Book Reviews

In this section of the blog you can read reviews of all the latest books relevant to British politics and policy. Each Sunday we publish a review originating from the LSE Review of Books, aiming to cover a wide range of academic and non-academic books on all aspects of public policy and politics. Whether you’re interested in Benjamin Disraeli’s influence on David Cameron’s policies, the inside story of the Miliband Labour leadership battle, or the history of women in British politics since the 1700s, you’re sure to find all the essential information on these pages. Scroll down to browse the archive.

If you’d like to read more reviews of academic titles from across the social sciences, visit our sister blog, the LSE Review of Books. And if you’re interested in writing a review for the blog or if you would like to see your book reviewed here, please contact our our book reviews editor Amy Mollett at lsereviewofbooks@lse.ac.uk.

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Book Review: The Data Gaze: Capitalism, Power and Perception

Book Review: The Data Gaze: Capitalism, Power and Perception

In The Data Gaze: Capitalism, Power and Perception, David Beer explores how we are being put under the extractive, analytic and predictive lens of a data gaze that seeks to define our world in increasingly granular detail. Critically probing into the data analytics industry and the imaginary that gives it legitimacy, Beer offers a thoroughly readable take on the structures that are constructing […]

February 3rd, 2019|Book Reviews, Featured|0 Comments|

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Book Review: Political Blackness in Multiracial Britain

Book Review: Political Blackness in Multiracial Britain

In Political Blackness in Multiracial Britain, Mohan Ambikaipaker offers a new ethnographic study using an ‘activist anthropology’ approach that draws on his longstanding association with the grassroots anti-racism organisation Newham Monitoring Project (NMP) to explore the role that political blackness has played in its fight for racial justice and social change. This is an important book, writes Priyanka deSouza, that foregrounds the experiences […]

January 27th, 2019|Book Reviews, Featured|0 Comments|

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Book Review: Everyday Economics: A User’s Guide to the Modern Economy

Book Review: Everyday Economics: A User’s Guide to the Modern Economy

For many of us, economics appears too abstract and rooted in assumptions that make individuals seem unfamiliar as human subjects. In Everyday Economics: A User’s Guide to the Modern Economy, Steve Coulter seeks to tackle these perceptions by offering an accessible take on economics that shows how it has relevance to different aspects of our everyday lives, from health to shopping and housing. […]

January 20th, 2019|Book Reviews, Featured|0 Comments|

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Book Review: The Lost History of Liberalism: From Ancient Rome to the Twenty-First Century

Book Review: The Lost History of Liberalism: From Ancient Rome to the Twenty-First Century

In The Lost History of Liberalism: From Ancient Rome to the Twenty-First Century, Helena Rosenblatt gives an account of how the meanings of ‘liberalism’ have evolved through a world history of its uses from ancient Rome to the present day and also recovers some of its connotations that have been lost, discarded or eroded. This book challenges some of the […]

January 13th, 2019|Book Reviews, Featured|0 Comments|

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Book Review: 99 Theses on the Revaluation of Value: A Postcapitalist Manifesto

Book Review: 99 Theses on the Revaluation of Value: A Postcapitalist Manifesto

In 99 Theses on the Revaluation of Value: A Postcapitalist Manifesto, Brian Massumi offers a short yet intricate economic, cultural and philosophical work that aims to retrieve the concept of value from capitalist power. Through the book’s deliberately fragmented form, Massumi presents an relevant and urgent dissection of the processes by which we are currently shaped, and a hopeful vision of […]

December 16th, 2018|Book Reviews|0 Comments|

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Book Review: The Oxford Handbook of Electoral Systems

Book Review: The Oxford Handbook of Electoral Systems

Electoral systems are key components in the operation of representative democracies that vary considerably in their construction, with important consequences for how democracy is implemented. Ron Johnston reviews The Oxford Handbook of Electoral Systems which provides valuable overviews of many of the important topics studied by electoral system scholars, though he wonders about the relative value of such large and expensive volumes aimed […]

December 2nd, 2018|Book Reviews, Featured|0 Comments|

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Book Review: Making a 21st Century Constitution: Playing Fair in Modern Democracies by Frank Vibert

Book Review: Making a 21st Century Constitution: Playing Fair in Modern Democracies by Frank Vibert

In Making a 21st Century Constitution: Playing Fair in Modern Democracies, Frank Vibert explores the current state of constitutions, outlining why they have become outdated and suggesting ways in which they can be reworked to better meet the needs of democracies today. While readers may not agree with all of the book’s arguments, it provides interesting insight into how constitutions can overcome their […]

November 25th, 2018|Book Reviews, Featured|0 Comments|

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Book Review: British Social Theory: Recovering Lost Traditions Before 1950

Book Review: British Social Theory: Recovering Lost Traditions Before 1950

In British Social Theory: Recovering Lost Traditions Before 1950, John Scott revisits the history of social theory and explores the works of many obscure, overlooked or neglected theorists born in Britain, with a particular focus on Patrick Geddes, Robert MacIver and Leonard Hobhouse. This is an enlightening book, finds Yves Laberge, not only for students in the social sciences, but also […]

November 4th, 2018|Book Reviews, Featured|0 Comments|