Author and Guardian columnist Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett picks out the reads that will help get your pulse racing

Lucy Inglis BornThe untold history of childbirth336pp. Bloomsbury Continuum. £25. Hannah Marsh ThreadA Caesarean story of myth, magic andmedicine320pp. Leap. £20. Lucy Inglis’s new book Born: The unto

David Farrier Nature’s Genius Evolution’s lessons for a changing planet 288pp. Canongate. £20. In David Farrier’s latest book, he warns us that humanity is endangering every facet of life on Earth thr

A Queer Inheritance: Alternative Histories in the National ...

Carla Kaplan TroublemakerThe fierce, unruly life of Jessica Mitford616pp. Hurst. £27.50. At the beating heart of the Mitford myth is the cell-like linen closet at the top of Asthall Manor, where Unity

The history of Mexico is epic. There are the Maya and the Aztecs; the meeting of two continents, with Moctezuma and Cortés; a cry for independence led by a priest-turned-general; the loss of more than