s lace and pearls to Elizabeth II’s technicolour tweeds, royal attire has long projected continuity and control. Wendy Holden finds the craftsmen behind it all. literaryreview.co.uk/sovereign-st...

literaryreview.co.uk

Wendy Holden - Sovereign Style

Wendy Holden: Sovereign Style - Fashioning the Crown: A Story of Power, Conflict and Couture by Justine Picardie; Dressing the Queen: Two Hundred Years of Makers and Monarchy by Kate Strasdin

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Fitzcarraldo Editions @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

'It is an almost-love story and an almost-self-love story – one that celebrates drunken karaoke, violent crushes and the transcendent, fleeting joy of believing you finally understand your own life' Zadie Loft reviews WHAT AM I A DEER? for @litreview.bsky.social: literaryreview.co.uk/sing-your-he...

literaryreview.co.uk

Zadie Loft - Sing Your Heart Out

Zadie Loft: Sing Your Heart Out - What Am I, a Deer? by Polly Barton

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Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Guns didn’t change war, they changed society. @catherinefletcher.info's The Firearm Revolution is out now. Read Alexander Lee’s review in the latest issue of @litreview.bsky.social:

literaryreview.co.uk

Alexander Lee - Young Guns

Alexander Lee: Young Guns - The Firearm Revolution: From Renaissance Italy to the European Empires by Catherine Fletcher

Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Antiquary, biographer, folklorist and natural philosopher John Aubrey was born in this month four hundred years ago. To mark his quadricentennial, Peter Davidson reflects on Aubrey’s legacy. literaryreview.co.uk/speaking-thr...

literaryreview.co.uk

Peter Davidson - Speaking Through the Ages

Peter Davidson: Speaking Through the Ages - John Aubrey at four hundred

Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

In 1971 George Lucas wandered upstairs at Francis Ford Coppola’s party to watch a film called Duel. By the first commercial break he was convinced: director Steven Spielberg possessed rare talent. Graham Daseler reflects on these three men. literaryreview.co.uk/19715-2

literaryreview.co.uk

Graham Daseler - Wonder Boys

Graham Daseler: Wonder Boys - The Last Kings of Hollywood: Coppola, Lucas, Spielberg, and the Battle for the Soul of American Cinema by Paul Fischer

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Andrew Seaton @andrewseaton.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

A review in the new @litreview.bsky.social of Marianna Dudley's excellent book on wind power: literaryreview.co.uk/blowing-in-t...

literaryreview.co.uk

Andrew Seaton - Blowing in the Wind

Andrew Seaton: Blowing in the Wind - Electric Wind: An Energy History of Modern Britain by Marianna Dudley

Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Despite adopting a pseudonym, George Sand lived much of her life in public view. Lucasta Miller asks whether Sand’s fame has obscured her work. literaryreview.co.uk/life-work-ad...

literaryreview.co.uk

Lucasta Miller - Life, Work & Adoration

Lucasta Miller: Life, Work & Adoration - Becoming George: The Invention of George Sand by Fiona Sampson

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Patrick McGuinness @padrig.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Delighted and extremely grateful for this kind review of Ghost Stations @cbeditions.bsky.social by Jonathan Keates in this month's @litreview.bsky.social . I'd like to stay on this train, thank you.