Brutally Frank
Canada's Frank Marshall didn't succeed in conquering the world of chess, but his aggressive tactics were universally feared
Politics, Ideas and the Arts
England’s Forgotten Symphonist
A long time blacklisted by the snobbish BBC, George Lloyd is the greatest English symphonist you've never heard of
Rights and Wrongs
The Case of Lilian Ladele, hounded out of her job as a registrar for her Christian beliefs, is evidence of a rising religious intolerance
Star of the East
Blogger Han Han targets the official media and politicians but his omissions of subjects like Tibet highlights the limits of dissent in China
Pyrrhic Victory
Alex Salmond is pinning his success on the high-risk gamble that the EU will accept an independent Scotland as a full member. It won't
Jocks Away
Franklin Foer and Marc Tracy's Jewish Jocks features some real life He-Menschen, but also a host of anti-jocks: tennis's first transexual player and the world record hot dog competition eater
Mayageddon
We're all still here, so the end of the world was a false alarm, but the Mayans might never have predicted it in the first place
A Vintage Year for Acting
A glut of superb performances in 2012 reflects a rising general standard in the actor’s craft
A pithy retelling of Europe’s darkest days
Norman Stone's new history of World War Two Manages to cover the conflict comprehensively in fewer than 200 pages
Master and Commander
Churchill and Sea Power by Christopher M Bell exonerates the wartime Prime Minister of his alleged military mistakes
1878 And All That
George Weigel's attempt to codify a new Evangelical Catholicism is controversial and idiosyncratic, but has plenty to commend it
Poet, Politician and Schemer
Too often Thomas Wyatt's poetry is ignored in favour of biography, but not in Susan Brigden's fantastic new study