Sophie Roell, Editor

From nuclear war to a heartbreaking medical story, from the memoirs of novelists and the life of an artist to the struggle for independence in Indonesia, British journalist Isabel Hilton introduces the six books that made the shortlist of the UK’s most prestigious nonfiction prize.

From how to channel the tribal instincts innate to Homo sapiens to the role of Silicon Valley in the future of warfare, the Financial Times book award—now in its 20th year—has a broad definition of what makes a good business book. FT journalist Andrew Hill, the prize’s organizer, talks us through the six excellent books that made the 2024 shortlist.

In his book, A Man With No Title, Xavier Le Clerc tells the story of his father, who was born in extreme poverty in the mountains of Algeria and emigrated to France to give his children a better life. Here he recommends books by some of Algeria’s greatest writers—and explains how they shed light on his father’s life and Algeria’s experience of French colonialism.

The British Academy Book Prize is awarded annually for a nonfiction book that combines rigorous research with engaging writing—and promotes global cultural understanding. Charles Tripp, chair of this year's judging panel, explains what that means and introduces the six books that made the 2024 shortlist.

If you love adventure stories, you’ll be delighted to hear that there’s a book prize fully focused on them. Novelist Emma Styles, one of the judges for the 2024 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize, talks us through the shortlist for best published novel, from pirates in the Caribbean to World War II Italy, from Victorian London to a dystopian future Britain—by way of Nigeria and Tbilisi, Georgia.

History is too complex to be an easy guide for navigating the present, but that doesn't mean the experience of those who came before can't shed valuable insights into our current dilemmas. In his latest book, History for Tomorrow, social philosopher Roman Krznaric looks at ten crises currently facing the world and how lessons from the past might be able to help.

Many of us view cancer as an enemy that we have to fight and look forward to the day it is eliminated by modern medicine. But that’s not going to happen, says Jarle Breivik, a professor of medicine at the University of Oslo. He argues for a more realistic approach to cancer as a fundamental part of life and what it means to be human.

From the Baroque painter who killed a man in Rome during the Counter-Reformation to the surrealist artist who left Britain and died in Mexico City in 2011, award-winning biographer Sue Prideaux talks to us about her favorite biographies of artists. Her new biography of Paul Gauguin, Wild Thing, is out this week and has been longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize.

Historical novels are at their most compelling when they get the details of daily life in the past right, argues bestselling author Tracy Chevalier. She picks five of her favorite historical novels set in Italy, from 16th-century Florence to 1950s Naples, with a couple of stops in Venice, where her own latest novel, The Glassmaker, is set.

From a noir novel by Eric Ambler set in 1930s Europe to some of the great spy thrillers of the post-World War II era, British novelist Patrick Worrall, author of The Exile, talks us through five of his favourite espionage novels.