The Future Starts With Us by Gordon Brown review – the ex-PM’s recipe for beating populism
Global crises are tightly linked to how we treat each other at the local level, argues this optimistic book
Betrayal by Luke Harding review – could Donald Trump be a Russian asset?
A Guardian correspondent’s sobering account of the US betrayal of Ukraine – and the possible reasons behind it
Book of the day
How I’ve Tried to Change the World by Alexei Sayle review – does protest make a difference?
Art Spiegelman: ‘The US needs a counter-revolution’
Book of the day
What Happened to Liberal Democracy? by Daron Acemoglu review – how to fix the system
July 2026
Meet the man whose groundbreaking book is being devoured by the left
Anton Jäger has been lauded for his exceptional ability to make sense of these strange political times – and he’s only 32. The writer and academic explains why we’re living in an age of hyperpolitics
The Audio Long Read
Pinker’s progress: the celebrity scientist at the centre of the culture wars – podcast
This week, from 2021: How the Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker became one of the world’s most contentious thinkers
By Alex Blasdel. Read by Christopher Ragland
These Wild English by Nicola Wilding review – explaining a mother’s drift to the far right
The Brexit Effect, 2016-2026 edited by Anthony Seldon review – life without EU
The Guardian view on how culture is taking on tech: the ultimate handheld device
June 2026
Book of the day
Dangerous, Dirty, Violent & Young by Zayd Ayers Dohrn review – child of the revolution
The son of fugitive leaders of the militant Weather Underground recounts his chaotic, peripatetic upbringing
Transcription by Ben Lerner wins Orwell prize for political fiction
Judging chair calls Lerner’s novel a ‘funny, brainy and timely’ study of our appetite for technology, while Karen Bartlett wins the nonfiction prize for The Escape from Kabul
Fantastic Kingdom by Helene von Bismarck review – an outsider’s guide to British politics
70 brilliant books for the summer
The Common Good Economy by Mariana Mazzucato review – how can Labour really turn things around?
May 2026
Obama’s former speechwriter Ben Rhodes examines the US through its 15 most defining speeches
Young King: revealing book shines light on Martin Luther King Jr’s early days
April 2026
Book of the day
From Life Itself by Suzy Hansen review – Turkey in the age of Erdoğan
This portrait of everyday life in an Istanbul neighbourhood buffeted by change has far wider relevance
What If Reform Wins by Peter Chappell review – a massive wake-up call
This ‘nonfiction thriller’ takes us through exactly what would happen if Nigel Farage won his dreamed-of majority
The big idea
Do stronger borders ever work?
Leaders have thrown up walls and barriers throughout history – but their effects are unpredictable
