Autobiography: historical, political and military Books

Book Synopsis''Only with the greatest of simplifications, for the sake of convenience, can we say Africa. In reality, except as a geographical term, Africa doesn''t exist''. Ryszard Kapuscinski has been writing about the people of Africa throughout his career. In astudy that avoids the official routes, palaces and big politics, he sets out to create an account of post-colonial Africa seen at once as a whole and as a location that wholly defies generalised explanations. It is both a sustained meditation on themosaic of peoples and practises we call ''Africa'', and an impassioned attempt to come to terms with humanity itself as it struggles to escape from foreign domination, from the intoxications of freedom, from war and from politics as theft.

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Book SynopsisPresident Joe Biden tells the story of his extraordinary life and career prior to his emergence as Barack Obama’s beloved, influential vice president. ‘I remain captivated by the possibilities of politics and public service. In fact, I believe that my chosen profession is a noble calling.’ – Joe Biden Joe Biden has both witnessed and participated in a momentous epoch of American history. In Promises to Keep, he reveals what these experiences taught him about himself, his colleagues, and the institutions of government. With his customary honesty and wit, Biden movingly and eloquently recounts growing up in a staunchly Catholic multigenerational household in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware; overcoming personal tragedy, life-threatening illness, and career setbacks; his relationships with presidents, world leaders, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle; and his leadership of powerful Senate committees. Through these and other recollections, Biden shows us how the guiding principles he learned early in life — to work to make people’s lives better; to honour family and faith; to value persistence, candour, and honesty — are the foundation on which he has based his life’s work as husband, father, and public servant. Promises to Keep is an intimate series of reflections from a politician who surmounted numerous challenges to become one of America’s most effective leaders and who refuses to be cynical about politics. It is also a stirring testament to the promise of the United States.Trade Review‘A ripping good read … Biden is a master storyteller and has stories worth telling.’ * The Christian Science Monitor *‘A compelling personal story.’ * The New York Times *‘Moving … [Biden’s] response to tragedy and near death [is] both admirable and likable.’ * Salon *

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Book Synopsis The Sunday Times Number One BestsellerComplete with new afterword where she discusses the past eighteen months since President Donald Trump has been serving in office. ‘A compelling read’ - Financial Times ‘A sporadically absorbing, pleasingly vengeful and often darkly funny account of one woman’s bid for presidential history.’ Sunday Times ‘Her new book is more gossipy, it is meaner, more entertaining and more wrong-headed than anything she or her speechwriters have written before.’ Observer ‘What Happened is highly entertaining. It is spirited, well-written and informative.’ Guardian'In the past, for reasons I try to explain, I’ve often felt I had to be careful in public, like I was up on a wire without a net. Now I’m letting my guard down.' -

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Book SynopsisYukichi Fukuzawa (1835-1901) was a leading figure in the cultural revolution that transformed Japan from an isolated feudal nation into a full-fledged player in the modern world. Dictated by Fukuzawa in 1897, this autobiography offers a vivid portrait of the intellectual's life story and a rare look inside the formation of a new Japan.Trade ReviewAs readable as it was a century ago... refurbished with Craig's excellent introductory and terminal essays and a number of appendixes. -- Donald Richie Japan TimesTable of ContentsForeward by Albert Craig Acknowledgment Preface to the 1899 Edition I Childhood II I Set Out to Learn Dutch in Nagasaki III I Make My Way to Osaka IV Student Ways at Ogata School V I Go to Yedo; I Learn English VI I Join the First Mission to America VII I Go to Europe VIII I Return to Anti-Foreign Japan IX I Visit America Again X A Non-Partisan in the Restoration; The Growth of a Private School XI The Risk of Assassination XII Further Steps Toward a Liberal Age XIII My Personal and Household Economy XIV My Private Life; My Family XV A Final Word on the Good Life Notes Afterword. Fukuzawa Yukichi: The Philosophical Foundations of Meiji Nationalism Appendix I. Chronological Table Appendix II. Encouragement of Learning: The First Essay, 1872 Index

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Book SynopsisThe authoritative edition of Franklin's autobiography, now with a new foreword by the eminent Franklin scholar Edmund S. MorganTrade Review“People who have read one or more of the many current books about Benjamin Franklin really ought to direct their attention to the man himself, specifically to The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. . . . It is the first great American book. . . . An extraordinary document. . . . Plainly yet vividly written, its 18th-century prose still accessible to ordinary readers more than two centuries later. . . . It portrays Colonial and Revolutionary America . . . with an immediacy unmatched in almost any other document. . . . Franklin’s wisdom is for the ages, our own as much as his. So read the Autobiography and—among the many editions available—read Yale’s. Its text is the most reliable (the Franklin papers are at Yale) and its supplementary material is uniformly useful.”—Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post“The best and most beautiful edition [of the Autobiography].”—J. H. Plumb, New York Review of Books“Where so many fancy books are long on pictures and short on readable reading matter, this one is superbly the reverse. . . . What counts here is the text: the first thoroughly edited and adequately annotated version of Franklin’s memoirs faithful in every word to Franklin’s holograph. . . . The result is like cleaning away the grime and crackled varnish of generations to discover unsuspected sparkle in an old master.”—Time

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Book SynopsisBill Clinton served as the forty-second President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. George W Bush was his successor and George H W Bush his predecessor. Since leaving office, Clinton has been heavily involved in public speaking and humanitarian work. He has remained active in political matters, campaigning for Democratic presidential candidates, notably his wife in the 2008 presidential election. Hilary Clinton, is also a powerful force in world politics; she was the United States Senator for New York from 2001-9 and the 67th United States Secretary of State under Barack Obama.Trade ReviewMy Life is, without question, the best written U.S. presidential tome of all time -- Douglas Brinkley * Financial Times *Bill Clinton has given an unprecedented story of a White House life and the roads that led to it -- Peter Stothard * The Times *You can't help but feel you're in the company, one on one, of the man himself... The narrative is engaging... The accounts of high-wire diplomacy... are all riveting -- Jonathan Freedland * Guardian *His book tells, in an extraordinary way, a truly heartening story of American democracy -- Peter Jay * Evening Standard *By a generous measure ... the richest American presidential autobiography - no other book tells us as vividly or fully what it is like to be president of the United States ... And he can write -- Larry McMurtry * The New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisBill Bellamy was a young officer in the 8th King''s Royal Irish Hussars from 1943 to 1955. He served in 7th Armoured Division in the North West Europe campaign, landing in Normandy on D+3, fought throughout the Battle for Normandy and into the Low Countries as a troop leader in Cromwell tanks, and was latterly a member of the initial occupying force in Berlin in May 1945. Against the rules, Bill kept diaries and notes of his experiences. His account is fresh and open, and his descriptions of battle are vivid. He witnessed many of his contemporaries killed in action, and this life-altering experience clearly informs his narrative. The accounts of tank fighting in the leafy Normandy bocage in the height of summer, or in the iron hard fields of Holland in winter, are graphic and compelling.

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Book SynopsisThe extraordinary drama of Malta''s WWII victory against impossible odds told through the eyes of the people who were there.In March and April 1942, more explosives were dropped on the tiny Mediterranean island of Malta - smaller than the Isle of Wight - than on the whole of Britain during the first year of the Blitz. Malta had become one of the most strategically important places in the world. From there, the Allies could attack Axis supply lines to North Africa; without it, Rommel would be able to march unchecked into Egypt, Suez and the Middle East. For the Allies this would have been catastrophic. As Churchill said, Malta had to be held ''at all costs''.FORTRESS MALTA follows the story through the eyes of those who were there: young men such as twenty-year-old fighter pilot Raoul Daddo-Langlois, anti-aircraft gunner Ken Griffiths, American Art Roscoe and submariner Tubby Crawford - who served on the most successful Allied submarine of the Second World WaTrade Review'Holland's stirring account pays fitting tribute to the heroism of the island's defenders and its civil population ... the book teems with memorable characters.' MAIL ON SUNDAY

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Book SynopsisIn December 1991, Allende's daughter Paula, aged 26, fell gravely ill and sank into a coma. This book started as a letter to Paula written during the hours spent at her bedside, and became a personal memoir and a testament to the ties that bind families a brave, enlightening, inspiring true story.This book was written during the interminable hours the novelist Isabel Allende spent in the corridors of a Madrid hospital, in her hotel room and beside her daughter Paula''s bed during the summer and autumn of 1992. Faced with the loss of her child, Isabel Allende turned to storytelling, to sustain her own spirit and to convey to her daughter the will to wake up, to survive. The story she tells is that of her own life, her family history and the tragedy of her nation, Chile, in the years leading up to Pinochet''s brutal military coup.Trade Review'Allende's best work to date…she has everything it takes: the ear, the eye, the mind, the heart, the all-encompassing humanity.' New York Times 'Allende's writing is so vivid we smell the countryside, hear the sounds, see the bright birds, smell and even taste the soft fruit. Moving through Paula's last days, we enter that world, and share it, gladly, sadly, gratefully, and ultimately changed by the very reading of it.' Julia Neuberger, The Times 'This is a tender, moving and vivid record of a mother's agony at the bedside of her daughter. “Paula” begins as a long letter as a way of giving her back the life that is ebbing away…the result is a mesmerizing story. In flawlessly rich prose Allende shares with us her most intimate feelings…an emotionally charged, spellbinding memoir.' Washington Post 'Allende brings the natural storytelling power so evident in her novels to this courageous testament. She shares her personal tragedy with a warmth and passion that make “Paula” exceptional.' Sunday Express

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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 SynopsisA memoir of brutality, heroism and personal discovery from Europe's dark heart, revealing one of the most extraordinary untold stories of the Second World WarIn the spring of 1945, at Rechnitz on the Austrian-Hungarian border, not far from the front lines of the advancing Red Army, Countess Margit Batthyany gave a party in her mansion. The war was almost over, and the German aristocrats and SS officers dancing and drinking knew it was lost. Late that night, they walked down to the village, where 180 enslaved Jewish labourers waited, made them strip naked, and shot them all, before returning to the bright lights of the party. It remained a secret for decades, until Sacha Batthyany, who remembered his great-aunt Margit only vaguely from his childhood as a stern, distant woman, began to ask questions about it.A Crime in the Family is Sacha Batthyany's memoir of confronting these questions, and of the answers he found. It is one of the last untold stories of Europe's nightmare century,spanning not just the massacre at Rechnitz, the inhumanity of Auschwitz, the chaos of wartime Budapest and the brutalities of Soviet occupation and Stalin's gulags, but also the silent crimes of complicity and cover-up, and the damaged generations they leave behind. Told partly through the surviving journals of others from the author's family and the vanished world of Rechnitz, A Crime in the Family is a moving and revelatory memoir in the vein of The Hare with the Amber Eyes and The House by the Lake. It uncovers barbarity and tragedy but also a measure of peace and reconciliation. Ultimately,Batthyany discovers that although his inheritance might be that of monsters, he does not bear it alone.

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Book SynopsisPenguin presents the audiobook edition of Becoming by Michelle Obama. Winner of the Grammy''s Best Spoken Word Album 2020An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States''A genuine page-turner, full of intimacies and reflections'' Evening Standard''A polished pearl of a memoir'' New York Times''A rich, entertaining and candid memoir. And overall Obama''s a fun person to sit alongside as she tells you the story of her life . . . it is as beautifully written as any piece of fiction'' iIn a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America - the first African-American to serve in that role - she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a po

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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 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 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 SynopsisHenry Louis Gates, Jr. presents the only authoritative edition of all three autobiographies by the escaped slave who became a great American leader.Here in this Library of America volume are collected Frederick Douglass''s three autobiographical narratives, now recognized as classics of both American history and American literature. Writing with the eloquence and fierce intelligence that made him a brilliantly effective spokesman for the abolition of slavery and equal rights, Douglass shapes an inspiring vision of self-realization in the face of monumental odds.Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845), published seven years after his escape, was written in part as a response to skeptics who refused to believe that so articulate an orator could ever have been a slave. A powerfully compressed account of the cruelty and oppression of the Maryland plantation culture into which Douglass was born, it brought him to the forefront of the anti-slavery movement and drew thousands, black and white, to the cause.In My Bondage and My Freedom (1855), Douglass expands the account of his slave years. With astonishing psychological penetration, he probes the painful ambiguities and subtly corrosive effects of black-white relations under slavery, and recounts his determined resistance to segregation in the North. The book also incorporates extracts from Douglass’s speeches, including the searing “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”Life and Times, first published in 1881, records Douglass’s efforts to keep alive the struggle for racial equality udirng Reconstruction. John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, William Lloyd Garrison, and Harriet Beecher Stowe all feature prominently in this chronicle of a crucial epoch in American history. The revised edition of 1893, presented here, includes an account of his controversial diplomatic mission to Haiti.This volume contains a detailed chronology of Douglass’s life, notes providing further background on the events and people mentioned, and an account of the textual history of each of the autobiographies.LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

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Book SynopsisIn Letters of Note: Art, Shaun Usher celebrates extraordinary correspondence about art, from missives on the agony of being overlooked, the ecstasy of producing work that excites, to surprising sources of inspiration and rousing manifestos. Includes letters by:Michelangelo, Salvador Dali,Frida Kahlo, Artemisia Gentileschi,Oscar Howe, Martin Scorsese,Henri Matisse, Mick Jagger,Augusta Savage, Vincent van Gogh& many moreTrade ReviewPraise for Letters of Note: The literary equivalent of a box of chocolates - bite-sized and pure addictive pleasure . . . The result is beautifully produced, with photographs and colour facsimiles of much of the correspondence * * Sunday Times * *Addictive, like dipping into a bag of variously tempting assorted candies, knowing that the next one will always bring surprise and pleasure * * New Yorker * *A gloriously presented compilation * * Financial Times * *As a guide to letters that deserve a wider readership, Usher's compilation is hard to beat * * Scotland on Sunday * *Quite literally the most enjoyable volume it is possible to imagine. Every page is a marvel * * Spectator * *It is hard to see how Letters Of Note could ever be surpassed * * Mail on Sunday * *Funny, tragic, brilliantly incisive, historic, lyrical, romantic and studiedly offensive, this stupendous compendium of letters ancient and modern is my book of the year. You will never tire of it -- Stephen FryIt is inspiring, and often sad, funny, and occasionally quite surreal * * GQ * *A wonderful collection of magical missives . . . It'll have you reaching for pen and paper * * Evening Standard * *A truly extraordinary reading experience * * Big Issue * *

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Book SynopsisThe Sunday Times top ten bestseller.Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government’s system of mass surveillance, reveals for the first time the story of his life, including how he helped to build that system and what motivated him to try to bring it down.In 2013, twenty-nine-year-old Edward Snowden shocked the world when he broke with the American intelligence establishment and revealed that the United States government was secretly pursuing the means to collect every single phone call, text message, and email. The result would be an unprecedented system of mass surveillance with the ability to pry into the private lives of every person on earth. Here, Snowden reveals for the very first time how he helped to build this system and why he was moved to expose it.Spanning the bucolic Beltway suburbs of his childhood and the clandestine CIA and NSA postings of his adulthood, Permanent Record is the extraordinary account of a bright young man who grew up online – a man who became a spy, a whistleblower, and, in exile, the Internet’s conscience.Written with wit, grace, passion, and an unflinching candor, Permanent Record is a crucial memoir of our digital age.'A riveting account . . . Reads like a literary thriller' - New York TimesTrade ReviewThe world's most famous whistleblower * Guardian *A riveting account . . . Reads like a literary thriller * New York Times *Riveting, pacy * Financial Times *Fascinating * Observer *Gripping * Washington Post *His disclosures of mass surveillance and bulk collection of personal information are as relevant now as they were in 2013 * Guardian *Full of surprises . . . A deeply reluctant whistleblower . . . he deserves our thanks * Nation *Well-written * The Economist *A very significant figure in the history of intelligence * Sunday Times *[A] thriller plot * London Review of Books *A thoughtful and elegantly written book -- Steven Poole, New StatesmenAn extraordinary book -- Cory Doctorow

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Book Synopsis_____________''Brilliant'' - Observer''Vivid, hyperactive, combative, ferociously intelligent and iconoclastic'' - Guardian''Splendidly corrosive'' - Independent_____________The Proud Highway is a literary milestone. The first volume in Hunter S. Thompson's intimate letters begins with a high school essay written in 1955, and takes us through 1967, when the publication of Hell's Angels made the author an international celebrity. Thompson's prolific and often profound correspondence gives us an unforgettable insight into the world during the Cold War era, as well as an authoritative introduction to the cultural revolution of the sixties. With a vicious eye for detail and rude wit he writes to such luminaries as Norman Mailer, Tom Wolfe, Lyndon Johnson and Joan Baez. These letters represent the evolution of the original, a singular voice defying an era of banality, and cements Thompson's reputation as one of the great

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Book Synopsis'Inspiring and very moving. A hero on so many levels' Bear Grylls'The astonishing journey ... and the service dog that helped him recover ... A tale that will inspire and amaze' Waterstones.comWhen special forces soldier Jason Morgan awoke from a months-long coma, he was told he'd never walk again. Discovered face-down in a Central American swamp after a jungle mission gone wrong, he had a smashed spine,collapsed lungs and countless broken bones. It was a miracle he'd even survived.Months of painful surgery followed, with Jason's life balanced on a knife-edge. Released from hospital in a wheelchair and plagued by memory loss, Jason's life fell apart. Left alone to raise his three infant sons, all hope seemed gone,until Jason met Napal, a handsome-as-hell black Labrador provided by a very special charity. With this one incredible dog at their side, Jason's life and that of his family would never be the same again. With Napal's help Jason was able to conquer his paralysis, eventually completing a marathon and winning numerous medals in the Wounded Warrior Games. More than that, this amazing service dog helped heal a family and taught Jason to be the father his kids needed him to be. A Dog Called Hope is the moving and heart-warming story of how Jason rediscovered his life's mission, his strength as a father and, through his beloved dog, his hope. It's the story of the closeness between one man and one dog like no other, and how this mesmerizing duo changed countless lives. Inspirational, tear-jerking and laugh-out-loud uplifting, this is a story that will brighten any day and warm every heart.

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Book SynopsisMilligan''s Meaning of Life is a glorious celebration of the legendary Spike Milligan. Here you will find his most intimate and hilarious reflections on life.With his lightning-quick wit, unbridled creativity and his ear for the absurd, Milligan revolutionised British comedy. Throughout his life, Milligan also wrote prolifically - scripts, poetry, fiction, as well as several volumes of memoir, in which he took an entirely idiosyncratic approach to the truth. In this ground-breaking work, Norma Farnes, his long-time manager, companion, counsellor and confidante, gathers together the loose threads, reads between the lines and draws on the full breadth of his writing to present his life in his own words: an autobiography - of sorts.From his childhood in India, through his early career as a jazz musician and sketch-show entertainer, his spells in North Africa and Italy with the Royal Artillery, to that fateful first broadcast of The Goon Show and beyond into the aTrade ReviewMilligan is the Great God to all of us -- John CleeseThe Godfather of Alternative Comedy -- Eddie IzzardMy father had a profound influence on me. He was a lunatic. -- Spike Milligan

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Book SynopsisAs the western world’s most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden has fought to keep his personal life a mystery – loyalty and fear keeping those who know him from speaking out – until now. For the first time, two of Osama’s closest family members, his first wife Najwa and their fourth son Omar, go behind the headlines to reveal the truth about the character and life of a man feared and revered around the globe. In gripping detail, they recount the drama, tensions, and everyday activities of the man they knew as a husband and father. Married at fifteen, Najwa describes the transformation of the quiet, serious young man she fell in love with into an authoritarian husband and stern father, an entrepreneur, and – finally – the leader of a complex international terrorist network. Uprooted from a life of extraordinary luxury and privilege in Saudi Arabia, they suddenly found themselves living life on the run, fleeing from country to country under assumed names and fake passports. Omar describes how he and his siblings were brought up in remote ranches and fortified Afghani mountain camps, handling Kalashnikovs and learning desert survival skills. Their eventual escape from Afghanistan would come just days before the terrible events of 9/11 changed the world forever. With unprecedented access and exclusive family photographs, Jean Sasson, author of the bestselling Princess, presents the story that we were never meant to hear.Trade Review“A compelling look at the intimate family life of a notorious man, as told by his wife and son.” * Booklist *"Despite her neutrality, her story is still an indictment -- showing us a terrorist leader who is embarrassed easily, obsessed with a long-dead father, terrified of women, and who thinks of his children as nothing more than cannon fodder." * New York Post *"Despite her neutrality, her story is still an indictment -- showing us a terrorist leader who is embarrassed easily, obsessed with a long-dead father, terrified of women, and who thinks of his children as nothing more than cannon fodder." * New York Post *“A compelling look at the intimate family life of a notorious man, as told by his wife and son.” * Booklist *”Always interesting and highly readable, this is recommended for the many people who will wish to learn more about this man.” * Library Journal *"The psychological portrait of the world's most wanted man is all the more devastating for being written by two people who apparently once revered him." * Culture (supplement to the Sunday Times) *"The psychological portrait of the world's most wanted man is all the more devastating for being written by two people who apparently once revered him." * Culture (supplement to the Sunday Times) *“Lifts the lid on the secretive life of the world's most wanted man… It is certainly fascinating, if deeply unnerving, to read such vivid first-hand accounts about life within Osama bin Laden's family.” * Daily Mail *“The most intimate portrait yet of the al Qa’eda leader.” * The National *“Fascinating” * The Sunday Times *“The thrill of being a fly on the wall of the bin Laden family.” * Time Magazine *"Their accounts cannot be subject to normal verification. Even so, they have been woven into a fascinating narrative by an American writer, Jean Sasson" * Catholic Herald *"this thoughtful, well-researched book" * The Good Book Guide *”Always interesting and highly readable, this is recommended for the many people who will wish to learn more about this man.” * Library Journal *

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Book SynopsisIn 1945 Eric Brown led the team from the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough which scoured the British Zone of Occupation in post war Germany for captured Luftwaffe aircraft and aeronautical installations. They uncovered an Aladdin''s cave of aviation riches and amazed by the advanced level of technology and production they found, brought back over a hundred aircraft for detailed testing and analysis. Of particular interest were the high-speed wind tunnels, which had allowed the Germans to develop such ground-breaking aircraft as the rocket powered Me 163B and the first production jetfighter, the Me 262. The information gathered by this small group of aviators and scientists has influenced aircraft design to this day.Wings of the Luftwaffe is a unique and definitive appraisal of the background and characteristics of all the major German aircraft of World War II, written by probably Britain''s most outstanding test pilot and the only pilot to have flown them all. Covering 11 manufacturers and 33 types, this new edition with over 250 photographs, colour profiles, cockpit layouts and sectional drawings provides an in-depth assessment of the contribution made to the annals of military aviation in the late 1930s and early 1940s by the innovative German aircraft industry.

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The first memoir of the Vietnam War and an all-time classic of war literature|40TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION|In March 1965, Marine Lieutenant Philip J. Caputo landed in Danang with the first ground combat unit committed to fight in Vietnam. Sixteen months later, having served on the line in one of modern history's ugliest wars, he returned home - physically whole but emotionally destroyed, his youthful idealism shattered.A decade later, having reported first-hand the very final hours of the war, Caputo sat down to write ‘simply a story about war, about the things men do in war and the things war does to them’. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest war memoirs of all time.____________________‘A singular and marvellous work – a soldier’s-eye account that tells us, as no other book that I can think of has done, what it was actually like to be fighting in this hellish jungle’ The New York Times‘Unparalleled in its honesty, unapologetic in its candour and singular in its insights into the minds and hearts of men in combat, this book is as powerful to read today as the day it was published in 1977. Caputo has more than earned his place beside Sassoon, Owen, Vonnegut, and Heller’ Kevin Powers‘To call this the best book about Vietnam is to trivialize it. A Rumour of War is a dangerous and even subversive book, the first to insist that readers asks themselves the questions: How would I have acted? To what lengths would I have gone to survive? A terrifying book, it will make the strongest among us weep’ Los Angeles Times Book Review‘Caputo’s troubled, searching meditations on the love and the hate of war, on fear and the ambivalent discord warfare can create in the hearts of decent men are amongst the most eloquent I have read in modern literature’ New York Review of Books‘Superb. At times it is hard to remember that this is not a novel’ New Statesman

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Book SynopsisA brilliant biography that “reads like a wonderful novel but is researched like a masterwork of history” (Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs), this is the epic story of the famous South American general and statesman Simón Bolívar.SIMÓN BOLÍ VAR —El Libertador—freed six countries from Spanish rule and is still the most revered figure in South America today. He traveled from Amazon jungles to the Andes mountains, engaged in endless battles and forged fragile coalitions of competing forces and races. He lived an epic life filled with heroism, tragedy (his only wife died young), and legend (he was saved from an assassination attempt by one of his mistresses). In Bolívar, Marie Arana has written a sweeping biography that is as bold and as passionate as its subject. Drawing on a wealth of primary documents, Arana vividly captures the early nineteenth-century South America that made Bolívar

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Book SynopsisFrom the former Prime Minister and most decorated solder in Israel's history, this is essential reading to understand today's Israel-Palestine conflict and the precarious path to a two-state solution.'There is scarcely one of Israel's security or military operations of the past four decades in which Barak has not been involved' Jewish ChronicleIn the summer of 2000, Ehud Barak set himself a challenge as daunting as any he had faced on the battlefield: to secure a final peace with the Palestinians. He would propose two states for two peoples, with a shared capital in Jerusalem. He knew the risks of failure. But he also knew the risks of not trying: letting slip perhaps the last chance for a generation to secure genuine peace.It was a moment of truth. It was one of many in a life intertwined, from the start, with that of Israel. Born on a kibbutz, Barak became commander of Israel's elite special forces, then army Chief of Staff, and ultimately, Prime Minister. My Country, My Life tells the unvarnished story of his - and his country's - first seven decades; of its major successes, but also its setbacks and misjudgments. He offers candid assessments of his fellow Israeli politicians, of the American administrations with which he worked. Drawing on his experiences as a military and political leader, he sounds a powerful warning: Israel is at a crossroads, threatened by events beyond its borders and by divisions within. The two-state solution is more urgent than ever, not just for the Palestinians, but for the existential interests of Israel itself.Trade ReviewA riveting memoir of war and almost-peace by Ehud Barak, one of Israel's wisest modern leaders. Barak describes his missions for Israel's toughest commando unit with the passion of a born soldier. The most poignant passages of this book describe Barak's unsuccessful struggle as prime minister to hammer out a peace deal with the PLO's Yasser Arafat—in what proved to be one of the Middle East's tragic 'near misses.' Barak's love for Israel animates every page of this book. -- David Ignatius, columnist for the Washington Post and bestselling thriller writerThere is scarcely one of Israel's security or military operations of the past four decades in which Barak has not been involved and he relates them well, illumining the doubts, anxieties and hard decisions that leadership demands * Jewish Chronicle *My Country, My Life is a rich and engrossing memoir from one of Israel’s premier political leaders, who went from being a decorated soldier to a staunch advocate for peace. Ehud Barak’s love of Israel pours through every page of this book, which makes his warnings about the country’s future as a Jewish and democratic state all the more powerful, urgent, and real. -- Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of StateThe life of Ehud Barak is the story of a warrior who became a statesman. My Country, My Life, an aptly titled memoir, is honest, captivating, and moving. -- Dr. Henry Kissinger, former U.S. Secretary of StateEhud Barak's My Country, My Life is a powerful, must-read for anyone interested in peace in the Middle East and, indeed, anywhere in the world. As a journalist who has covered the peace process for many years, I thought I was pretty well-informed. But I must say: I learned a great deal by reading this beautifully written and very candid memoir. -- Wolf Blitzer, CNN

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Book Synopsis'Scotty was a huge part of our journey coming together as a team' Gareth Southgate, England manager In Never Give In, former Royal Marine Major Scotty Mills blends personal experiences from his remarkable life and career with inspirational advice and insights to provide his 12 Commando Rules for Life that could help anyone to do better and reach their targets. A sudden downpour while Scotty Mills was walking down a street in South London sent him diving for cover into the nearest shop. It turned out to be a recruitment centre for the Royal Marines and, after a few minutes' conversation while waiting for the rain to stop, Scotty was hooked and signed up to join the elite force. It changed his life and set him on a new direction that would end up with him leading the Marines on operations around the world, becoming an Olympic flag bearer in 2012 and dining at Buckingham Palace with the Queen and the royal family.

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Book SynopsisMost politicians write autobiographies to ''set the record straight''. This is a different sort of memoir. Following his life as a self-confessed ''wet European'' from parliament to Hong Kong and beyond, Chris Patten creates a meditation on personal and political identity which, in an age of simplification, shows the complexities of both.''A defence of liberal conservatism ... If old-style centrism is to stage a comeback and reason to supplant stridency and authoritarianism, be it in west or east, the moderates can wave Patten''s book on their way to their barricades'' Jonathan Fenby, Financial Times''Vivid, very well-written, First Confession joins the highest tier of recent works by British politicians'' Paschal Donohoe, Irish Times''Draws on his experience of four controversial institutions - the Tory party, the Vatican, the Chinese government and the BBC - to swell the tiny list of intelligent and cultured memoirs by front-line politiTrade ReviewDraws on his experience of four controversial institutions - the Tory party, the Vatican, the Chinese government and the BBC - to swell the tiny list of intelligent and cultured memoirs by front-line politicians -- Mark Lawson * New Statesman, Books of the Year *A defence of liberal conservatism ... If old-style centrism is to stage a comeback and reason to supplant stridency and authoritarianism, be it in west or east, the moderates can wave Patten's book on their way to their barricades -- Jonathan Fenby * Financial Times *Engagingly frank, beefily pugnacious ... ... he writes stirringly -- John Preston * Sunday Telegraph *Vivid, very well-written, First Confession joins the highest tier of recent works by British politicians -- Paschal Donohoe * Irish Times *

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Book SynopsisIn this book, Senator Bernie Sanders explains where he comes from. He describes in detail how, after cutting his teeth in the Civil Rights movement, Sanders helped build an extraordinary grassroots political movement in Vermont, making it possible for him to become the first independent elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in forty years and now the longest-serving independent in U.S. political history. An extensive afterword by The Nation's National Affairs correspondent John Nichols continues the story with Sanders's entrance into the Senate, the drama of the 2016 Democratic Primary, his ongoing resistance to Trump, and the thrilling launch of his 2020 bid for the White House. A new foreword by Nina Turner, former president of Our Revolution and co-chair of the Sanders for President campaign, provides a rare glimpse of Bernie as a person. Outsider in the White House tells the story of a passionate and principled political life.Trade Review"I endorse Brother Bernie Sanders because he is a long-distance runner with integrity in the struggle for justice for over fifty years. Now is the time for his prophetic voice to be heard across our crisisridden country." --Cornel West, author of Race Matters "Bernie's been in the forefront of all the crucial environmental fights of recent years." --Bill McKibben, cofounder of 350.org "Bernie is the real thing. He's not about reading the polls and finding out what he needs to say in order to get elected. He's about an unwavering commitment to basic justice, equality and sound financial sense." --Ben Cohen, cofounder of Ben & Jerry's and founder of Stampede: Stamp Money out of Politics "I feel weird using words like 'values' and 'morals' because those are words that have been co-opted to justify terrible things like bigotry and greed. I'd like to take those words back and use them to describe Bernie Sanders because his moral compass and sense of values inspire me." --Sarah Silverman, comedian and social commentator Praise for the original edition, Outsider in the House "A clear, compelling and comprehensive vision for reinvigorating democracy, reducing poverty, rebuilding the middle class and restructuring our health care and education systems. Sanders gives us a vision of the day when 'we will no longer be outsiders in the House.'" --In These Times "Outsider in the House is a rare achievement: a concise, compelling book that both tells an interesting story and provides a readable, down-to-earth blueprint for political change." --The Onion "A road map for how progressives can win elections and not be a part of the two party duopoly." --Ralph Nader "A grass-roots 'how-to' guide, especially helpful and inspirational for prospective independent candidates--a firsthand description of the career of the most successful American socialist politician in modern times." --The Hill

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Book SynopsisThe final volume of Jeffrey Archer’s prison diaries, A Prison Diary Volume III: Heaven, covers the period of his transfer from Wayland to his eventual release on parole in July 2003. It includes a shocking account of the traumatic time he spent in the notorious Lincoln jail and the events that led to his incarceration there – it also throws light on a system that is close to breaking point.Told with humour, compassion and honesty, it closes with a thought-provoking manifesto that should be applauded by the Establishment and prison population alike.Day 115Saturday 10th November 20016.38amIt’s all an act. I am hopelessly unhappy, dejected and broken. I smile when I am at my lowest, I laugh when I see no humour, I help others when I need help myself. I am alone. If I were to show any sign, even for a moment, of what I’m going through, I would have to read the details in some tabloid the following day. Everything I do is only a phone call away from a friendly journalist with an open cheque book. I don’t know where I have found the strength to maintain this facade and never break down in anyone’s presence.Trade ReviewThe finest thing that Jeffrey Archer has ever written * Independent on Sunday *Compelling reportage . . . Jeffrey Archer raises these diaries to the standards of a prison Pepys by being such an assiduous recorder of fellow inmates’ secrets -- Jonathan Aitken * Mail on Sunday *Surprisingly effective . . . A devastating critique written simply and directly * The Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisHell is the haunting first volume in Jeffrey Archer’s The Prison Diaries, the author’s daily record of the time he spent there.‘The sun is shining through the bars of my window on what must be a glorious summer day. I’ve been incarcerated in a cell five paces by three for twelve and a half hours, and will not be let out again until midday; eighteen and a half hours of solitary confinement. There is a child of seventeen in the cell below me who has been charged with shoplifting – his first offence, not even convicted – and he is being locked up for eighteen and a half hours, unable to speak to anyone. This is Great Britain in the twenty-first century, not Turkey, not Nigeria, not Kosovo, but Britain.’On Thursday 19 July 2001, after a perjury trial lasting seven weeks, Jeffrey Archer was sentenced to four years in jail. He was to spend the first twenty-two days and fourteen hours in HMP Belmarsh, a double A-Category high-security prison in South London, which houses some of Britain’s most violent criminals. This volume recounts his experience while there.Trade ReviewA haunting and compelling insight into prison life * Daily Mail *Surprisingly effective . . . A devastating critique written simply and directly * The Sunday Times *The finest thing that he has ever written * Independent on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisMy Bondage and My Freedom is the second of Frederick Douglass's full-length autobiographies. An important slave autobiography, it is significant both for what it tells us about slave life and about its author.Table of ContentsIntroduction Note on the Text Select Bibliography A Chronology of Frederick Douglass My Bondage and My Freedom Appendix: The Heroic Slave Explanatory Notes

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Book SynopsisThe Stunning and Emotional Autobiography of an Auschwitz Survivor April 7, 1944—This date marks the successful escape of two Slovak prisoners from one of the most heavily-guarded and notorious concentration camps of Nazi Germany. The escapees, Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, fled over one hundred miles to be the first to give the graphic and detailed descriptions of the atrocities of Auschwitz. Originally published in the early 1960s, I Escaped from Auschwitz is the striking autobiography of none other than Rudolf Vrba himself. Vrba details his life leading up to, during, and after his escape from his 21-month internment in Auschwitz. Vrba and Wetzler manage to evade Nazi authorities looking for them and make contact with the Jewish council in Zilina, Slovakia, informing them about the truth of the “unknown destination” of Jewish deportees all across Europe. This first-hand report alerted Western authorities, such as Pope Pius XII, Winston Churchill, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, to the reality of Nazi annihilation camps—information that until then had only been recognized as nasty rumors.I Escaped from Auschwitz is a close-up look at the horror faced by the Jewish people in Auschwitz and across Europe during World War II. This newly edited translation of Vrba’s memoir will leave readers reeling at the terrors faced by those during the Holocaust. Despite the profound emotions brought about by this narrative, readers will also find an astounding story of heroism and courage in the face of seemingly hopeless circumstances.Trade Review"With remarkable specificity gained from camp jobs that gave him unusual access to various corners of Auschwitz, including the gas chambers, Vrba told the unknown truth about it." —The New York Times"One of the most harrowing and profound stories of human struggle ever written. . . . This deeply personal story helped me understand how a regime conspired to commit murder on an industrial scale and the almost impossible struggle people faced to survive." —Sydney Morning Herald "Among attempts to break down the wall of silence around the Auschwitz secrets, historians have no doubt that the escape of Vrba and his fellow prisoner, Alfred Wetzler, was by far the most important." —Guardian "Vrba’s photographic memory enabled him to retain much of the geography and the placement of the facilities as he went about his work." —Los Angeles Times "Details Vrba’s experience in a concentration camp as well as his harrowing escape." —Deadline

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“An engaging read, and a deeply moving memoir of coming of age with the odds stacked against you and not only forging a remarkable life for yourself, but becoming a voice for transformation and cultural change.” — San Francisco Chronicle “The moments when Vargas describes how profoundly alienated he feels from his own family ate the most candid and crushing parts of the book....Dear America is a potent rejoinder to those who tell Vargas he’s supposed to ‘get in line’ for citizenship, as if there were a line instead og a confounding jumble of vague statues and executive orders.” — New York Times “In Dear America, we get to know a young Vargas who was constantly told to stay in the shadows but whose tenacity and devotion had other plans for him.” — Los Angeles Magazine “Vargas writes with a newspaper reporter’s spare, forceful prose, but he’s searching and highly introspective.” — Mother Jones “[Dear America] is the voice of one man balancing between the poles of his identity. No matter one’s status, that’s something everyone can relate to.” — Providence Journal “[A] stirring, soulful, and ultimately damning autobiography.” — AV Club “A thought-provoking, moving, and highly personal memoir of Vargas’s struggle to belong. Recommended for all readers interested in immigration issues and American identity.” — Library Journal “Excruciatingly timely. . . .Vargas’ frank and fearless voice thoughtfully and intentionally challenges readers to confront the call for action at the heart of this book; the urgent need for “a new language around migration and the meaning of citizenship.” — Booklist (starred review) “A clarion call for humanity in a time of unprecedented focus on the 11 million people living in America without a clear path to citizenship. Vargas writes passionately about the undeniable intersection between race, class, and immigration and traces the bitter history of American immigratin policy.” — BookPage “Jose Antonio Vargas’s eloquent and emotional book bears witness to a basic truth: we should not be defined by our legal status, but by who we are...His voice is an important voice that needs to be heard by all Americans, whether they are Americans by birth or by choice.” — Sheryl Sandberg, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Option B and Lean In “This riveting, courageous memoir ought to be mandatory reading for every American...The pressing question from these pages isn’t whether Jose deserves to be a citizen but whether we, as a nation, deserve the bravery and generosity of spirit that he offers us with an open heart and mind.” — Michelle Alexander, New York Times bestselling author of The New Jim Crow “Dear America is a daring and honest book that perhaps so many undocumented citizens wish they could write, about what is gained and lost by living in the “shadows”...You may not know where he will be when you read this book, but his story will stay with you always.” — Edwidge Danticat, award-winning author of Brother, I’m Dying “[Dear America] couldn’t be more timely and more necessary...a deeply personal and multilayered story told so gently and with such affection and humor.” — Dave Eggers, New York Times bestselling author of What Is the What and The Monk of Mokha “This important book could not be more timely- Jose Antonio Vargas has put a human face on one of the most defining and polarizing issues of our time: immigration. Dear America is not a book about politics or policy; it is written from the very depths of the human heart.” — Gilbert King, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Devil in the Grove and Beneath a Ruthless Sun “Read it, feel it at a gut level, and go beyond the noise of hate politics...This is a book about America. l cried reading this book, realizing more fully what my parents endured.” — Amy Tan, New York Times bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club and Where the Past Begins “One of the most important immigration rights activists of our time, Vargas has, in this brief book, brilliantly elucidated one of our major political issues.” — Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University “Jose Antonio Vargas’s powerful memoir is among many things a celebration of the millions of Americans who make immigrants like us feel at home in their country, regardless of our legal status, regardless of how much daily hostility we face. May this book cause their ranks to swell.” — Imbolo Mbue, New York Times bestselling author of Behold the Dreamers

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Book SynopsisWhen shots rang out in Dallas on November 22, 1963, U.S. Secret Service Agent Rufus W. Youngblood immediately lunged over the seat of the vice president's car and bravely used his body to shield Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. Faced with the unknown, Youngblood maintained this protective position as they sped toward Parkland Hospital. Throughout that fateful day, he vigilantly remained by LBJ’s side to ensure his safety. This candid memoir includes Youngblood's first-hand account of the Kennedy assassination and its aftermath, as well as highlights from his twenty-year career in the Secret Service during which he protected Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon. Readers will enjoy Youngblood s behind-the-scenes look at some of the most pivotal events in U.S. history, humorous anecdotes, and descriptions of the complexities, risks, and constant tensions involved in protecting America's chief executive. A unique and comprehensive collection of more than one hundred photographs has been added to illustrate this agent's amazing story

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Book SynopsisAs a young civil servant, Caroline Slocock became the first ever female private secretary to any British Prime Minister, and was at Margaret Thatcher's side for the final eighteen months of her premiership. A left-wing feminist, Slocock was no natural ally - and yet she became fascinated by the woman behind the `Iron Lady' facade and by how she dealt with a world dominated by men. As events inexorably led to Margaret Thatcher's downfall, Slocock observed the vulnerabilities and contradictions of the woman considered by many to be the ultimate anti-feminist. When Thatcher eventually resigned, brought down by her closest political allies, Slocock was the only woman present to witness the astonishing scenes in the Cabinet Room. Had Thatcher been a man, it would have ended very differently, Slocock feels. Now, in this vivid first-hand account, based on her diaries from the time and interviews with other key Downing Street personnel, Slocock paints a nuanced portrait of a woman who to this day is routinely demonised in sexist ways. Reflecting on the challenges women still face in public life, Slocock concludes it's time to rewrite how we portray powerful women and for women to set aside politics and accept that Margaret Thatcher was `one of us'. A remarkable political and personal memoir, People Like Us charts life inside Thatcher's No. 10 during its dying days and reflects on women and power then and now.

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Book SynopsisMorgan Tsvangirai's dramatic political battle with Zimbabwe's dictatorial monolith Robert Mugabe stands as one of the most intriguing and important world events of recent times--this is his autobiography From village life as the son of a humble carpenter to struggling for power with Mugabe as the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, this is Morgan Tsvangirai's amazing story. Once an avid supporter of Mugabe's party Zanu-PF, Tsvangirai grew to detest their violence and oppression, leading him to found the Movement for Democratic Change. Tsvangirai deployed basic but effective tools of national resistance with clear vision and exceptional courage, despite multiple arrests and severe beatings. His successful formation of a coalition government kept alive Zimbabwe's hopes of peace and democracy, establishing Tsvangirai as a luminary in a continent all too often known for bloody leadership.Trade Review"I obviously have extraordinary admiration for the courage and the tenacity that the Prime Minister has shown in navigating through some very difficult political times in Zimbabwe. . . . I'm grateful to him for his leadership, for his courage, and I'm looking forward to being a partner with him in the years to come." --President Barack Obama, June 2009

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Book SynopsisScholastique Mukasonga''s Cockroaches is the story of growing up a Tutsi in Hutu-dominated Rwanda - the story of a happy child, a loving family, all wiped out in the genocide of 1994. A vivid, bittersweet depiction of family life and bond in a time of immense hardship, it is also a story of incredible endurance, and of the duty to remember loss and those lost while somehow carrying on. Sweet, funny, wrenching, and deeply moving, Cockroaches is a window onto an unforgettable world of love, grief, and horror.

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Book SynopsisThis is the story of the destruction of a talented Jewish family, and of the survival against all the odds of two young sisters. It is one of the most moving stories to emerge from the Second World War. Anita and her elder sister Renate defied death at the hands of the Gestapo and the SS over a period of two and a half years when they were sucked into the whirlpool of Nazi mass extermination, being first imprisoned as 'criminals' and then being transferred, separately, to Auschwitz, and finally to Belsen when the Russians approached. They were saved by their exceptional courage, determination and ingenuity, and by several improbable strokes of luck. At Auschwitz, Anita escaped annihilation through her talents as a cellist when she was co-opted into the camp orchestra directed by Alma Rose, niece of Gustav Mahler. Her book is especially remarkable because of the many documents she has managed to preserve, most of them now lodged in the archives of the Imperial War Museum in London. In a sequence of family letters to her sister Marianne, who was marooned in England, from just before the war to 1942 when her parents were deported and liquidated, an atmosphere of happy normality gradually gives way to latent terror and foreboding. The appalling predicament of the Lasker family, and of Anita and Renate in particular when the rest of their relations had been deported and they were left totally alone in Breslau, could not be more poignantly conveyed. They were caught by the Gestapo trying to flee to Paris, and sent to prison: another piece of 'luck', as it turned out, since they were spared the worse horrors of Auschwitz for a crucial year. After the liberation of Belsen in April 1945, the correspondence with Marianne in England resumed. Anita was seconded to the British Army, and she quotes first-hand material about the early days of the occupation, including a transcript of part of the Luneburg trial in late 1945 when she gave evidence about Nazi atrocities at Auschwitz and Belsen, and was confronted in court by her tormentors. In 1946 she and Renate were both finally permitted to emigrate to England. Three years later, Anita became a founder member of the English Chamber Orchestra, in which she continued to play the cello until recently. Anita's book featured in BBC Radio 4's 'Desert Island Discs' programme on 25th August 1996. She had also told her story in a series of five BBC Radio 4 programmes in 1994; and a BBC 2 TV film about her experiences, Playing to Survive, was screened in October 1996.Trade ReviewWalter Laqueur, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, in Holocaust and Genocide Studies: 'It is my job...to read most of the current literature on the Holocaust, and if someone had the time and inclination to read only one book published recently, I would...choose without hesitation a small book [Inherit the Truth] which appeared last month in England...it is precisely as a historian that I recommend this account...' Sir Martin Gilbert in his Preface: 'Like so much in this book, the story of liberation brings a chill to the spine and the realization of the miracle of survival. Anita Lasker-Wallfisch has given an account which, in its personal immediacy, conveys many elements of the almost unconveyable.' Peter Lennon in the Guardian: 'There are the baleful routines of war, which we persuade ourselves we can just about cope with mentally, and then the obscene recesses of war featuring particularly perverse human behaviour which baffles us almost more than it appals. The Ladies' Orchestra, formed of Auschwitz inmates, set up by the Nazis to provide stirring music daily at the extermination camp, is one of those aberrations. When you meet someone who played in that orchestra, greedy curiosity prompts you to ask: "What was it like?" Then you panic in case they might actually be able to convey the experience to you. If anyone could, it would be Anita Lasker-Wallfisch...' In December 2002, the German Ambassador, Thomas Matussek, presented Anita Lasker-Wallfisch with the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, and said this in his address, referring to her plea for understanding and tolerance between Britain and Germany, especially among young people: 'You overcame this natural hatred, this natural bitterness. In an extraordinary achievement, you have devoted your life to turning the most terrifying and traumatic personal experience into a universal message. It is a timeless appeal, to which we must listen and remind ourselves of over and over again.' Classical Music: '...a harrowing account of how a sixteen-year-old had survived enormous atrocities...due largely to her ability to play the cello.' Independent on Sunday: 'There was never any doubt about the alternative to playing in the orchestra. "I was once asked on Newsnight, 'How did you know that there were gas chambers at Auschwitz?' " She gestures to a building ten yards away. "They weren't exactly hidden. We saw the people going in and coming out as smoke"..."[The book] started with watching a TV documentary in 1985. My son said to me: 'Actually, you've never told us anything.' I decide to write down something strictly for my children." This narrative was shared with a wider audience when she was persuaded to give a series of radio talks and in turn led to her book.' Michael Kennedy in Sunday Telegraph: 'Books about the Holocaust have a numbing effect. How can anyone who was not there begin to comprehend the unspeakable horror of it all?...What is almost unbelievable is the resilience of the human spirit as exemplified by those who experienced Auschwitz and other camps. Two recent books, one by a victim, the other by a survivor [Anita Lasker-Wallfisch], add valuably to the documentation of a ghastly period in history.' Raphael Wallfisch, interviewed in the Sunday Times: 'The first time I noticed the number, 69388, on my mother's arm, I asked, as any young child would, what it was for. Her answer was that she had once been in prison, but she never invited any further comment...The history came out in bits and pieces...I knew that she played the cello in the Auschwitz orchestra, but never the fine details, until she wrote the book.'Table of ContentsPreface by Sir Martin Gilbert, 7; Acknowledgements, 9; List of Illustrations, 10; Key to Names, 12; Foreword, 13; Introduction, 15; 1 Pre-War Germany and the Kristallnacht, 17; 2 The Destruction of a Family, 21; Attempts to arrange emigration before the outbreak of war, 21; Family life after having to leave our home, 31; I go back to school, 34; Forced labour, 38; My parents are deported, 45; 3 Alone in Breslau with Renate, 48; 4 Convicted Criminals, 53; 5 'Voluntary' Transfer to Auschwitz, 68; 6 Music for the Inferno, 74; 7 From Hell to Hell: Our Miraculous Escape to Belsen, 87; 8 The Liberation of Belsen, 94; 9 Peace at Belsen: Secondment to the British Army, 101; Contact with Marianne, 101; Searching for a new life, 107; The traumas of achieving entry to England, 115; 10 Marooned in Brussels, 136; 11 The Boat Across the Channel, 142; Appendices; 1 Declaration of Possessions (Vermogenserklarung), 146; 2 Official German Documents Relating to the Seizure of the Lasker Family's Property in Breslau, 149; 3 Alma Rose in Auschwitz by Dr Margita Schwalbova, 153; 4 Transcript from the Official British Record of the Trial in Luneburg, 157; Index, 164.

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