'Entrance to the Bolan Pass from Dadur' from ‘Sketches in Afghanistan’ ©National Army Museum Feb 1, 2013

William Dalrymple’s ‘Return of a King’

A new history of the first Anglo-Afghan war from 1839 to 1842 describes the consequences of political ignorance and military folly in the region. Review by Anatol Lieven

Ruins of part of the electric fence at Auschwitz-Birkenau ©Otto Dov Kulka Jan 25, 2013

Witness to genocide

The devastating account of a survivor sent to Auschwitz as an 11-year-old boy. Simon Schama reviews ‘Landscapes of the Metropolis of Death’, by Otto Dov Kulka

‘Tenderly Flirting’, an illustration by Hugh Thomson ©Paula Byrne Jan 11, 2013

Pride and Prejudice - and politics

As Jane Austen’s best-loved novel turns 200, Paula Byrne looks at its roots in the great events of the author’s time

Gurkha soldiers in Imphal in May 1944 cutting bamboo stakes to defend their positions ©AP Dec 28, 2012

Bodley Head/FT Essay Prize runner-up

Millions of Indian soldiers served the British during the second world war, yet their experience has largely been forgotten. By Raghu Karnad

James Murray, the first editor of the Oxford English Dictionary ©Press Association Mike Skapinker Michael Skapinker Dec 21, 2012

The guardians of English

Three new histories of language and of dictionaries spell out the resistance to linguistic change

The Monday Review

'The Great Rebalancing' book cover

In pinning the blame on surplus countries’ policies, a bearish analysis of the global economy overlooks the role of history

Small talk

Lucy Caldwell

Lucy Caldwell: Who would I like to be stuck in a lift with? Chekhov. He knew how to live and was very kind

Tiananmen massacre funeral ©Magnum Dec 14, 2012

Democracy in action

Alan Ryan’s ‘On Politics’ is a triumph of erudition but focuses too heavily on the west, writes John Keane

'Hand Holding a Book' (1864) by Adolf von Menzel ©bpk/Nationalgalerie, SMB/Bernd Ku Dec 7, 2012

How we read

As the world of print recedes, Andrew Martin reviews ‘Book Was There’ by Andrew Piper, ‘Paper: An Elegy’ by Ian Sansom and Philip Hensher’s ‘The Missing Ink’

2012 Books of the Year illustration ©Chris Wormell Dec 3, 2012

Best books of 2012

From 3D printing to the perfect Zen garden, FT writers and guests pick their favourite books from the past year

Folio34r: Face of Christ at the top. ©The Board of Trinity College Dubl Nov 23, 2012

The Book of Kells

John Banville on the enduring fascination of the Irish monastic masterpiece

Sir David Hannay (left), then the UK’s permanent representative at the UN, with Margaret Thatcher and her chief press secretary Bernard Ingham ©AP Philip Stephens Nov 16, 2012

Diplomatic memoirs

‘Britain’s Quest for a Role’ by David Hannay, Sherard Cowper-Coles’ ‘Ever the Diplomat’ and the UK’s struggle to exert influence in a post-imperial age

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