Politics & Society

It's as old as Plato's Gorgias, but it was Richard Nixon who really got it down to a fine art. Rutgers professor David Greenberg recommends the best books to read to better understand political 'spin.'

The Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Governance at the London School of Economics says there is fine line between being a hero and being a murderer - that's why the Geneva convention matters

Who was Osama bin Laden? How critical was he to the 9/11 attacks on the United States? What happened in the first 100 days at Guantanamo Bay? Who was in charge of the United States when George W Bush went into hiding? What should we make of all the conspiracy theories that have sprung up around the events of that day? Yosri Fouda, the veteran Egyptian investigative reporter, author and TV host talks us through his choice of the best books on 9/11.

Lecturer in international conflict says the idea that it is right and legitimate for states to intervene in others’ affairs is a very dangerous trend, especially in the name of humanitarianism

War reporter tells us that her life is permeated with sense of loss and longing. She quotes her heroine Martha Gellhorn: "I have a sudden notion of why history is such a mess. Human beings do not live long enough"

The investigative journalist says when he started out reporting PR copy was a real rarity. If you were writing about crime, you’d call the police station and speak to an officer.

Books are like men, you can be surprised by the ones you find cute, says the former deputy editor of Granta magazine. She recommends the best books from the Diaspora.

It's hard to understand what's going on in the Xinjiang region of China and the nationalism of the Uyghurs who live there without reading some history. Here Professor Michael Dillon, a historian at King's College London, suggests books to read on the Uyghurs, focusing in particular on scholars and diplomats whose work gives insight into the period before the Chinese Communist takeover in 1949.

The novelist reveals amongst his book selection that Minnesota has the highest number of Korean adoptees in the US (14,000), and that one in every 250 Korean births is adopted by an American family

The Press Association's legal advisor argues that the definition of privacy in Britain is being redefined by judges on a seemingly ad hoc basis. Discusses privacy issues and reviews the best books on the subject