Books Book Review: Salman Rushdie’s Knife is a powerful meditation on traumaThe British-American author’s reflections on his brush with death at the hands of an assailant may be uneven, but are compelling nonetheless
Books Book Review: Dark humour and incisive analysis elevate Denis Bradley’s Northern Ireland peace memoirThe former priest’s book, Peace Comes Dropping Slowly, is a humane, unpretentious affair
Books Book Review: Warmth and humour, but no surprises, in the life story of Pope FrancisIn Life, the pontiff reflects on his 87 years through a series of personal anecdotes and homilies
Books Book Review: In The Trading Game, Gary Stevenson paints a grim picture of ultra-capitalismThe profession that almost drove the former trader to a nervous breakdown is, he says, making fools of us all
Books Book Review: Fugitive is an impressive unpicking of Michael Lynn’s crooked worldMichael O’Farrell’s book is at its most compelling when trying to probe the shamed solicitor’s character and motives
Book Review Book Review: A heartfelt and painfully bleak account of life with paedophile Davy TweedAmanda Brown, Tweed’s stepdaughter, has written an important and intelligent book about her tormentor
Books Book Review: A grimly fascinating insight into the life of a problem gamblerLimerick man Pat Sheedy has written a self-lacerating memoir that he hopes will prompt other addicts to examine their behaviour
Books Book Review: A balanced account of Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian hero who is no saint The Showman is a gripping combination of biography, war reportage and political analysis
Book Review Book review: Keir Starmer biography offers a fresh take on Britain’s likely next prime ministerThis is a worthy and sensible portrait of an unlikely leader in waiting with a love of Ireland
Books Book review: Eamonn Mallie memoir documents a maverick journalist’s refusal to play niceThis blend of autobiography, anecdotes, character sketches and political analysis is delivered with the author’s characteristic intensity
Book Review Book Review: The Disappeared drags a murky aspect of Irish history out into the light Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc’s brilliantly researched and highly unsettling history of Irish ‘forced disappearances’ spans from 1798 to 1998
Books Book review: Ireland’s mother and baby homes scandal viewed through a personal lens Unusually intelligent book about Ireland’s greatest national shame charts a harrowing family history
Book Review Book Review: Gaza, Iraq, Afghanistan – the repeated futility of war laid bare Groundbreaking and extensive research conducted by two prominent scholars delves into the reasons behind the prevalence of ineffective policies
Books Book Review: Bringing wildly successful The Rest Is History podcast to book pays off As a way to learn big chunks of history in a fast and entertaining way, this written version is arguably even more effective than its popular audio parent
Books Book review: This story of Dublin’s bridges buckles under pressureA City Runs Through Them, the final book by the late Fergal Tobin, is flawed but nonetheless shows why his waspish, passionate voice will be missed
Books Books: Delayed reaction to the man whose vision for public housing transformed DublinImpressively researched study shows how tortured, visionary architect Herbert Simms redefined social housing in the capital, but leaves personal questions unanswered
Books Book review: Pilgrim Soul a genial guide to the glory of William Butler YeatsLively blend of biography, history and literary criticism brings great Irish poet to life for general readers
Books Book review: The Lamplighters of Phoenix Park is an illuminating ramble around Dublin’s ‘green lung’Social historian and Three Castles Burning podcaster Donal Fallon’s gently meandering, richly illustrated book offers a folk history of the Phoenix Park
Books Book review: The Reluctant Beatle is an insightful but cold biography of George Harrison Philip Norman’s competent, professional and highly readable biography can only get so close to its subject
Books Books of the year: non-fictionOur resident book critic Andrew Lynch picks the history, politics and biography books that stood out from the crowd in a year jam-packed with good reads