Autobiography: historical, political and military Books

Book SynopsisAustin Mitchell is a political maverick. For thirty-eight years he was a fly in the parliamentary ointment, a recurring itch on the body politic. A maverick may annoy the whips, threaten party discipline and challenge the solemnities of Parliament. Troublemakers they may well be, but the Commons would certainly be a duller place without them. However Mitchell's dissidence wasn't all bitterness without volume control. Rattling the cage, swimming against the tide, pursuing honourable causes and, of course, fighting for his constituency, Grimsby, proved a rewarding career in itself. Confessions of a Political Maverick succeeds in uncovering the realities behind the pretentious parliamentary facade of tradition and the stuffy complacency of Britain's failing political class. Dissenting from the peculiar and highly particular conformity of career politicians dedicated to climbing the greasy pole can be a lonely role, but it can also be fun. It certainly was for Austin Mitchell.

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Book SynopsisAged fifteen and armed with a credit card stolen from his father, Jonny Oates ran away from home and boarded a plane to Addis Ababa. His plan? To single-handedly save the Ethiopian people from the devastating 1985 famine. Discovering on arrival that the demand for the assistance of unskilled fifteen-year-old English boys was limited, he learned the hard lesson that you can't change the world just by pure force of will. A rare political memoir from a figure whose life before politics is every bit as gripping as their time in the corridors of power, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden charts Oates's darkest moments as an idealistic but troubled schoolboy alone in Ethiopia, struggling with his sexuality and mental health; it traces his journey onwards - to Zimbabwe, where, aged eighteen, he becomes deputy headteacher of a rural secondary school; to South Africa in the final year of Nelson Mandela's presidency, where he works in the first post-apartheid parliament as the country seeks to shape a future from its bitterly divided past; and, ultimately, to the roller-coaster ride of Britain's first post-war coalition government, where, as Nick Clegg's chief of staff, he plays a key role in the struggle for his own country's future and learns important lessons about the difference between power and duty. Shot through with a captivating warmth and humour, this heart-stoppingly candid memoir reflects on the challenges of balancing idealism and pragmatism, reminding us that lasting change comes from working together rather than standing alone.Trade Review"Unusually for a political figure, Jonny Oates has written about love: how it tormented him and how it healed him. Few in political life are as candid about the underpinning of what drives them. A gripping tale of escape and rescue, this is the story of the making of a liberal soul." - Gary Gibbon, political editor, Channel 4 News "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden charts the unusual emotional and political journey of Jonny Oates. By turns tender, moving and funny, it is an unflinchingly candid story of teenage rebellion, of love and - above all - of heartfelt compassion. If anyone doubts that there is still a place in politics for exceptional, decent people, this is a book for you." - Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister 2010-15 "Oates takes you on an extraordinary journey from teenage rebellion, through the fight for African rights, to the top ranks of the British government. It's all the more extraordinary because the story is true - his is a life lesson that serendipity and courage can change things for good." - Laura Kuenssberg, BBC political editor

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE PARLIAMENTARY BOOK AWARDS‘Jess Phillips writes like she talks: brilliantly. Her humour and passion shine through every page. Loved it.’ ROBERT WEBB_____________________If you’re thinking, ‘Jess who?’ then I’m glad that there was something about ‘Everywoman’ and ‘truth’ that caught your eye.Or you might already know me as that gobby MP who has a tendency to shout about the stuff I care about. Because I’m a woman with a cause, I have been called a feminazi witch, a murderer and threatened with rape. The internet attracts a classy crowd. So, speaking the truth isn’t always easy but I believe it’s worth it. And I want you to believe it too. The truth can be empowering, the truth can lead to greater equality, and the world would be incredibly boring if we let all of those people who allegedly know everything, say everything. By demanding to be heard, by dealing with our imposter syndrome, by being cheerleaders, doers not sayers, creating our own networks and by daring to believe that we can make a difference, we can. We’re women and we’re kick-ass. And that’s the truth._____________________'Joyfully candid and very funny.' Guardian'Jess Phillips knows the truth . . . and here she shows how scary and sad as well as joyful and liberating the answers can be.' Damian Barr'Everywoman has all the laughs [of Lena Dunham and Caitlin Moran] with a backbone of real glinting anger . . .there were so many funny and wise things on each page that whittling them down into a review seemed impossible.' Julie Birchill, Spectator'As fresh as mountain air amid the Westminster tumbleweed.' Metro'Arresting.' Observer_____________________This title now has a new cover and there is a chance that you may receive the edition with the old cover instead of the cover displayed here.Trade ReviewJoyfully candid and very funny. * Guardian *Lord knows we need more MPs like Jess Phillips . . . as fresh as mountain air amid the Westminster tumbleweed in this refreshingly bracing memoir. * Metro *Jess Phillips writes like she talks: brilliantly. Her humour and passion shine through every page. Loved it. -- Robert WebbThis book really is like reading a transcript of your cleverest, funniest friends talking about what’s getting their goat, at that point where the prosecco has made them sparkly and before it makes them silly. Not to denigrate the talent of Lena Dunham and Caitlin Moran but Everywoman has all the laughs theirs have with a backbone of real glinting anger, which has not had to manicure and mutate itself in order to maintain a cool media career . . . I have had to review loads of books which I couldn’t stand. This was the first which I dreaded going back to because there were so many funny and wise things on each page that whittling them down into a review seemed impossible. -- Julie Burchill * Spectator *a narrative that is by turns witty and furious -- Gaby Hinsliff * Guardian BEST POLITICAL BOOKS OF THE YEAR *

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Book SynopsisJohn Chambers was brought up on Belfast's notorious Loyalist Glencairn estate, during the height of the Troubles. From an early age he witnessed violence, hatred and horror as Northern Ireland tore itself apart in civil strife. Kneecapping, brutal murders, and even public tarring-and-feathering were simply a fact of life for the children on the estate. He thought he knew which side he was on, but although raised as a Loyalist, he was hiding a troubling secret: that his disappeared mother - whom he'd always been told was dead - was a Roman Catholic, 'the enemy'. In a memoir of rare power, John explores the dark heart of Northern Irish sectarianism in the seventies and eighties. With searing honesty and native Belfast wit, he describes the light and darkness of his unique childhood, and his teenage journey through mod culture and ultra-Loyalism, before an escape from Belfast to London - where, still haunted by the shadow of his fractured family history - he began a turbulent and hedonistic adulthood.A Belfast Child is a tale of divided loyalties, dark secrets and the scars left by hatred and violence on a proud city - but also a story of hope, healing and ultimate redemption for a family caught in the rising tide of the Troubles.

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Book SynopsisImagine how it would feel to be plucked from your daily life and transported far from home and forced to work in some unknown and terrible place. Imagine being treated with violence, never having enough to eat, living in bestial conditions, and never knowing if you would see your home again. Imagine feeling so completely powerless. This is what happened to young Frenchman Roland Chopard, who was arrested by the German SS during a brutal roundup in the Lot et Garonne region in May 1944, just before D-Day. This was the start of a period of forced labour during which he was moved to different places, including Dachau, BMW’s Eisenach factory and ultimately Buchenwald. Roland survived. Many did not. After his return home in 1945, Roland wrote a compelling account of his experiences. It lay, unread, in the family house in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, until it was found by his son Alex some years after Roland’s death in 2006. This book is based on Roland’s memoir, the family’s own papers, interviews with his daughter Annie, and the memories of others whose relatives were caught in the same roundup as Roland. It is a personal story set in a particular time, nothing more but nothing less.

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Book SynopsisThe definitive inside account of the 2016-20 coalition government.Cabinet minister Shane Ross reveals the bitter internal battles fought with the old Blueshirts, the crises when the coalition came close to collapse and the sometimes fraught personal relationships between the fifteen figures who made up the last government.He recounts how a group of Independents risked everything to form a government that was expected to last for only months but which ran for more than four years, under two Taoisigh with utterly different styles. With great humour and charm, Ross unveils the skulduggery, the secret deals, the drama of how Irish football was rescued and Olympic chief Pat Hickey toppled, showing us what really happens behind the closed doors of Ireland's government.Trade ReviewIn the small anecdotes and pen pictures, he achieves what a most skilled diarist should - subtle illustration of themomentous through the seemingly trivial. And, of course, it is all highly entertaining...As Irish political memoirs go, Ross sets a new high bar here. * Irish Mail on Sunday *[E]ntertaining, honest and truly reflective. Shane Ross has shone a light on many dusty corners of Irish political life, and throughout the pages his humour, his acceptance and his acumen shine through. -- Mary O'Rourke * Galway Advertiser *In his racy and entertaining memoir...Ross blasts open the door into the inner workings of Cabinet * Irish Examiner *...a breezy and engaging account of his four years at the Cabinet table. It covers his failures, successes and multiple slip-ups, and provides laugh-out-loud moments for any reader. -- David Murphy * RTE Culture *In Bed With The Blueshirts may not enhance your confidence in Irish politics, but it will lighten the gloom of the pandemic. -- Pat Rabbitte * Sunday Business Post *This is a well-written book that moves along at a good pace. It is a personal memoir that does not seek to vilify those who opposed Ross, nor to claim infallibility for his own views. He may portray himself as the outsider, but ultimately he shows a great liking for his colleagues of all hues. -- Richard Bruton * Irish Independent *This is a book worth reading...well written and entertaining * The Phoenix *He has written one of the best Irish political memoirs, bulging with casually shared nuggets and indiscretions, chiefly but not exclusively his own. * Village magazine *Table of Contents1: A Big Idea Is Born 2: The Blueshirts Play Hardball 3: A Cabinet at War 4: Pat Hickey's Olympic Downfall 5: Gaffes Galore 6: Pork Barrel Politics 7: Drink Drivers Divide the Dáil 8: Judges Defend Four Courts Fortress 9: Mandarins Rule, OK? 10: Irish Football Pulls Back from the Brink 11: The Covid Cabinet: A Big Win for Leo

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Book SynopsisIn Xinjiang, the large northwest region of China, the government has imprisoned more than a million Uyghurs in re-education camps. One of the incarcerated--whose sentence, unlike most others, has no end date--is Ilham Tohti, an intellectual and economist, a prolific writer, and formerly the host of a website, Uyghur Online. In 2014, Tohti was arrested; accused of advocating separatism, violence, and the overthrow of the Chinese government; subjected to a two-day trial; and sentenced to life. Nothing has been heard from him since.Here are Tohti's own words, a collection of his plain-spoken calls for justice, scholarly explanations of the history of Xinjiang, and poignant personal reflections. While his courage and outspokenness about the plight of China's Muslim minorities is extraordinary, these essays sound a measured insistence on peace and just treatment for the Uyghurs.Winner of the PEN/Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought while imprisoned, this book is nonetheless the only way to hear from a man who has been called "a Uyghur Mandela".Trade ReviewAs Tohti wrote before his sentencing, the reason his people's arduous history must be known and proliferated is because of the hope it and his life's work evinces. -- Kevin Lozano * Vulture *Through his writings, Tohti tries to give the Uyghurs a voice. It is a tragic story that speaks volumes about the UK's current retreat from international law. -- Helena Kennedy * Guardian *An indispensable firsthand description of the Uyghurs' desperate plight. -- Jeremy Ray Jewell * Arts Fuse *We Uyghurs Have No Say provides a comprehensive analysis of how Uyghurs came to be a subjugated group within China, as well as strategies for remedying the situation through interethnic dialogue and policy reform ... At times, [Tohti's] writing reads more like one friend's sober advice to another, possessing a 'for your own good' quality while still bearing the mark of lived experience. * New York Magazine *[The] demand for autonomy and dignity within the Chinese state - stubbornly expressed and quietly eloquent - is voiced often in We Uyghurs Have No Say, a slim volume of Mr. Tohti's essays, speeches, open letters and interviews. * The Wall Street Journal *[We Uyghurs Have No Say] expands on [Tohti's] work unpacking China's treatment of Uyghurs and how the consequences of the country's promotion of Han ethno-nationalism. * TIME magazine *In 2014, [Tohti] was arrested and given a life sentence on the charge of 'separatism.' This selection of his writings shows what this separatism consisted of: bracingly honest analyses of the racism, discrimination, marginalization, and coercive policies that shape Beijing's treatment of the country's 55 recognized 'national minorities'; nuanced analyses of the social tensions between Uyghurs and Han Chinese; and thoughtful recommendations for how to realize the promises of equal citizenship and minority cultural self-rule laid out in the Chinese constitution and the Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law. -- Andrew J. Nathan * Foreign Affairs *

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Book SynopsisFrom the former Treasury Secretary, the definitive account of the unprecedented effort to save the U.S. economy from collapse in the wake of the worst global financial crisis since the Great DepressionOn 26 January, 2009, during the depths of the financial crisis and having just completed five years as President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Timothy F. Geithner was sworn in by President Barack Obama as the seventy-fifth Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. Now, in a strikingly candid, riveting, and historically illuminating memoir, Geithner takes readers behind the scenes during the darkest moments of the crisis. Swift, decisive, and creative action was required to avert a second Great Depression, but policy makers faced a fog of uncertainty, with no good options and the risk of catastrophic outcomes.Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises takes us inside the room, explaining in accessible and forthright terms the hard choices and politically unpalatable decisions that Geithner and others in the Obama administration made during the crisis and recovery. He discusses the most controversial moments of his tenures at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and at the Treasury, including the harrowing weekend Lehman Brothers went bankrupt; the searing crucible of the AIG bonuses controversy; the development of his widely criticized but ultimately successful plan in early 2009 to end the crisis; the bracing fight for the most sweeping financial reforms in seventy years; and the lingering aftershocks of the crisis, including high unemployment, the fiscal battles, and Europe’s repeated flirtations with the economic abyss. Geithner also shares his personal and professional recollections of key players such as President Obama, Ben Bernanke, Hank Paulson, and Larry Summers, among others, and examines the tensions between politics and policy that have come to dominate discussions of the U.S. economy. An insider’s account of how the Obama administration saved the economy but lost the American people, Stress Test reveals a side of Timothy Geithner that only few have seen.Trade ReviewSensational ... Tim's book will forever be the definitive work on what causes financial panics and what must be done to stem them when they occur. -- Warren BuffettDeals with issues far bigger than anything on the Man Booker long list. -- Anne Ashworth * The Times *Stress Test is an absolutely compelling account of the financial crisis, written in a clear, graceful style with striking honesty at every step along the way. -- Doris Kearns GoodwinThis is a lucid, fascinating, and extremely important book … Geithner does something unusual: he engages in substance. With both insight and humility, plus a good dose of wry humor, he explains what really happened during the financial crisis. No matter your political persuasion, you will find this book educational, enlightening, and interesting. -- Walter IsaacsonA fascinating memoir about life in the maelstrom of the financial crisis … Earlier books have described much of what happened that September, but Geithner was present for all the frantic meetings, the thousands of phone calls — and in the case of Lehman, the failure to find a buyer that could keep it alive. New problems cropped up almost weekly, if not daily. He explains each in easy-to-understand language and what the issues were that shaped the responses… There could be another crisis someday, of course, but what Geithner and his colleagues did has made one far less likely. * USA Today *

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Book SynopsisWritten originally in 1936–38 by Admiral Cumberlege as a record of his life, Salt Horse was never published. The original manuscript has been expertly edited and made readable in terms of language to a modern audience. It now comprises chapters on Cumberlege’s naval career in the RN and Royal Australian Navy and also on the 1922–38 period when he lived year-round on two large sailing craft, cruising the coasts of France and Spain. Cumberlege writes with some verve. He has strong views, made numerous friends wherever he and his second wife Nora went, and lived a spirited, irreverent and fortunate existence in peace and war. Some of his stories (for instance, about WW1 in New Guinea, or about his 1905 lunch in Gibraltar as a young officer with Kaiser Wilhelm II) are historic and eye-catching. In many ways, the book describes a world, and a way of life, that has disappeared for ever. Salt Horse is complemented with a timeline, family tree and Introduction which trace Cumberlege’s background. An Afterword takes his life story from 1938–63 when he died. The numerous black-and-white images and short footnotes bring many of the people mentioned in the text to life.

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Book SynopsisThe introduction of Universal Credit arguably stands as the most far-reaching reform so far this century. Clashing Agendas is the traumatic inside story of how this simple concept became unimaginably complicated in execution, and then nearly self-destructed, told by David Freud, who was the Minister for Welfare Reform responsible for the transformation. David's initial welfare proposals in 2007, commissioned by the Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair in one of his last political initiatives, proved popular across all political parties. When the Conservatives came calling, David Freud accepted the job of reforming the system, initially in the shadow ministerial team and then in Government. His core motivation was to end the welfare trap, by which the legacy systems made it difficult for many people to free themselves from dependency on the state. This personal account reveals the complex interplay between politicians and civil servants - the true determinant of how Government really works. It concludes with his views both on future development of the welfare system and on how the UK Government might organise itself to introduce major system reforms more successfully in future.Trade Review"The big political beasts of the period stalk the pages - from Blair and Cameron to May and Johnson. Clashing Agendas illustrates the extraordinary difficulty of achieving worthwhile change in this country. It reads like a political thriller." MICHAEL DOBBS Conservative politician and creator of global best-selling novel and TV series House of Cards.; "A detailed account of one of the most important policy changes of modern times. David Freud was passionate about delivering a properly incentivised route out of poverty - and this book describes in riveting detail the challenges he had to overcome to deliver his vision of Universal Credit." PHILIP HAMMOND Chancellor of the Exchequer 2016 to 2019.; "A gripping tale of the life of a minister who, unusually, wanted to be a reformer in an area where casualties far outnumber survivors. Whether you like it or not, Universal Credit is one of the big reforms of the last decade and David Freud had his hand on the tiller throughout. If you want to be a reformer, Tory or Labour, read this book." ANDREW ADONIS Labour politician Secretary of State for Transport 2009-2010.; "The absolute insider's account of Universal Credit - conception to disaster to recovery. A story told with pace and pizzazz." NICHOLAS TIMMINS Journalist and author of The Five Giants: A Biography of the Welfare State.; "David Freud spent more time than any other minister at the centre of the biggest programme of welfare reform for half a century. In this fascinating account he takes us through the politics, the complexities, and the frustrations of delivering such a huge programme. Brimming with passion for improving our broken welfare system this is a classic insider's account, essential reading for anyone seeking an understanding not just of how welfare reform works, but how politics works." PAUL JOHNSON Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies.Table of ContentsPROLOGUE. REFORM. An unplanned journey. AMBUSH. 1. The Welfare Trap. 2. Blunting the Salami-slicer. MANOEUVRES. 3. Change of Regime. 4. Inside the Department. 5. The Conservatives Pounce. OPPOSITION. 6. Get Britain Working. 7. Lords and Legislation. 8. Enter Iain Duncan Smith. 9. Moment of Serendipity. PERSUASION. 10. Minister for Welfare Reform. 11. What's the Catch? 12. Reform for Cuts. PRIVILEGE. 13. Holding the Line. 14. The Lords' Den. AGILE. 15. Digital by Default. 16. Timetable under Pressure. WRITE-OFF. 17. Poacher turns Gamekeeper. 18. The Twin Track. WORTH. 19. Yet another Vacuum. 20. Problems to Solve. 21. UC at Work. 22. Ed Miliband strikes. CUTS. 23. The Pressure Mounts. 24. Tax Credit Volte-face. 25. An Explosive Resignation. VISION. 26. Exit and Future. ADDENDUM: REFORM. Lessons for Government Projects. Acknowledgements. Dramatis Personae. Glossary of terms. Notes. Index.

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Book SynopsisDuring WWII sea convoys were the lifeblood of the Allied war effort. They were integral to the ultimate defeat of Germany on both fronts. My Sea Lady stands out as one of the most remarkable testaments of those dark days of the war at sea and the Atlantic and the Arctic convoys. HMS Lady Madeleine found herself part of both battles, under the command of 38-year-old Lieutenant Graeme Ogden. His diaries, rediscovered decades later, describe the harrowing experiences of those years, spent on ocean voyages fraught with storms, ice bergs and sub-zero temperatures, let alone the constant threat of a determined and elusive enemy. This evocatively illustrated edition of My Sea Lady confronts the horrors of war as seen through Ogden’s keen eye and is full of bittersweet humour and charming anecdotes. It wasn’t until 2012 that those who served so courageously aboard the forgotten convoys in the far North during WWII were recognised with the belated, though welcome, introduction of the Arctic Star campaign medal.Table of ContentsIntroduction vii; Foreword ix; Preface xi; Book one; The Narrative 1; Book two; Danger in the Sun 91; Book three; Clouds and Darkness 143; Epilogue 185; Appendix 186;

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Book SynopsisChris Burwell charts one man’s career in aviation from joining the RAF in 1969 aged 18, to having responsibility for training pilots for the world’s major airlines nearly 50 years later. After training at RAF Cranwell and RAF Valley and a tour as a flying instructor on Jet Provosts, he joined the Harrier Force, flying on front-line squadrons in the UK and Germany during the Cold War and as an instructor on the Harrier Conversion Unit. Detachments to Belize in 1977, the Falklands (twice), ejection from a Harrier GR3, introducing FLIR and NVG to the Harrier front line and operational missions in Northern Iraq are all covered in entertaining detail. After 30 years of service, the author spent 12 years with Cobham, managing their Teesside base and flying the Falcon 20 on operational training for the military and the King Air 200 on international flight calibration tasks. Finally, he spent four years in Spain with Flight Training Europe (FTE) Jerez with responsibility for the flying training of a new generation of pilots. Through his experience as a pilot, leader and manager gained over many years, his valuable insights into military and civilian flying operations are both engrossing and noteworthy. Highly recommended to readers of both disciplines.

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Book SynopsisWithin weeks of war being declared, Wolfgang Fischer had volunteered to join the Luftwaffe and spent nearly five of the succeeding six years of hostilities in uniform. During this time, he was given a succession of postings varying from a long-range recce unit; as a decoder in a met office in occupied France; to a bomber squadron; and as a flying instructor, before joining a squadron of the famous Richthofen Geschwader in Italy, from where he was shot down in his FW 190 by Mustangs en route to Normandy. By now a Leutnant, he survived to fly offensive rocket attacks over Gold Beach on D-Day, only to be shot down again on D + 1, and captured and sent first to a hospital in the UK, then into captivity in the USA. He was finally repatriated in April 1946. Expertly translated and edited by John Weal, this is a worthy accompaniment to Norbert Hannig's Luftwaffe Fighter Ace (9781911667223) also available in paperback.

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Book SynopsisIn this compelling memoir, Erich Sommer recalls his life in pre-war Germany and the adventures he had flying for the Luftwaffe during the Second World War. Born in 1912, the third son of a district court judge, Erich grew up in an atmosphere of uncertainty following the First World War. In 1932 he started training as a brewery engineer, shortly before the Nazis came to power. The implications this had on the lives of average Germans are described in great detail. When war came in 1939, he became a navigator, successfully serving with the Luftwaffe's first pathfinding unit, then a special and little-known control commission in Morocco to monitor the disarmament of Vichy French forces. He then served as a navigator with a high-altitude squadron flying the relatively rare Ju 86 bomber fitted with a pressurised cabin in missions during the Battle of Britain. He then went to the Russian Front flying radar-equipped Ju 88s tracking Soviet fleet movements. This led to training as a pilot, following which Erich joined a special commando equipped with the revolutionary Arado Ar 234 jet. Shortly afterwards Erich flew the world's first jet-reconnaissance sortie over the invasion front. He ended his war in Italy. After the war, Erich moved with his wife to Australia where he lived peacefully until his death in 2005. With a detailed introduction from acclaimed Luftwaffe historian J. Richard Smith and illustrated throughout with photographs from private family albums, Luftwaffe Eagle is a fascinating insight into the life of an exceptional Luftwaffe pilot and navigator.Trade ReviewIt is one of the best personal accounts to have appeared in many years and should not be missed. -- Flypast * Flypast *Grub Street are to be highly commended for bringing us this readable and gripping account. -- Britain at War

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Book SynopsisSince he was a child in the 1950s watching Vampires and Meteors operating from RAF Turnhouse, Jim Walls wanted to fly aircraft, he just never envisaged that his flying career would be spent in the back seat as opposed to the front. Jim guides readers through his 40-year RAF career that started as a Boy Entrant at RAF Cosford, then as an air radar tradesman, before specialising as an air electronics operator (AEOp) in the Nimrod MR1, and later as an air electronics officer (AEO) who flew in Nimrod R1s and Vulcan B2s. With detailed insight into the world of radar, electronic countermeasures and signals intelligence, Jim highlights the role they played in warfare for numerous operations during the Cold War as well as the Falklands campaign, First Gulf War and Bosnian War. He also recalls the peacetime role of the Nimrod and Vulcan with stories from his time on 51, 120 and 617 Squadrons. As well as focusing on his career, Jim gives his viewpoint on matters such as Operation Black Buck and the reduced war-fighting capability of the Vulcan as it neared retirement. This fascinating book showcases the vital role that AEOs held and the importance of radar and electronic warfare in the fight against enemy forces. It is also a tribute to the much-loved Cold War icons, the Nimrod and the Vulcan. With photography throughout, mainly from the author’s personal collection, this book will appeal to Cold War enthusiasts and fans of the iconic jets of that era.

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Book SynopsisLieutenant-Colonel (Retd) Diane Allen had 30 years' experience in the British Army. She was one of the first women at Sandhurst. Sandhurst was so unprepared there were no boots small enough for women and no beds for them (a recurrent theme). She served in Northern Ireland and Germany in the regular army, then 25 years in the reserves, alongside a career in the public and private sector. She moved through the ranks into more senior military leadership, creating new intelligence units. But with each success she achieved, resistance from those in charge increased. In November 2018, Diane was awarded the OBE for services to military intelligence. But by November 2019, she had started a messy divorce with the Army. She isn't leaving voluntarily - she has been pushed out. This is her account of her time in the army; the comical, the tragic, the painful and the honest story of a woman for whom the Army will always be her true family.

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Book SynopsisLike No Other Soldier continues the true story told in Fishers of Men of Rob Lewis’s life after he leaves the Force Research Unit (FRU). Staying on in Northern Ireland as a civilian after years of working on undercover missions against terrorists, Rob eventually gains employment in Bristol, undertaking security work, but things don’t work out and Rob ends up living in a squat. After a job offer from an old colleague, Rob heads to London to work in close-protection security for some of Hollywood’s royalty - Tom Cruise, Liam Neeson, Nicole Kidman and Mel Gibson among them - and later becomes involved in the rescue of some very well-connected people from a dangerous religious cult. Rob’s life seems to be getting back on track. But Rob’s work soon becomes more covert, and he ends up being on the wrong side of a police armed response unit whilst undertaking surveillance tasks, and is later arrested as a suspect when the ‘Stevens Enquiry’ building in Belfast - where detectives investigating the alleged collusion between his old unit and Loyalist paramilitaries are based - is set on fire. As Rob becomes involved in ever more shadowy surveillance and private security operations, he attracts further unwanted police attention, this time from the Serious Organised Crime Agency, and he is charged with fraud, found guilty and sentenced to prison at HMP Wandsworth. Can Rob prove his innocence and reclaim his life?

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Book SynopsisEminent Victorians is a seminal work of biography and social commentary published by British writer and critic Lytton Strachey. By offering four unique portrayals of notable Victorian people, the book challenges the standard approach to biography. Cardinal Manning, Florence Nightingale, Dr. Thomas Arnold, and General Charles Gordon are among Strachey's subjects. Strachey takes a sarcastic and critical perspective to their lives, rather than offering hagiographic narratives. He examines their shortcomings, paradoxes, and character complexity, presenting the human side of these great figures. Strachey's style is funny and astute, providing readers with a new perspective on these great figures. When it was initially released, the book's satirical tone and unorthodox biographical format generated quite a stir. Strachey's presentation of these illustrious Victorians as flawed and deficient questioned the conventional veneration for the era's heroes and heroines. Eminent Victorians is more than just a biography compilation; it's a critique of the Victorian society and beliefs that these figures embodied. Strachey's work was influential in altering the biography genre and encouraging a more nuanced and critical assessment of historical characters.

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Book Synopsis''We will overcome it [and] I hope in the years to come, everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge, and those who come after us will say the Britons of this generation were as strong as any'' Her Majesty The QueenThe Coronavirus pandemic forced the great British people to dig to the very depths of their resolve. It was during this crisis, the gravest crisis the country has faced since the Second World War, that members of the Greatest Generation - Tom Moore, Dame Vera Lynn, the Queen - proved vital reminders of the self-effacing stoicism required in times of emergency; to summon our ''Blitz spirit'' and to ''Keep Calm and Carry On''.Taking twelve qualities of the wartime generation, including fellowship, courage and integrity, and drawing on personal interviews with over two hundred Second World War veterans - from SAS officers to London firewomen to Dame Vera herself - Guidance from the Greatest shows us how we can impTrade ReviewInspiring * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisIn 1861, Harriet Jacobs became the first formerly enslaved African American woman to publish a book-length account of her life. In crafting her coming-of-age story, she insisted upon biographical accuracy and bold creativity telling the truth while giving herself and others fictionalized names. She also adapted conventions from other popular genres, the sentimental novel and the slave narrative. Then, despite facing obstacles not encountered by Black men and white women, she orchestrated the book's publication and became a traveling bookseller in an effort to inspire passive Americans to support the abolition of slavery.Engaging with the latest research on Jacobs's life and work, this edition helps readers to understand the enormity of Jacobs's achievement in writing, publishing, and distributing her life story. However, it also shows how this monumental accomplishment was only the beginning of her contributions, given her advocacy work over the nearly forty years that she lived after its publication. As a survivor of sexual abuse who became an advocate, Jacobs laid a foundation for activist movements such as #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo. This edition also features six appendices, placing resources at readers' fingertips that further illuminate the issues raised by Jacobs's remarkable life and legacy.Trade Review“Those familiar with Harriet Jacobs’s autobiography will discover new, vital details about her lifelong struggle in defense of Black women and Black people. Those encountering this work for the first time will be profoundly altered by Jacobs’s relentless pursuit of equal rights and justice. This beautifully rendered edition is a must-read for all.” — Kali Gross, Emory University“Koritha Mitchell is a brilliant literary historian and theorist. With breathtaking sensitivity to the forces, conditions, and places in Jacobs’s life, Mitchell breathes new life—and brings deeper understanding and refreshing insight—into this classic narrative. Though it is over a century and a half old, through Mitchell’s keen critical lens, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl remains relevant and impactful. Black women’s lives and letters are in the very best of hands with Professor Koritha Mitchell.” — Imani Perry, Princeton University“Koritha Mitchell’s exemplary edition of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is what happens when a Black feminist-activist sharpens her pencil today. Engaging with an expansive array of archival documents and current scholarship, Mitchell goes beyond excellent historicizing to deftly demonstrate how ‘[US] society doles out life chances according to identity.’ It’s the best edition I’ve seen to date, in large part because of Mitchell’s introduction.” — Joycelyn Moody, University of Texas San AntonioTable of ContentsAppendix A: Historical Contexts 1. 'Handed by The Blacks of New Haven City,' petition, 1788 2. From the Fugitive Slave Act, 1850 3. Notice warning Black people in Boston to be on guard after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, 24 April 1851 4. United States Supreme Court Justice Roger Taney, the Dred Scott decision, 6 March 1857 5. From the First Confiscation Act, 1861 6. From the Second Confiscation Act, 1862 7. The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863 8. From the Freedmen's Bureau Act, 1865 9. The Thirteenth Amendment, 1865 10. From the Fourteenth Amendment, 1868 11. From the Fifteenth Amendment, 1870 12. From United States Supreme Court Justice Billings Brown, Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896 Appendix B: Other Historical Connections 1. Laws of Virginia, Act XII, 1662 2. From Olive Gilbert, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth,1850 3. Documents regarding Nat Turner's Insurrection, 1831 a. 'Anonymus' to Governor John Floyd, 28 August 1831 b. Proclamation by Governor John Floyd, 17 September 1831 4. Advertisement, American Beacon, 30 June 1835 5. South Carolina Negro Seamen Act, 1822 Appendix C: The Composition, Publication, and Reception of Incidents1. Harriet Jacobs's First Forays into Writing for Publication a. From New York Daily Tribune, 21 June 1853 b. New York Tribune, 25 July 1853 2. Correspondence from Harriet Jacobs to Amy Post a. From Harriet Jacobs to Amy Post, after 28 December 1852 b. From Harriet Jacobs to Amy Post, 14 February 1853 c. Harriet Jacobs to Amy Post, 4 April 1853 d. From Harriet Jacobs to Amy Post, c. May 1853 e. From Harriet Jacobs to Amy Post, 9 October 1853 f. From Harriet Jacobs to Amy Post, March 1854 3. Correspondence from Lydia Maria Child to Harriet Jacobs a. Lydia Maria Child to Harriet Jacobs, 13 August 1860 b. Lydia Maria Child to Harriet Jacobs, 27 September 1860 4. Original Title Page 5. Correspondence from John Greenleaf Whittier to Lydia Maria Child, 1 April 1861 6. William C. Nell, 'Linda, the Slave Girl,' Liberator, 24 January 1861 7. From unsigned book review, Weekly Anglo-African, 13 April 1861 8. From unsigned book review, Anti-Slavery Advocate, 1 May 1861 Appendix D: Life after Incidents 1. From Linda [Harriet Jacobs], 'Life Among the Contrabands,' Liberator, 5 September 1862 2. From 'Jacobs (Linda) School, Alexandria, Va,' Freedmen's Record, February 1865 3. 'From Harriet Jacobs,' Freedman, February 1866 4. 'From Louisa Jacobs,' Freedmen's Record, March 1866 5. Linda [Harriet] Jacobs, 'Savannah Freedmen's Orphan Asylum,' Anti-Slavery Reporter, 2 March 1868 6. Letters by an Adult Louisa Jacobs (1880-84) a. 'Ah me!' 25 March 1880 b. 'Rest and quiet is what she needs,' 7 September 1884 c. 'I was sure Mother would not refuse him,' 21 December 1884 7. Remembrances upon Jacobs's Death a. From the Eulogy by Reverend Francis Grimké b. From the Obituary for Harriet Jacobs, Woman's Journal, May 1897 Appendix E: Enduring Legacy 1. From Ellen Driscoll, 'The Loophole of Retreat' 2. From Lydia Diamond, Harriet Jacobs: A Play, 2011 3. Quotations from Lorna Ann Johnson, Freedom Road, 2004 Appendix F: People and Places Relevant to Incidents 1. Who Is Who in Incidents 2. Image of Dr. Norcom 3. Image of Louisa Jacobs 4. Visual Rendering of Floor Plan of Grandmother's House and Hiding Place 5. Visual Rendering of the Edenton Neighborhood in Which Jacobs Was Born and Hid 6. Image of Amy Post 7. Image of Harriet Beecher Stowe 8. Image of Lydia Maria Child

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Book SynopsisAn unprecedented behind-the-scenes portrait of the Trump presidency from the anonymous senior official whose first words of warning about the president rocked the nation''s capital.On September 5, 2018, the New York Times published a bombshell essay and took the rare step of granting its writer anonymity. Described only as a senior official in the Trump administration, the author provided eyewitness insight into White House chaos, administration instability, and the people working to keep Donald Trump''s reckless impulses in check.With the 2020 election on the horizon, Anonymous is speaking out once again. In this book, the original author pulls back the curtain even further, offering a first-of-its-kind look at the president and his record -- a must-read before Election Day. It will surprise and challenge both Democrats and Republicans, motivate them to consider how we judge our nation''s leaders, and illuminate the consequences of re-electing a comman

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Book SynopsisIn July 2012, aged thirty, Juliet Jacques underwent sex reassignment surgery-a process she chronicled with unflinching honesty in a serialised national newspaper column. Trans tells of her life to the present moment: a story of growing up, of defining yourself, and of the rapidly changing world of gender politics. Fresh from university, eager to escape a dead-end job and launch a career as a writer, she navigates the treacherous waters of a world where, even in the liberal and feminist media, transgender identities go unacknowledged, misunderstood or worse. Revealing, honest,humorous, and self-deprecating, Trans includes an epilogue with Sheila Heti, author of How Should a Person Be?Trade ReviewTrans challenges us all, no matter what our gender or sexuality. Ultimately, it makes us look at ourselves, and wonder what price we pay for the identities we assume, or which we have thrust upon us. -- Philip Hoare * New Statesman *Juliet Jacques's Trans ... provides a lyrical exploration of her own gender journey against the background of increasing media interest in transgender issues. Thoughtful and intimate, it's a fine successor to books such as Jan Morris's Conundrum. -- Helen Lewis * Guardian *Powerful and engaging. . . it's hard not to see her as anything other than brave, even as she pushes readers to recognize that what is revolutionary is the very ordinariness of her day-to-day life * New York Times *Brutally honest and funny. * Marie Claire *Provides a lyrical exploration of her own gender journey against the background of increasing media interest in transgender issues. Thoughtful and intimate, it's a fine successor to books such as Jan Morris's Conundrum * Helen Lewis, Guardian, Books of the Year *Challenges us all, no matter what our gender or sexuality. Ultimately, it makes us look at our selves, and wonder what price we pay for the identities we assume, or which we have thrust upon us. * Philip Hoare, New Statesman *Brave and moving, Trans is necessary reading for anyone who cares about gender,power, freedom and desire. Juliet Jacques deals with the forces of cruelty andignorance with hard-won clarity and calm. A vital voice in our turbulent times * Olivia Laing, author of The Trip to Echo Spring *Amarvelously nuanced journey through gender, brilliantly contextualized in thedisparate worlds of pop culture, football, mass media, and the NHS . a terrificread by an accomplished author. * —Kate Bornstein, author of A Queer and Pleasant Danger *Understated and urgent, Jacques comes across as a woman carrying an ambiguity she doesn't seem to want or feel able fully to shed...She confounds the distinction, not just between male and female, but also between the emotional atmospheres which the various trans identities are meant - 'instructed' may be the right word - to personify. -- Jacqueline Rose * London Review of Books *A thoughtful and honest account of the realities of life as a trans woman ... accessible and relatable, regardless of your gender identity * Independent *

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It was a time of house burnings, mob violence, kidnapping, mass imprisonment, torture, endless trials, summary executions and secret burials. This was Iran in the early 1980s, and everyday reality for the Baha'is, Iran's largest religious minority. Headlines across America screamed out the story, Congress passed motions, President Reagan appealed to Iran. This detailed, eye-witness account of the persecution of Iran's largest religious minority in the 1980s is the story of one woman's experiences at the hands of the Iranian Revolutionaries. Amid the escalating pogrom, Olya Roohizadegan witnessed friends, neighbours and relatives being imprisoned, tortured and executed. For months she visited the prisoners, comforted their relatives, found clothes and shelter for the homeless, and smuggled news and photographs out of Iran to the outside world. And then it was her turn. The book culminates in her dramatic escape from the hangman's rope in a hazardous overland journey to Pakistan and the West.

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Book SynopsisPathway to the Stars takes readers on a remarkable journey spanning one hundred years of the Royal Canadian Air Force.Trade Review“[Pathway to the Stars] is a splendid new book … Over 250 pages, it is lavishly illustrated with photographs and covers the story of the RCAF from its origins to its future.” -- John Chalmers * Canadian Aviation Historical Society *Table of ContentsAbout the Authors Foreword Acknowledgements 1. The Origin Story of the RCAF: The First World War through to 1938 2. The Crucible of War: The RCAF and the Second World War, 1939–1945 3. The Cold War Deterrent Force: 1946–1991 4. Unification: Maintaining Canadian Sovereignty 5. Expeditionary Operations 6. Search and Rescue and Humanitarian Operations 7. The RCAF Today and Tomorrow 8. Reflecting on the Impact of the RCAF: Canada and the World Appendices 1. List of RCAF Commanders and Command Chiefs 2. RCAF Victoria Cross Recipients 3. List of Aircraft (Current and Historical) 4. RCAF Organization and Ceremonies 5. Timeline of the RCAF Bibliography Photo Credits Index

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Book SynopsisIn 1942, with a black-market chicken under his arm, Leo Marks left his father''s famous bookshop, 84 Charing Cross Road, and went to war. He was twenty-two and a cryptopgraher of genius. In Between Silk and Cyanide, his critically acclaimed account of his time in SOE, Marks tells how he revolutionised the code-making techniques of the Allies, trained some of the most famous agents dropped into France including Violette Szabo and ''the White Rabbit'', and why he wrote haunting verse including his ''The Life that I have'' poem. He reveals for the first time the disastrous dimensions of the code war between SOE and the Germans in Holland; how the Germans were fooled into thinking a Secret Army was operating in the Fatherland itself, and how and why he broke General de Gaulle''s secret code. Both thrilling and poignant, Marks''s book is truly one of the last great Second World War memoirs.

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Book SynopsisCicero’s letters to friends span the period from 62 BC, when his political career was at its peak, to 43 BC, when he was put to death by the victorious Triumvirs.

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Book SynopsisJohn Cannon, known to some as ''the poor man''s Pepys'', was the self-taught son of a Somerset farmer. Though some episodes in Cannon''s life have been partially drawn upon in other studies, this edition is the first full scale study enabling Cannon and his world to be understood in their entirety.The manuscript he wrote over nearly 60 years offers a remarkably candid autobiography, crowded with people of all ranks in hundreds of different places, roles and occupations. His Chronicles also record virtually all aspects of change, at a social level seldom so continuously documented in any period, as they were experienced and observed in significant regions of the country, during a crucial span of British history. Part 1 includes Cannon''s unique personal account of Country Excise, in the Thames Valley, and back in Somerset. The extended Introduction places Cannon and his Chronicles in all their contexts. (Part 2 covers the period 1734-1743.)Trade ReviewThe "Chronicles" provide not just a remarkable insight into the material, mental and moral world of one individual, but also of the period in which he lived... an incredibly rich source, and the British Academy and the Oxford University Press are to be congratulated for making this superb edition of it available. Equally, John Money is to be thanked for his massively erudite, at appropriate points witty, and unfailingly sympathetic editorial work. * James Sharpe, Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisGeneral Sir David Richards is one of the best known British generals of modern times. In 2013 he retired after over forty years of service in the British Army and a career that had seen him rise from junior officer with 20 Commando to Chief of the Defence Staff, the professional head of the British Armed Forces.He served in the Far East, Germany, Northern Ireland and East Timor. He was the last Governor of Berlin''s Spandau Prison, when Rudolf Hess, Hitler''s deputy, was its sole prisoner. In 2005 he was appointed Commander of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps in Afghanistan and as commander of NATO forces became the first British General to command US Forces in combat since the Second World War.In 2000, Richards won acclaim when he brought together a collation of forces in Sierra Leone to stop the ultra-violent Revolutionary United Front from attacking the capital, Freetown. In so doing he ended one of the bloodiest civil wars to bedevil the region. He did so without Trade ReviewThis is a most engaging account, both characteristically direct and controversial, of a life of soldiering from the post-imperial era, through the Cold War, Iraq and Afghanistan right up to the age of Jihadists and cyber-warfare. - Antony BeevorNot for many years has there been a CDS with comparable operational experience, nor one who has thought as much about defence. - Allan Mallinson, Times Defence CommentatorA brilliant memoir by the UK's most significant soldier-scholar-statesman of the new century; a compelling, thoughtful, and thought-provoking read by one who played a key role in virtually every military endeavor of the past decade - General David H. Petraeus (U.S. Army, retired)He has seen just about every combat zone since Sandhurst. One is in the hands of a consummate soldier. - Frederick ForsythNot the usual dry treatise on the use of force, his memoir is a highly readable account from someone involved in all the key theatres of our recent history - The Sunday TimesA fascinating book on the British Army from the 1970s to today - The Spectator

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Book Synopsis‘An absolutely fascinating read’ - newsreader Emily MaitlisJames Comey, former FBI Director and Sunday Times number one bestselling author of A Higher Loyalty, uses his long career in federal law enforcement to explore issues of justice and fairness in the US justice system.James Comey might best be known as the FBI director who Donald Trump fired in 2017, but he’s had a long, varied career in the law and justice system. He knows better than most just what a force for good the US justice system can be, and how far afield it strayed during the Trump presidency.In his much-anticipated follow-up to A Higher Loyalty, Comey uses anecdotes and lessons from his career to show how the federal justice system works. From prosecuting mobsters as an assistant US attorney in the Southern District of New York in the 1980s to grappling with the legalities of anti-terrorism work as the deputy attorney general in the early 2000s to, of course, his tumultuous stint as FBI director beginning in 2013, Comey shows just how essential it is to pursue the primacy of truth for federal law enforcement.Saving Justice is gracefully written and honestly told, a clarion call for a return to fairness and equity in the law.Trade ReviewAn absolutely fascinating read for anyone who wants to understand the workings of the US justice system and American politics more broadly -- Emily MaitlisThe Capitol riot was our Chernobyl . . . I was sickened to watch an attack on the literal and symbolic heart of our democracy, and, as a law enforcement person, I was angered. I am mystified and angry that Capitol Hill wasn’t defended. It’s a hill! If you wanted to defend it, you could defend it, and for some reason it was not defended. I think that’s a 9/11-size failure and we’re going to need a 9/11-type commission to understand it so that we don’t repeat it -- James Comey, Guardian interview, 19 January 2021

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Book SynopsisIntroduction by Deborah E. Lipstadt, author of DenialJuly 15, 1942, WednesdayRemember this day; remember it well. You will tell generations to come. Since 8 o’clock today we have been shut away in the ghetto. I live here now. The world is separated from me and I’m separated from the world.Renia is a young girl who dreams of becoming a poet. But Renia is Jewish, she lives in Poland and the year is 1939. When Russia and Germany invade her country, Renia's world shatters. Separated from her mother, her life takes on a new urgency as she flees Przemysl to escape night bombing raids, observes the disappearances of other Jewish families and, finally, witnesses the creation of the ghetto.But alongside the terror of war, there is also great beauty, as she begins to find her voice as a writer and falls in love for the first time. She and the boy she falls in love with, Zygmunt, share their first kiss a few hours before the Nazis reach her hometown. And it is Zygmunt who writes the final, heartbreaking entry in Renia’s diary.Recently rediscovered after seventy years, Renia’s Diary is already being described as a classic of Holocaust literature. Written with a clarity and skill that is reminiscent of Anne Frank, Renia's Diary also includes a prologue and epilogue by Renia's sister Elizabeth, as well as an introduction by Deborah E. Lipstadt, author of Denial. It is an extraordinary testament to both the horrors of war, and to the life that can exist even in the darkest times.Trade ReviewAt a moment when basic agreement over simple truths has become a political battleground and history a weapon, the publication of the book, Renia’s Diary, offers a reminder of the power of bearing witness * New York Times *Extraordinary... It is a privilege to read these pages, and an impertinence to review them. Renia Spiegel was an astonishingly brave girl who developed into a remarkable young woman. (5* review) * Daily Telegraph *Astonishing... A new invaluable contribution to Holocaust literature * Smithsonian Magazine *It is as though the murderous machine of Hitler's vision and the barbarity being brought upon her people couldn't silence the integrity of her voice... Renia emerges as a poet of real lyricism and emotional heft, which makes her demise all the more tragic * Irish Independent *Recall[s] moments of intense happiness in the gathering gloom * Times *

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsChapter 1 – Here We GoChapter 2 - From New York to JerusalemChapter 3 - From The Trib to the CathedralChapter 4 – The Holy LandChapter 5 - The Battle for JerusalemChapter 6 – Six Days in JuneChapter 7 – Southeast AsiaChapter 8 – Out of the Frying Pan…Chapter 9 – War ReduxChapter 10 – Green Beret MurderChapter 11 – Life in SaigonChapter 12 – At Home At HomeChapter 13 – Diplomatic DissonanceChapter 14 – A New and Different Israel Chapter 15 – Anguish in Austria Chapter 16 – War Redux ReduxChapter 17 – Post-War BluesChapter 18 – Wrapping Up the Holy LandChapter 19 – At Home At HomeChapter 20 – Goodbye Print, Hello BroadcastChapter 21 – CBS Sunday MorningChapter 22 – The News Business as News Epilogue – It’s a Wrap

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Book SynopsisA classic account of courage, integrity, and most of all, belongingIn 1977, Natan Sharansky, a leading activist in the democratic dissident movement in the Soviet Union and the movement for free Jewish emigration, was arrested by the KGB. He spent nine years as a political prisoner, convicted of treason against the state. Every day, Sharansky fought for individual freedom in the face of overt tyranny, a struggle that would come to define the rest of his life.Never Alone reveals how Sharansky's years in prison, many spent in harsh solitary confinement, prepared him for a very public life after his release. As an Israeli politician and the head of the Jewish Agency, Sharansky brought extraordinary moral clarity and uncompromising, often uncomfortable, honesty. His story is suffused with reflections from his time as a political prisoner, from his seat at the table as history unfolded in Israel and the Middle East, and from his passionate efforts to unite the Jewish people.Written with frankness, affection, and humor, the book offers us profound insights from a man who embraced the essential human struggle: to find his own voice, his own faith, and the people to whom he could belong.

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Book SynopsisEven in his heyday in wrestling, Jacobs was inspired to pursue politics by popular libertarian figures such as former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, Republican Senator Rand Paul, Fox News' Judge Andrew Napolitano and others, and that led him to fulfill his own political ambitions.Before becoming Mayor Kane, Glenn "Kane" Jacobs was one of WWE's top Superstars for over two decades and travelled the globe with the likes of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, John Cena, Ric Flair, and many others. He dominated the WWE with The Undertaker as the "Brothers of Destruction." Kane reinvented himself with the help of Daniel Bryan forming "Team Hell No." He set "Good ol' JR," Jim Ross on fire.The wrestler-turned-politician hasn't hung up his wrestling boots yet. Politics is a contact sport and Jacobs is using his wrestling skills in that arena. Jacobs supports President Trump and his agenda, and is implementing conservative policies in Tennessee.

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Book SynopsisRobert Foley had only been in Vietnam for six months when he was promoted to captain and given command of a rifle company. In November 1966, Foley led his men on a mission to rescue another company that had been pinned down by Viet Cong forces. His leadership that day inspired his men and led to a successful operation face=Calibri>– and the Medal of Honor. His actions in Vietnam were only a small portion of a long and varied career of service in the US Army, but Foley did not always seem marked for success. Coming from a blue-collar suburb of Boston, his years in West Point were marked by poor grades, injuries, and sickness. With a determination to lead by example and inspire trust among others, Foley served across the globe and rose through the ranks. He even returned to West Point as Commandant of Cadets, later retiring as a 3-star general and commander of Fifth Army."Standing Tall is a terrific book following a true American hero's journey during a stellar career in the U.S. Army. Lieutenant General (Retired) Bob Foley has written a must read for anyone interested in learning leadership lessons during the toughest situations imaginable."General Robert B. Brown, US Army Retired, former Commanding General, US Army Pacific, President & Chief Executive Officer, Association of the US ArmyTrade ReviewWhat distinguishes Standing Tall from the genre of military memoirs is how Foley deftly intersperses lessons learned from his military experience … [It] is an extraordinary memoir that captures a remarkable soldier’s personal journey. Combining easy prose and splendid writing, Foley’s leadership odyssey deserves a wide audience. A primer on leadership that ought to be on every [soldier’s] mandatory reading list. * ARMY Magazine *Table of ContentsChapter 1 – Early Years Chapter 2 – New Cadet Barracks Chapter 3 – Plebe Year Chapter 4 – Keeping the Faith Chapter 5 – Wolfhounds Chapter 6 – The War in Vietnam Chapter 7 – Rifle Company Commander Chapter 8 – Operation Attleboro Chapter 9 – Two Decisions Chapter 10 – About Face Chapter 11 – Battalion Operations Officer Chapter 12 – Moscow and Leningrad Chapter 13 – Battalion Commander Chapter 14 – Naval War College Chapter 15 – Brigade Commander Chapter 16 – Crisis Management Chapter 17 – Assistant Division Commander Chapter 18 – Commandant of Cadets Chapter 19 – Company Tactical Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers Chapter 20 – Mission Essential Task Enhancement Chapter 21 – Honor and Respect Chapter 22 – Deputy Commanding General, Second Army Chapter 23 – Commanding General, US Army Military District of Washington Chapter 24 – Commanding General, Fifth Army Chapter 25 – Epilogue Acknowledgements Endnotes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe memoir of Gwendolyn Midlo Hall offers today's activists and readers an accessible and intimate examination of a crucial era in American radical history. Born in 1929 New Orleans to left-wing Jewish parents, Gwendolyn Midlo Hall's life has spanned nearly a century of engagement in anti-racist, internationalist political activism. In this moving and instructive chronicle of her remarkable life, Midlo Hall recounts her experiences as an anti-racist activist, a Communist Party militant, and a scholar of slavery in the Americas, as well as the wife and collaborator of the renowned African-American author and Communist leader Harry Haywood. Telling the story of her life against the backdrop of the important political and social developments of the 20th century, Midlo Hall offers new insights about a critical period in the history of labor and civil rights movements in the United States. Detailing everything from Midlo Hall's co-founding of the only inter-racial youth organization in the South when she was 16-years-old, to her pioneering work establishing digital slave databases, to her own struggles against cruel and pervasive sexism, Haunted by Slavery is a gripping account of a life defined by profound dedication to a cause.Trade Review“What a refreshing book! Gwendolyn Midlo Hall’s spunky, riveting, chronicle of a life of political activism and groundbreaking historical scholarship reminds us of the Left’s crucial role in the Black struggle against White supremacy and of her own revolutionary use of digital technology in the remaking of American history.” —Nell Irvin Painter, author of The History of White People and Southern History Across the Color Line“Gwen Midlo Hall is a people's historian in the best sense of that term. Her scholarship, informed by a deep commitment to the struggle for freedom, maps the lives and struggles of oppressed and enslaved people over time and place. In her newest work, she traces her own freedom journey and offers insight into the making of a white radical anti-racist historian, whose life and work as a scholar, left wing organizer, daughter, wife and mother reveal the breadth of her humanity and remarkable accomplishments.” —Barbara Ransby, author of Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement“In Haunted by Slavery, renowned scholar and activist Gwendolyn Midlo Hall tells her remarkable life story with the same passion, conviction, depth and beauty that has guided her work for decades. Drawing on her personal experiences and extensive knowledge of history and politics, Midlo Hall’s memoir lays bare the intricacies of race, gender, class and power.” —Keisha N. Blain, author of Set the World on Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom“Haunted by Slavery gives us a rare, up-close look at the Black freedom struggle across the twentieth century and the massive repression of Black and white radicals, encountered by a white freedom fighter-scholar who throughout her life refused to be a 'good girl.’” —Jeanne Theoharis, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Brooklyn College, author of A More Beautiful and Terrible History“Haunted by Slavery is a magnificent account of the revolutionary life of a southern Jewish woman who fought racial inequalities during one of the most dreadful times in US history. When women's fate was to be confined to the domestic space, Gwen became a militant who challenged gender norms, escaped anti-Communist persecution, married a prominent African American activist, and raised her children across several states and countries. This memoir is an inspiring testament written by one of the most esteemed historians of slavery in the United States, who dedicated her entire life to fight for social justice, a strive that persists today.” —Ana Lucia Araujo, Professor of History, Howard University“In the overwhelmingly male-dominated, historically conservative field of southern history, Gwendolyn Midlo Hall has been a trailblazer. As an inspiration to countless women historians as well as scholar activists, Midlo Hall’s Haunted by Slavery is an intensely intimate—and at times disarmingly honest—memoir. It offers a glimpse into the life of a white Jewish woman in the Deep South, complicating our prejudices about both the region and its people. Haunted by Slavery is a must-read for anyone interested in questions of race, gender, class, and power in America. Midlo Hall is a national treasure.” —Keri Leigh Merritt, author of Masterless Men“Part autobiography, part narrative of the lived experience of class conflict and anti-fascist solidarity against the deprivations and injustice of racial oppression, Gwendolyn Midlo Hall’s Haunted by Slavery recounts the long and tumultuous history of twentieth century America. Throughout this epoch, from the enduring legacy of slavery, refashioned under Jim Crow in 1930s New Orleans, to the hysteria of the Red Scare, FBI surveillance and harassment, to the historic engagements and tensions in the 1960s between the Communist Party, Civil Rights and Black Nationalist movements, Hall—woman, spouse, mother, historian, and “Red”—is as much a protagonist as raconteur, interweaving her own story and these defining moments of American history. We are indebted to her principled stand and courage in the project of worldmaking to which Haunted by Slavery is yet another remarkable contribution.” —Eileen Julien, founding director of the West African Research Center, Dakar, Senegal (1993-95) and author of Travels with Mae: Scenes from a New Orleans Girlhood“Like Dr. Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, this book is bold and engaging. As this white woman from the South recounts her life, we learn how she shaped history as an unrelenting civil rights activist and rewrote history as a path-breaking scholar of slavery in the Americas. All along, Dr. Midlo Hall urges us to fight for justice, seek education, and teach others. There can be no doubt that the world would be a better place if we followed her lead.” —Walter Hawthorne, Professor of African History, Michigan State University“Dr. Hall’s memoir offers a thorough and necessary exploration of the misinformation, violence, and fear that create the circumstances for white Southerners—white Southern women and girls, in particular—to participate in segregation and enclosure even when it is against their own interests. Luckily, Hall also provides a recipe for fighting that—grit, truth, and the defiance to face down the family you are born into in order to form a more inclusive family of your own creation. Hall’s book charts a path for not just understanding Southern white identity, but a reminder that the most toxic parts of that world can be excised and new lines of relation with Black, immigrant, poor, and other dispossessed people can by drawn—if you’ve the courage to try!” —Jessica Marie Johnson, author of Wicked Flesh“Haunted By Slavery is a beautifully written memoir. Gwendolyn Midlo Hall offers an inspiring life story, detailing her lifelong commitment to upending racism and white supremacy, sexism, labor exploitation and global oppression. Midlo Hall’s fascinating and engrossing personal histories illuminate the makings of a ‘revolutionary internationalist,’ radical, intellectual, and activist-historian. It provides a firsthand and fresh perspective on some of the most important political and social justice movements of the mid-to-late twentieth century. A wide-ranging political autobiography, this remarkable narrative is an intimate account of an activist’s interior life.” —LaShawn Harris, author of Sex Workers, Psychics, and Numbers Running“In this gripping memoir of a radical American life, the pathbreaking historian Dr. Gwendolyn Midlo Hall draws on almost a century of living memory to tell a story that races from New Orleans to Paris, New York, Mexico, Detroit, North Carolina, New Jersey, Mississippi, and more. It’s all here. Her presence at W.E.B. Dubois’s ‘Behold the Land’ speech in 1946. Her arrest at an ‘interracial’ party in 1949. A frank account of her 30-year marriage to the brilliant and troubled Black revolutionary Harry Haywood. Her friendship with Mabel and Robert Williams. Her struggle to survive and grow as a professional historian in a bluntly sexist society. Her years-long harassment by the FBI. Her painstaking archival and pioneering database work to restore the historical identities of enslaved Africans and Black Americans. It’s not a story you’ve heard before, and it’s one you won’t forget.” —Ned Sublette, co-author of The American Slave Coast“Dr. Midlo Hall's memoirs tell an intriguing story of survival. It is a love story about heartbreak, courage, and scholarship. As an awarded professor with over seventy years of study in courthouses and archives, Dr. Midlo-Hall has helped countless students and scholars understand the history of Africans in Louisiana through her slave database. For the first time, readers will learn the secrets behind the life of this scholar, who as a teenager started her work as a civil rights activist and freedom fighter while working in her father's law office in New Orleans.” —Kathe Hambrick, Founder, River Road African American Museum and Dir. of Interpretation, West Baton Rouge Museum“The ‘Allées Gwendolyn Midlo Hall’ is a memorial built at the Whitney Plantation Museum of slavery near New Orleans and dedicated to remembering and honoring all the people who were enslaved in Louisiana. This book allows everybody to understand why the name of its author was chosen in the naming of the said memorial.” —Dr. Ibrahima Seck, director of research, Whitney Plantation Museum of Slavery“Those who know historian Gwendolyn Midlo Hall from her pathbreaking research on the lives of enslaved Africans and their descendants might be surprised to learn of all the activist trailblazing she did as a young woman—building interracial coalitions against segregation in her hometown of New Orleans in the 1940s and organizing for workers’ rights through the Communist Party, all the while struggling against the sexism that kept women from positions of leadership and careers of their own. But as her fascinating memoir Haunted by Slavery makes clear, the whole of her life’s work, as an activist and a scholar, has been in the service of fighting injustice and broadcasting the stories of the oppressed, past and present.” —Mary Niall Mitchell, Ethel & Herman L. Midlo Endowed Chair in New Orleans Studies, University of New Orleans“This autobiography is an inspiring example of the convergence of political commitment and scholarly contribution. The author’s life coincides, in youth, with the Civil Rights movement and, in the half-century that followed, with the persistence of systematic racism in the United States. Daughter of an East European immigrant who became a Civil Rights lawyer in segregated New Orleans, wife of a black Communist militant, mother of an activist physician in Mexico, she describes her fight for social justice and racial equality throughout her life. In the last five decades at Rutgers and more recently at Michigan State University, not only has she written prize-winning books and articles reflecting the paradigm shift from slaves as silent victims to resilient and resourceful actors in history, but she has also led major projects in comparative and digital history. Recounting how all this has been achieved against constraints of gender convention, racial prejudice, and petty FBI harassment makes for fascinating reading about segregated New Orleans and Louisiana, the Communist Party in postwar America, and much else besides appreciation of the noteworthy persona who is the memoir’s principal subject.” —Paul Lachance, Professor of History, University of Ottawa“Part feminist memoir, part labor philosophy, part Louisiana history, part Civil Rights chronicle, part the academic genealogy of an African diaspora historian: Haunted by Slavery is all that one might expect of the autobiography of one of the most distinguished scholars of several generations--and in its intricate and fearless writing, the book is even more.” —Laura Rosanne Adderley, Associate Professor, Department of History, Tulane University“Deeply moving and exceptionally current. Professor Hall has kindly opened a window and allowed us to peer through into her extraordinary life. A life full with both joys and sorrows, but more than anything, signalled by her unwavering commitment to make our world a better place.” —Manuel Barcia, Chair of Global History, University of Leeds

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Book SynopsisWhen Ukrainian journalist Iuliia Mendel got the call she had been hired to work for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, she had no idea what was to come.In this frank and moving inside account, Zelenskyy’s former press secretary tells the story of his improbable rise from popular comedian to the president of Ukraine. Mendel had a front row seat to many of the key events preceding the 2022 Russian invasion. From attending meetings between Zelenskyy and Putin and other European leaders, visiting the front lines in Donbas, to fielding press inquiries after the infamous phone calls between Donald Trump and Zelenskyy that led to Trump’s first impeachment. Mendel saw firsthand Zelenskyy’s efforts to transform his country from a poor, backward Soviet state into a vibrant, prosperous European democracy. Mendel sheds light on the massive economic problems facing Ukraine and the entrenched corrupt oligarchs in league with Russia. She witnessed the Kremlin’s repeated attacks to discredit Zelenskyy through disinformation and an army of bots and trolls. Woven into her account are details about her own life as a member of Zelenskyy’s new Ukraine. Written with the sound of Russian bombs and exploding shells in the background, Mendel details life lived under Russian siege in 2022. She says goodbye to her fiancé who joins the front lines, like so many other Ukrainian men. Throughout this story of Zelenskyy, Ukraine, and its extraordinary people, Iuliia Mendel reminds us of the paramount importance of truth and human values, especially in these darkest of times.Trade Review"Moving.... [Mendel] helps demystify the dictator [Vladimir Putin] whom the Western media has long portrayed as having the cunning and wit of a fearless Bond villain... Her reflections on her relationship with the Ukrainian language at a time when Ukraine’s cultural ties to Russia have been all but severed are also extremely important to the cultural discourse." —The Washington Post“By sharing her own story, Iuliia Mendel offers a powerful window into the soul of modern Ukraine. The Fight of Our Lives brings you inside a generation raised in transformation and provides vital context around Putin’s war on Ukraine. Her journey and her nation’s will move you and push you to learn more.” —Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, New York Times bestselling author of The Daughters of Kobani“Iuliia Mendel’s book reminds us that war is not only about machines and destruction—it is also about people and ideas. The Fight of Our Lives shows us how Ukraine’s fight for freedom is our fight—humanity’s fight against tyranny.” —Kurt Volker, former United States ambassador to NATO“In earnest and perceptive prose, Mendel’s The Fight of Our Lives tells the gripping story of Ukraine’s determined coming-of-age amid the most ghastly of circumstances.” —Marci Shore, associate professor of history at Yale University and author of The Ukrainian Night: An Intimate History of Revolution“Who is Mr. Zelenskyy? Few people who write about the Ukrainian president and his surprising meteoric rise, first to the top of Ukrainian politics and then to the status of America’s most popular foreign leader, know him as well as Iuliia Mendel. In this book she shares with the world her personal story as the first press secretary of Mr. Zelenskyy and the story of the president and the country he leads. This is an essential read for anyone who wants to understand Ukraine of today and the values it fights for.” —Serhii Plokhy, Mykhailo S. Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History, Harvard University, and author of The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine and Atoms and Ashes: A Global History of Nuclear Disasters"Iuliia Mendel's extraordinary story shows us her Ukraine, a young country that chose progress with President Zelenskyy’s transformative election but now finds itself under attack in Vladimir Putin's war on democracy." —Ivan Mikloš, Slovakian economist and politician, former minister of finance of Slovakia"A spirited account of history in the making" —Publishers Weekly“A closely observed [and] nuanced portrait of a leader in a time of crisis who has definitely risen to the occasion.” —Kirkus

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Book Synopsis“Len tells his story as only he can: forthright, confident and witty. What emerges is a hard-hitting assessment of dramatic times, and a message of hope for the future.”— Jeremy CorbynLen McCluskey is the standout trade unionist of his era. Head of the giant Unite union for more than a decade, he is a unique and powerful figure on the political stage. In this major autobiography, McCluskey throws back the curtains on life at the top of the Labour movement—with explosive revelations about his dealings with Keir Starmer, the behind-the-scenes battles of the Corbyn era, his secret Brexit negotiations with Theresa May’s government, the spectacular bust-up with his former friend Tom Watson, and his tortuous relationship with Ed Miliband. McCluskey is no run-of-the-mill trade unionist. Fiercely political, unflinchingly left wing, he is a true workers’ leader. His politics were formed in Liverpool at a time of dock strikes, the Beatles, and the May 1968 revolution in Paris. An eyewitness to the Hillsborough tragedy, he recounts in harrowing detail searching for his son. Witty and sharp, McCluskey delivers a powerful intervention, issuing a manifesto for the future of trade unionism and urging the left not to lose sight of class politics. A central player in a tumultuous period of British political history, McCluskey’s account is an essential—and entertaining—record of our times.Trade Review“Fascinating… A good story about the way that trade unionism can drastically change people’s lives” — The Guardian“Len McCluskey, outgoing general secretary of Unite, criticises the Labour leader in his new autobiography”— BBC News“Union firebrand Len McCluskey has launched a blistering attack on Sir Keir Starmer… In a bombshell memoir, the union baron will accuse him of an ‘anti-democratic crackdown on the Left’”— Daily Mail“Pulls no punches. An explosive account of life at the top of the Labour Party from Britain’s most important trade union leader.”— Kevin Maguire “Len’s life story is an inspiration. He lives and breathes solidarity. He is a true workers’ leader.” — Maxine Peake “Len reminds us what—and who—we’re fighting for. He knows his own mind and isn’t afraid to speak it.” — Zarah Sultana “The riveting story of a lifetime spent fighting for workers, with lessons for all of us. Len learned the value of solidarity working on the Liverpool docks and it has never left him.” — Dave Ward “An incisive political memoir with lessons for the whole left” — Morning Star “[This] account of Corbynism … is one of the most politically astute to date” — New Left Review “Len McCluskey lifts lid on secret chats with Starmer” — Express “Len McCluskey says public could see Labour leader as ‘someone who can’t be trusted’” — The Independent “Uncompromising and highly critical” — Sky News “Len McCluskey’s parting shot [against Keir Starmer] comes in a memoir, Always Red, which is set to be published on the day of Starmer’s speech at Labour’s annual conference” — The Times “Labour could go under if Sir Keir Starmer takes it too far to the Right, says Len McCluskey” — The Telegraph “Len McCluskey accuses Keir Starmer of 'breaking deal' over Corbyn's readmission to Labour” — The Mirror“The life and legacy of one of the most influential labour leaders” — Red Pepper“Full of score-settling” — The Socialist Party of Great BritainTable of ContentsForeword by Ricky Tomlinson Introduction PART ONE FROM CRADLE TO BRAVE1 A Liverpool Upbringing2 The Docks3 Militancy and Misery4 The Praetorian Guards5 Family6 Anfield, Heysel and Hillsborough7 Betrayal8 Cool Britannia9 Come Together10 Uniting Unite PART TWO FROM FALKIRK TO FINSBURY PARK11 Dealing with Miliband12 Falkirk13 The Road to Defeat14 The Rise of Jeremy Corbyn15 Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire16 The Chicken Coup17 A Close Call18 201719 Labour’s Antisemitism Crisis20 A Slow-Motion Car Crash21 The Brexit Election22 New Management23 ‘Fighting Back’ Trade Unionism

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Book Synopsis"Thirty years ago, I lay in the womb of a woman, conceived in a sexual act of rape, being carried during the prenatal period by an unwilling and rebellious mother, finally bursting from the womb only to be tormented in a family whose members I despised or pitied, and brought into association with people whom I should never have chosen."This is the searing opening to Edna "Gertrude" Beasley's raw and scathing memoir, originally published in Paris in 1925 but ultimately suppressed and lost to history—until now. Only five-hundred copies were printed, very few of which made it into readers' hands, having been confiscated by customs inspectors or removed from bookshelves by Texas law enforcement. Her book was essentially banned, her voice silenced.In 1927, Beasley—a self-proclaimed socialist and staunch feminist who fought for women's rights—disappeared. Her fate remained a mystery until researchers began digging into her story. While living in London, she had been thrown out of her lodgings—for reasons that remain unclear—arrested and placed in a mental ward. A few months later, she returned to the U.S. and was committed to a psychiatric center on Long Island. She never left, dying there of pancreatic cancer in 1955.My First Thirty Years reveals the story of a woman who grew up in abject poverty in rural Texas during the early 1900s, where she battled ongoing internal wars with herself concerning her family, faith, sexual reckoning, and quest for education at a time when women were not supposed to discuss those things. Beasley's memoir is one of the most brutally honest coming-of-age historical memoirs ever written. Her story deserves to be heard.Trade Review""This fierce chronicle of one woman's determination to confront insurmountable odds in the fight for women'srights is a template of righteous dissent against many persistent forms of social injustice." Booklist" - Booklist"From its unforgettable first sentence, this brilliant, bitter memoir of West Texas girlhood in the 1920s sears itself into the reader's imagination. Published by an avant-garde Paris press in 1925, banned, forgotten, remembered, treasured, buried again, and finally made available in this new edition, Gertrude Beasley's memoir is invaluable to our understandings of modernism, feminism, sexual violence, and Texas history. Beasley is a born storyteller. I could not put this book down." - Lisa Moore, Archibald A. Hill Professor of English and Professor of Women's and Gender Studies, The University of Texas at Austin"We should all be as fierce, loud, and convinced of our own self-worth as Gertrude Beasley was. This story of a justifiably angry woman living ahead of the world she lived in will resonate deeply today." - Soraya Chemaly, activist and award-winning author of Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger"Gertrude Beasley wrote one of the great modern autobiographies, but it was immediately suppressed. Widely available at last, it is a shocking but moving feminist exploration of growing up in America." - Bert Almon, author of This Stubborn Self: Texas Autobiographies"My First Thirty Years is a brutally graphic personal memoir that was censored, suppressed, and nearly forgotten. This reprint will finally enable people outside of library special collections to read and honor this memoir by an indominable and almost erased Texas heroine." - Dr. Sylvia Grider, co-author of Texas Women Writers & Senior Professor Emerita, Texas A&M University"Gertrude Beasley's 1925 memoir grabs the reader by the arm and holds tight, speaking with a voice as compelling as if she had just put down her pen this morning. Feminist, socialist, and acute observer of both herself and the world around her, Beasley gives us stories that illuminate the costs of poverty and of being a woman. To read My First Thirty Years is to be in conversation with an extraordinary mind." - Anne Gardiner Perkins, author of Yale Needs Women"In a voice as compelling as it is sinister, Gertrude Beasley recounts a hardscrabble upbringing, transcending time and place to bring to life her story of overcoming brutal circumstances in the search for a different way to live—even if her own success was partial. This long-banned memoir is one of the best coming-of-age stories about being poor and a woman—another way of saying, being human—in 20th century Texas. My First Thirty Years is a damn good book, and it deserves a wide audience." - Mary Helen Specht, author of Migratory Animals

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Book SynopsisThere are no winners in war, only losers. We have so far avoided a third world war, but across the globe regional conflicts flare up in a seemingly unstoppable cycle. Who can stand between the armed camps? Over six decades, Martin Bell has stood in eighteen war zones – as a soldier, a reporter and a UNICEF ambassador. Now he looks back on our efforts to keep the peace since the end of the Second World War and the birth of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the new State of Israel. From the failures of Bosnia, Rwanda and South Sudan to nationalism’s resurgence and the distribution of alternative facts across a darkening political landscape, Bell calls for us to learn from past mistakes – before it’s too late.Trade Review‘Martin Bell is the finest foreign correspondent of his generation.’ -- John Laurence, author of The Cat from Hué: A Vietnam War Story‘When I was a young reporter Martin Bell was the TV journalist we all wanted to turn into one day: brave, ferociously principled, unshowy, beautifully spare and articulate, and always uncompromising in preferring what was true to what was spuriously ‘balanced’. These qualities leap off the pages of this powerful and penetrating memoir-come-manifesto. His is a voice of clarity, compassion and towering authority. When I was young I wanted to be just like him. I still do.’ -- Allan Little‘In my view and without doubt Martin Bell was the finest war reporter of his generation. Martin’s personal reflections on not just Bosnia but so many other hotspots of the world flow easily, are hugely perceptive and simply get it. He is a master of emotive depiction and his words bring every situation he describes to life. I have not been able to put this book down since I received it.’ -- Colonel Bob Stewart MP‘Bell writes well and he has witnessed many interesting things in his long career… Martin Bell is clearly and transparently a decent and, in some respects, heroic man.’ -- Adrian Weale, Literary Review

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