Culture | Staff books of the year

In 2021 our writers considered technology, meritocracy and the trans debate

Not to mention civil liberties, human cognition and the history of Athens

Athens: City of Wisdom. By Bruce Clark. Pegasus; 512 pages; $35. Head of Zeus; £25

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Out-of-office politics”

What would America fight for?

From the December 11th 2021 edition

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Angela Merkel in Frankfurt, Germany in December 1991

Angela Merkel sets out to restore her reputation

But her new memoir is unlikely to change her critics’ minds

Blue books forming a winner rosette on a red background

The best books of 2024, as chosen by The Economist

Readers will never think the same way again about games, horses and spies


Elon Musk speaks at the Milken Institute's Global Conference at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

What to read to understand Elon Musk

The world’s richest man was shaped by science fiction


Tech and religion are very much alike

They both have gods, rich institutions and secretive cultures

Woodrow Wilson’s reputation continues to decline

A dispassionate new biography chronicles the former president’s hostility to suffrage

The cult of Jordan Peterson

What the Canadian intellectual gets right about young men