Category Archives: Reviews

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY – OCTOBER 31, 2025 PREVIEW

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY: The latest issue features ‘Pressure Points’ – Will US sanctions put the squeeze on Putin?

Donald Trump’s sudden decision last week to sanction Russian oil producers suggested the US president has finally lost patience with Vladimir Putin after a series of fruitless talks over ending the war in Ukraine.

Could it break the deadlock? Oil sanctions have the potential to genuinely damage Moscow’s finances, as the Russian president himself admitted last week. It remains to be seen, though, whether economic pressure alone can bend Putin’s arm over a conflict he views as defining to his legacy.

In this week’s big story, Guardian Russia affairs reporter Pjotr Sauer asks whether sanctions could succeed where diplomacy has failed, while Christopher S Chivvis of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace argues that a negotiated settlement remains the likeliest way to bring nearly four years of fighting to a halt.

In the frontline Ukrainian city of Kupiansk, senior reporter Peter Beaumont finds little hope of a quick resolution, with much of the population having left and the remaining soldiers stuck in a war they believe is “going nowhere for either side”.

Five essential reads in this week’s edition

Spotlight | The populist leaders’ economic playbook
From Milei to Meloni, are the economics of populism always doomed to failure? This long read from economics editor Heather Stewart tries to bridge the gaps between populist aspiration and fiscal reality

Environment | The deadly migration routes of elephants
Human-wildlife conflict has overtaken poaching as a cause of fatalities among elephants – and is deadly for people too. Now some villages are finding new ways to live alongside the mammals, reports Patrick Greenfield

Interview | Is Jimmy Wales the good guy of the internet?
The Wikipedia founder stands out from his contemporaries for being driven by more than money. But can the people’s encyclopedia withstand attacks from AI and Elon Musk? By David Shariatmadari

Opinion | Without genuine truth and justice, the war in Gaza cannot end
A fragile ceasefire is in place, but what’s needed is an international tribunal for resolution and reparation. That’s the only route to lasting peace, argues Simon Tisdall

Culture | The electrifying genius of Gerhard Richter
He has painted everything from a candle to 9/11, walked his naked wife through photographic mist, and turned Titian into a sacred jumble. A new Paris show reveals the German artist in all his contradictory brilliance, says Adrian Searle

THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS – NOVEMBER 20, 2025

Table of Contents - November 20, 2025 | The New York Review of Books

THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS: The latest issue features Fintan O’Toole on Kamala’s pointless campaign memoir, Jonathan Lethem on One Battle After Another, Anne Diebel on the trials of infertility, Colin B. Bailey on Watteau’s sad clowns, Linda Kinstler on the invention of sovereign states, Langdon Hammer on James Schuyler’s shimmering poetry, Samuel Stein on NIMBYs and YIMBYs, Miranda Seymour on Frankenstein’s mother, Adam Shatz on Alice Coltrane, a poem by Rae Armantrout, and much more.

The Lingering Delusion

107 Days by Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris’s memoir 107 Days succeeds at least in distilling the evasions and weaknesses of the modern Democratic Party.

Falling Off the Map

The Life and Death of States:  Central Europe and the Transformation of Modern Sovereignty by Natasha Wheatley

How States Die: Membership and Survival in the International System by Douglas Lemke

World War I set the stage a century ago for new ways of thinking about where states come from and what happens when they disappear.

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE – NOVEMBER 3, 2025 PREVIEW

The cover of the November 3 2025 issue of The New Yorker featuring skateboarders pedestrians and scooter riders in front...

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest cover features Victoria Tentler-Krylov’s “Racing Through Fall” – The city’s autumnal glow.

Why Trump Tore Down the East Wing

The act of destruction is precisely the point: a kind of performance piece meant to display Trump’s arbitrary power over the Presidency, including its physical seat. By Adam Gopnik

Trump and the Presidency That Wouldn’t Shut Up

His posts and rants are omnipresent, ugly, and unhinged. Don’t look to history to make it make sense. By Jill Lepore

Inside the Data Centers That Train A.I. and Drain the Electrical Grid

A data center, which can use as much electricity as Philadelphia, is the new American factory, creating the future and propping up the economy. How long can this last? By Stephen Witt

Reason Magazine – December 2025 Preview

REASON MAGAZINE: The latest issue features

‘He Never Got To Go Home’

Justin Sanchez is one of more than 6,000 Americans indefinitely detained in a system that wastes money and doesn’t make us safer.

How Weed Surveillance Drones Destroyed the Lives of These Californians

California tried to use drones to find illegal marijuana operations, but they found building code violations instead.

You Can Thank This Ohio Klansman for Expanding Your Freedom of Speech

Brandenburg v. Ohio established the “imminent lawless action” standard. More than 50 years later, partisans keep trying to apply it selectively. Jacob Sullum

How the Punisher, a Murderous Anti-Hero, Became the Mascot for Increasingly Militarized Police Forces

“He is breaking the very laws…that cops are supposed to uphold.”

SCIENCE MAGAZINE – OCTOBER 23, 2025

Science issue cover

SCIENCE MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Share My Good Mood’ – Positive affective contagion in bumble bees.

New study fuels debate over lifesaving antibiotic strategy for children in Africa

Mass distribution increases risk of antibiotic resistance, but benefits vanish when treatment is restricted to babies

COVID-19 vaccines may boost cancer immunotherapy

Messenger RNA in the shots could act like a “siren” calling immune cells to destroy tumors

A better recipe for generating immune peacemakers

Nobel laureate develops new method of making regulatory T cells that could treat autoimmune conditions

THE ECONOMIST MAGAZINE – OCTOBER 25, 2025 PREVIEW

THE ECONOMIST MAGAZINE: The latest issue featuresWinning the trade war

Why China is winning the trade war

It has rebuffed America and rewritten the norms of global commerce

Javier Milei faces his most dangerous moment yet

He could still survive a currency run and knife-edge election

To save the world’s tropical forests, learn from Brazil

Last year it lost more rainforest than any other country. Yet there is hope

The migration schemes even populists love

Why temporary workers bring great benefits

Never mind your children’s screen time. Worry about your parents’ 

A new generation of pensioners are glued to their smartphones

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY – OCTOBER 24, 2025 PREVIEW

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY: The latest issue features ‘Youth Quake’ – How Gen Z protesters toppled Madagascar’s leader.

Madagascar rarely makes front page news but the toppling of its president by protesters led by Gen Z Madagascar is part of a phenomenon that stretches from Nepal to Indonesia and the Philippines to Morocco. Leaderless groups, formed online, have learned from one another as they take to the streets to vent their frustration against what they see as corrupt older elites and a lack of economic opportunity for their generation.

Our southern Africa correspondent, Rachel Savage, explains how a tumultuous month unfolded on the Indian Ocean island and explores the deep-seated discontent that led to the military siding with student demonstrators to force President Andry Rajoelina out of power.

Five essential reads in this week’s edition

Spotlight | A far-right fight club on their hands
Ben Makuch reports on security service monitoring of ‘active clubs’ as they move across borders to spread extremism, mixing the behaviour of football hooligans with the ideology of the Third Reich

Benin bronzes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Benin bronzes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Photograph: Art2010/Alamy

Spotlight | Nothing to see here?
Due to open within weeks, Nigeria’s Museum of West African art is intended to showcase the Benin bronzes and other masterpieces stolen by 19th-century colonisers. But the project has been beset by political rows that mean, as Philip Oltermann and Eromo Egbejule report, visitors will see more replicas than original pieces

Science | Waiting for graphene to explode
Two decades after the material was first produced and then much hyped, graphene has dropped from business and general discussion. Julia Kollewe reports on the successes and setbacks of taking it from lab to mainstream use

Opinion | An A-level in English won’t make integration work
A government demand that immigrants get a qualification that most British citizens don’t have if they want to earn the right to stay is the latest absurd way to focus on ‘outsiders’ rather than address domestic problems, argues Nesrine Malik

Culture | The hardest part
David Harewood reflects on returning to play Othello after almost 20 years and with fellow Black actors looks at how attitudes to Shakespeare’s most difficult tragedy have changed


What else we’ve been reading

The year’s Stirling prize has gone to a social housing complex for older people in south-east London. Catherine Slessor writes with great enthusiasm about how the award-winning architects Witherford Watson Mann have completely reimagined accommodation for later life. Out with disorientating corridors, in with bright, informal, nature filled spaces, described by the Stirling judges as “a provision of pure delight”. Emily El Nusairi, deputy production editor

Kathryn Lewek as the Queen Of The Night in The Magic Flute at the Royal Opera House.
Kathryn Lewek as the Queen Of The Night in The Magic Flute at the Royal Opera House. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

I saw The Magic Flute in Paris last year, and it was fascinating to see how different opera houses interpret the staging. This review of a London production made me reflect on the way different directors handle staging and sound to bring the story to life. It reminded me of listening to the Queen of the Night’s aria when I was growing up and the experience of seeing opera live. Hyunmu Lee, CRM executive

HARPER’S MAGAZINE – NOVEMBER 2025 PREVIEW

HARPER’S MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘Why Don’t We Trust The Media?’

Why Doesn’t Anyone Trust the Media?

Anatomy of a credibility crisis by Jelani CobbTaylor LorenzJack ShaferMax Tani

The Goon Squad

Loneliness, porn’s next frontier, and the dream of endless masturbation by Daniel Kolitz

One Four Two Five Old Sunset Trail

On the last days of Gene Hackman by Joy Williams

FOREIGN AFFAIRS MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2025

FOREIGN AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘The New Tools of Power’

The Stagnant Order

And the End of Rising Powers by Michael Beckley

A Grand Strategy of Reciprocity

How to Build an Economic and Security Order That Works for America by Oren Cass

The New Supply Chain Insecurity

Fortress America Is Not a Safer America by Shannon K. O’Neil

The Return of the Energy Weapon

An Old Tool Creating New Dangers Jason Bordoff and Meghan L. O’Sullivan

SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE – NOVEMBER 2025

SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE: The latest issue features ‘The Fire That Fueled The American Revolution

In January 1776, Virginia’s Port City of Norfolk Was Set Ablaze, Galvanizing the Revolution. But Who Really Lit the Match?

Blaming the British for the destruction helped persuade some wavering colonists to back the fight for independence. But the source of the inferno was not what it seemed

After the L.A. Fires, Locals Turn to Native Plants to Help Shield Homes From Flames and Clean Contaminated Soil

Scientists and community members in Altadena are testing ways that California species can assist efforts to rebuild

You Can See the Parthenon Without Scaffolding for the First Time in Decades

The temporary structures will return next month—but in the meantime, visitors will enjoy rare unobstructed views of the ancient hilltop temple in Athens