According to an old joke, everyone knows that men and women are different… except social scientists. In A Billion Years of Sex Differences, evolutionary psychologist Steve Stewart-Williams tackles some of science’s most controversial questions: How do men and women differ? Where do the differences come from? And how do they shape modern life?
The result is the most up-to-date, balanced, and engaging account of human sex differences yet written, covering everything from dating and mating to aggression and parenting, from children’s toy preferences and workplace gender gaps to mental health and the politics of equality. Drawing on a century of research – and a billion years of evolution – Stewart-Williams explains why many sex differences appear despite socialization, not because of it; why in our mating and parenting patterns, humans are more like the average bird than the average mammal; and why sex differences are sometimes a sign of societal health rather than injustice.
With more than two decades of research in evolutionary psychology and an international reputation in the field, Steve Stewart-Williams is uniquely positioned to challenge prevailing views in this fraught debate. Avoiding the extremes of either overstating or denying the differences, he argues that, rather than trying to make men and women identical, we should strive for a world where bias and barriers are eliminated, and where people are free to be themselves whether they conform to gender norms or defy them.
‘A masterly analysis of why Britain has much more global influence than it thinks’ Eric Schmidt, former CEO Google
‘Enthralling’ Daily Mail
Since the global financial crisis, Britain has been through a difficult period, leading many to conclude the country is doomed to inevitable decline. Jeremy Hunt was at the top of government as both Foreign Secretary and Chancellor. In Can We Be Great Again? he persuasively rebuts those who think Britain is no longer capable of shaping the world we live in.
With the election of President Trump, a world that was already becoming more dangerous has also become more unpredictable. But when it comes to the big challenges facing the world – whether on European security, the future of democracy, migration, trade or climate – the UK remains one of the most influential countries. Hunt does not shy away from our weaknesses but argues that they should be considered in perspective and without underestimating our many strengths.
If we want a world that remains safe and free, now is the time for countries with influence to use it wisely.
A FINANCIAL TIMES AND THE SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR
‘Important’ Financial Times
‘Serious and thought-provoking’ The Critic
‘Brave’ Richard Reeves
‘Excellent’ Jonathan Haidt
Family life has changed dramatically over the past 60 years.
Greater choice and autonomy, especially for women, and a more equal domestic sphere have brought great gains for human freedom. However, argues David Goodhart, there have been losses and unintended consequences too – in family instability, children’s declining mental health, and the ever-rising demands on the welfare state and social care system. Sharply falling birthrates also present major challenges.
For many people, especially in the bottom half of the income spectrum, the costs are now too high. The Care Dilemma argues that we need a new policy settlement that supports gender equality while also recognising the importance of stable families and community life, and that sees having children as a public as well as private good.
‘At least that post-Reformation sovereignty of the word still yields novels as richly imagined and skilfully crafted as this’ The Spectator
Longlisted for the 2025 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction
Longlisted in the 2024 HWA Crown Awards
ANNO DOMINI 1546.
In a manor house in England a young woman feels the walls are closing around her, while her dying husband is obsessed by his vision of a chapel where prayers will be said for his immortal soul. As the days go by and the chapel takes shape, the outside world starts to intrude. But as the old ways are replaced by the new, the people of the village sense a dangerous freedom …
Reader Reviews
‘A must read … Characters that one cares about, beautifully structured, a real page turner’
‘A jewel of a book’
‘Beautifully written’
‘Atmospheric and compelling’
Osaik lives a happy, charmed life, his loyal dog Kompa always by his side. But his mother suffers from sickle cell disease, and one day his world is thrown into disarray when it takes her away from him.
Despite his grief, Osaik has to find a way of saving his little sister, Eghe, from the same fate. There is no time to waste as he, his dad, and the ever-faithful Kompa begin a race to get her all the help she needs.
For ages 9+.
The new ruling elite in the west – the ultra-wealthy tech magnates, financial wizards and corporate bosses that wield enormous power over us – embrace extremely progressive political ideas. What explains this apparent paradox?
In this scintillating critique of these new radical plutocrats, conservative commentator Ed West argues that the ‘luxury beliefs’ of the new Brahmin caste are perfectly consistent with their accumulation of ever greater wealth. Ultra-liberalism, with its inherent bias towards valorising autonomy, freedom, and cosmopolitanism, is a creed that inherently benefits the rich. Examining how this new elite allies itself with both younger, poorer knowledge workers and immigrants against the more culturally conservative working classes, he argues that the rise of identity politics allows the wealthy to pose as social justice warriors in a way that poses no threat to their own privilege and power.
A must-read for both conservatives and traditional leftists, Brahmins is a razor-sharp diagnosis of a culture that is combining the worst element of capitalism and progressivism.
‘Resounds with all the energy and enthusiasm of a man on a lifelong mission . . . This is a book for our time’ The House Magazine
‘A must-read for anyone trying to understand race, racism and social mobility in Britain today’ Munira Mirza, CEO Civic Future
‘As a black Briton with Caribbean heritage, this book spoke to my heart’ Katharine Birbalsingh
‘A game changer . . . Tony Sewell debunks the myths without ignoring the harsh facts of the black experience in Britain, and shows how we are all moving forward. Excellently researched and deeply motivating’ Michael Dobbs, author of House of Cards
In this truthful and often surprising book, Tony Sewell weaves together memoir and argument to explore the drivers of black success. He traces black people’s hard-won achievements back to their source: family, education, hard work, discipline and the property market. He argues in favour of rejecting victimhood and low expectations and embracing high ambitions, drawing on a range of interviews and stories to offer a more exciting, sometimes visionary, new view of black life in Britain today.
Five Star Reader Reviews
‘Inspiring, uplifting and excellently written’
‘The recipe for success … A call to the Black British community to focus on where we want to go’
‘Essential reading … It gets five well-earned stars from me.
We can’t always be there to protect our kids as they make their way in the world. What we can do is equip them with the tools they need to ensure they have a positive social experience.
Based on many years’ experience counselling bullies and targets, Stella O’Malley offers concrete strategies to empower children and teenagers to deal confidently with bullying and dominant characters.
She identifies effective ways for families to cope when bullying occurs, including approaching the school authorities, communicating with the bully’s parents and tips to tackle cyberbullying.
Stella’s common-sense approach will help your child, tween or teen to develop their emotional intelligence and will provide relief for families navigating the rapidly changing social environment, both online and in school.
A 2021 Daily Telegraph Book of the Year
‘Had me gripped from the outset’ Fergal Keane
‘Everyone should read the testimonies of the Chibok girls who survived the capture’ Malala
In the spring of 2014, an American hip hop producer unwittingly triggered an online hurricane with a quickly thumbed tweet featuring a four-word demand: #BringBackOurGirls. The hashtag called for the release of 276 Nigerian schoolgirls who’d been kidnapped by a little-known Islamic terrorist sect called Boko Haram. Within hours, the campaign had been joined by millions, including some of the world’s most recognizable people: Oprah Winfrey, Pope Francis, David Cameron, Kim Kardashian and Michelle Obama.
Their tweets launched an army of would-be liberators – American soldiers and drones, Swiss diplomats, spies and glory hunters – into an obscure conflict in a remote part of Nigeria that had barely begun to use the internet. But when hostage talks and military intervention failed, the schoolgirls were forced to take survival into their own hands. As the days in captivity dragged into years, they became witnesses, and often victims, of unspeakable brutality that they chronicled in secret diaries. Many of the girls were Christians who refused to take the one easier path offered to them – converting their captors’ extremist creed.
Bring Back Our Girls is an urgent and engrossing work of investigative journalism that unfolds across four continents, from the remote forests of northern Nigeria to the White House; from Khartoum safe houses to gilded hotel lobbies in the Swiss Alps. It plumbs the promise and peril of an era whose politics are fuelled by the power of hashtag advocacy – and at its centre stand some exceptionally courageous and resourceful young women.
‘Fascinating’ Margaret Atwood
Can taking the law into your own hands be the right thing to do?
In June 2013, three upstanding citizens of a small town in Nova Scotia murdered their neighbour, Phillip Boudreau, while out fishing.
Boudreau was an inventive small-time criminal who had terrorised and entertained Petit de Grat for two decades. He had been in prison for nearly half his adult life. He was funny and frightening, loathed, loved and feared. Boudreau seemed invincible, a miscreant who would plague the village forever. As many people said, if those fellows hadn’t killed him, someone else would have.
Blood in the Water is a gripping story in a brilliantly drawn setting, about power and law, security and self-respect, and the nature of community. And at its heart is a disturbing question: are there times when taking the law into your own hands is not only understandable but the responsible thing to do?