Autobiography: historical, political and military Books
Oxford University Press My Bondage and My Freedom Oxford Worlds Classics
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
£8.54
Giles de la Mare Publishers Inherit the Truth 1939-1945: The Documented
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.
£999.99
Duckworth Books My Life in France
Book SynopsisBursting with Child's adventurous and humorous spirit,My Life in Francecaptures post-war Paris with wonderful vividness and charm.Trade Review'Child's exuberant, affectionate and boundlessly charming account... chronicles, in mouth-watering detail, the meals and the food markets that sparked her interest in French cooking, and her growing appreciation of all things French' New York Times'Luscious… The large-as-life presence of Julia Child looms on every page' Washington Times'Whether you have seen [Julie & Julia] or not, you must read this charming, eccentric memoir from Julia Child, a towering figure in the world of cookery' Independent on Sunday
£10.44
Floris Books And There Was Light
Book SynopsisThe remarkable and moving story of Jacques Lusseyran, a blind French resistance leader of the Second World War, who was incarcerated at Buchenwald concentration camp.Trade Review'This was the most inspiring autobiography I read this year.'-- Jill Hawkes, Towards Wholeness'This is a remarkable true story by a remarkable man. This makes gripping reading and left me feeling uplifted and greatly strengthened. Highly recommended.'-- Stephanie Sorrell, New Vision
£14.24
Pan Macmillan Homage to Catalonia
Book SynopsisHomage to Catalonia remains one of the most famous accounts of the Spanish Civil War. With characteristic scrutiny, Orwell questions the actions and motives of all sides whilst retaining his firm beliefs in human courage and the need for radical social change.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is introduced by Helen Graham, a leading historian on the Spanish Civil War.When George Orwell arrived in Spain in 1936, he signed up to fight with the Republican army against Fascism. Homage to Catalonia is his bracing personal account of his experiences in the Spanish Civil War. From the front line he describes, with brutal honesty, the frustrations and inefficiencies of battle; he is caught up in vicious street fighting in Barcelona and must flee for his life when Republican factions turn on each other.Trade ReviewHomage to Catalonia belongs in any list of important books on the Spanish civil war -- Paul Preston * Observer *[Homage to Catalonia] has become, in the years and for generations that have followed, a landmark text of the 20th century and an indispensable read . . . Few stories of conflict manage to stir together such a moving admixture of horror, grace, brutality and, yes, even humor. * NPR *With his commitment to honesty in the face of lies and treachery; with his moral and intellectual integrity in the face of cynicism and euphemism; and with his willingness to face down bullies of all stripes, Orwell bequeaths to us in his writings the tools we could well do with ourselves. * Mancunian *Orwell's report is as exciting as it is meditative. With his quiet exactitude the midnight skirmishes, the political issues, and the utter futility of war come clearly into focus. * Kirkus Reviews *
£10.44
Everyman The Diary of Samuel Pepys
Book SynopsisWhen Samuel Pepys (1633–1703) began writing in 1660 he was a young clerk living in London, struggling to pay his rent. Over the next nine years as he kept his journal, he rose to be a powerful naval administrator. He became eyewitness to some of the most significant events in seventeenth-century English history, among them, the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 (he was in the ship that brought back Charles II from exile), the plague that ravaged the capital in 1665, and the Great Fire of 1666, described with poetry and horror. Pepys's diary gives vivid descriptions of spectacular events, but much of the richness of the diary lies in the details it provides about the minor dramas of daily life. While Pepys was keen to hear the King's views, he was also ready to talk with a soldier, a housekeeper, or a child rag-picker. He records with searing frankness his tumultuous personal and professional life: the pleasures and frustrations of his marriage, together with his infidelities, his ambitions, and his power schemes. All of this was set down in shorthand, to protect it from prying eyes. The result is a lively, often astonishing, diary and an unrivalled account of life in seventeenth-century London.
£16.19
Fingerprint! Publishing The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Book Synopsis
£12.83
Hodder & Stoughton Searching For Schindler
Book SynopsisThe extraordinary tale of Oskar Schindler, the Aryan who saved hundreds of Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland, is now legendary, but as Tom Keneally reveals in this absorbing memoir, luck and the dogged persistence of one of ''Schindler''s Jews'' were vital in bringing it to the world''s attention through his Booker Prize-winning novel, SCHINDLER''S ARK and the subsequent film, SCHINDLER''S LIST.Entertaining, inspiring and filled with anecdotes about the many people involved, from the survivors Keneally interviewed to Steven Spielberg and Liam Neeson, Searching for Schindler gives a revealing insight into a writer''s mind and the creation of a modern classic. It also traces what happened in the decades after the war to Schindler, his wife, and the people they rescued - including Leopold Pfefferberg, who made it his mission to repay his priceless debt to Schindler. Above all, it sheds renewed light on a fascinatingly flawed man, and an instance of exceptional humanity amid the Trade ReviewHad I read SEARCHING FOR SCHINDLER before making the film, I may have made it an hour longer. I owe you so much. The world owes you more. * Steven Spielberg *Keneally is incapable of writing a dull book. This memoir, listed as his 38th publication, is no exception * Andrew Riemer, Sydney Morning Herald *a fascinating absorbing book, replete with anecdote and a quality of writing that continues to mark Keneally out as one of our finest living authors * Herald *
£10.44
Transworld Publishers Ltd The Auschwitz Photographer: The powerful true
Book SynopsisBased on the powerful true story of Auschwitz prisoner number 3444 Wilhelm Brasse, whose photographs helped to expose the atrocities of the Holocaust.'Horror in sharp focus... important, because the world must know.' John Lewis-Stempel, Daily Express__________When Germany invaded Wilhelm Brasse's native Poland in 1939, he was asked to swear allegiance to Hitler and join the Wehrmacht. He refused. He was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp as political prisoner number 3444. A trained portrait photographer, he was ordered by the SS to record the inner workings of the camp. He began by taking identification photographs of prisoners as they entered the camp, went on to capture the criminal medical experiments of Josef Mengele, and also recorded executions. Between 1940 and 1945, Brasse took around 50,000 photographs of the horror around him. He took them because he had no choice.Eventually, Brasse's conscience wouldn't allow him to hide behind his camera. First he risked his life by joining the camp's Resistance movement, faking documents for prisoners, trying to smuggle images to the outside world to reveal what was happening. Then, when Soviet troops finally advanced on the camp to liberate it, Brasse refused SS orders to destroy his photographs. 'Because the world must know,' he said.For readers of The Librarian of Auschwitz and The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz, this powerful true story of hope and courage lies at the very centre of Holocaust history.__________'A remarkable tale of survival against the odds... an enthralling book.' The Sydney Morning Herald'Brasse has left us with a powerful legacy in images. Because of them we can see the victims of the Holocaust as human and not statistics.' Fergal KeaneTrade ReviewThe authors have woven a remarkable tale of survival against all the odds... They have done their research and created an enthralling book that, while telling an almost incredible tale, shows profound respect to the victims of one of history's darkest episodes.—The Sydney Morning Herald
£9.49
Guardian Faber Publishing The Messenger
Book SynopsisEvery reporter knows the first rule of journalism: never betray your source. But what if your source turns out to be unworthy of your silence? What if it's your source who betrays you?The Messenger tells the story of an unlikely friendship between two men looking to change the world - a repentant jihadist and an idealistic journalist. This troubling real-life thriller takes us from their first meeting in a spartan flat in the rough suburbs of Manchester, to a bombing in Pakistan, a dramatic arrest and Malik's reporting career on the brink of ruin.Ten years later, Malik returns to this extraordinary tale. He asks where we can place our trust - in reams of evidence, in a government we believe is on our side, in a terrorist who swears he's changed, in a friend who has no one else to turn to. Malik explores the uncomfortable questions about why he, as well as the wider media and the nation, surrendered to fear so easily. And he reveals how the age of terror laid the groundwork for an era of fake news and demagogues.This is investigative journalism and storytelling of the highest order.
£11.69
John Blake Publishing Ltd Fishers of Men
Book SynopsisFishers of Men is the true account of secret operations in Northern Ireland carried out by the British Army's most clandestine unit. It tells the unique story, through Rob Lewis's own extraordinary experiences, of an essential instrument in the fight against terrorism, that of covert intelligence gathering. The men and women who work in this field are a special breed who undertake hazardous risks with unflinching tenacity and professionalism - the price of negligence is high, and the need for secrecy must be preserved even at the expense of personal relationships. The sheer determination and single-mindedness required to achieve selection to this secret world is graphically described, as well as how, against seemingly impossible odds, the operators of the FRU managed to persuade terrorists and their close associates to turn informer. The methods the unit used to target, recruit and handle their contacts, how they protected their informants, and the terrifying life their agents led are all told by an agent handler, using many of his cases to illustrate the sharpness, intelligence (and sense of humour) essential to the job. Fishers of Men fills a gap in the available information about the secret war against terrorism in Northern Ireland. It is a gap that has so far remained largely unexplored - until Rob Lewis's informative and explosive book.
£9.49
Transworld Publishers Ltd First They Killed My Father: Film tie-in
Book SynopsisA major film, co-written and directed by Angelina Jolie Until the age of five, Loung Ung lived in Phnom Penh, one of seven children of a high-ranking government official. She was a precocious child who loved the open city markets, fried crickets, chicken fights and being cheeky to her parents.When Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army stormed into Phnom Penh in April 1975, Loung's family fled their home and were eventually forced to disperse to survive. Loung was trained as a child soldier while her brothers and sisters were sent to labour camps. The surviving siblings were only finally reunited after the Vietnamese penetrated Cambodia and started to destroy the Khmer Rouge.Bolstered by the bravery of one brother, the vision of the others and the gentle kindness of her sister, Loung forged on to create for herself a courageous new life.First They Killed My Father is an unforgettable book told through the voice of the young and fearless Loung. It is a shocking and tragic tale of a girl who was determined to survive despite the odds.Trade ReviewSo sharp with pain that when I read it, the words plunged into me like a knife -- Jon Swain * Sunday Times *There can be absolutely no doubt about the innate power of [Ung's] story, the passion with which she tells it or its enduring importance * Washington Post Book World *Ung's memoir should serve as a reminder that some history is best not left just to historians but to those left behind when the terror ends * Booklist *I was deeply affected by Loung’s book. It deepened my understanding of how children experience war and are affected by the emotional memory of it * Angelina Jolie Pitt *
£10.44
Monsoon Books In the Footsteps of Florence Nightingale: Memoirs
Book SynopsisIn this heartfelt memoir, spanning the 1950s and '60s, Major Margaret Thomas ARRC rises through the ranks of the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (the QAs), the nursing branch of the British Army, healing injured soldiers far from home as well as educating and recruiting sisters back in Britain.
£8.54
Duckworth Books China in Ten Words
Book SynopsisA courageous and intimate memoir of China framed in ten telling words: a Duckworth contemporary classic, beautifully repackaged for our 125th anniversaryTrade Review‘A brilliant memoir of China… Throughout this beautifully narrated, carefully analytical and at times personally courageous book, Yu shows the dark side of China’s economic “miracle” Guardian'Caustic and difficult to forget, China in Ten Words is a people’s eye view of a world in which the people have little place' The Times'Gripping… it astounds me that Yu Hua has not already joined Nobel Peace Prize-winner Liu Xiaobo and a growing number of other outspoken intellectuals behind bars' Jonathan Mirsky, Literary Review
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Black Boy
Book SynopsisRichard Wright's memoir of his childhood as a young black boy in the American south of the 1920s and 30s is a stark depiction of African-American life and a powerful exploration of racial tension.‘A compelling indictment of life in the Deep South between the wars’ Daily Telegraph At four years old, Richard Wright set fire to his home in a moment of boredom; at five his father deserted the family; by six Richard was - temporarily - an alcoholic. It was in saloons, railroad yards and streets that he learned the facts about life, about fear, hunger and hatred, while his mother's long illness taught him about suffering. In a world of white hostility and subjugation it would be his love of books and pursuit of knowledge that would propel him to follow his dream of justice and opportunity in the north.A chronicle of coming of age under the racial prejudices of the American south, as much the story of a writer finding his voice, Black Boy remains one of the great, impassioned memoirs of the twentieth century.
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Paula
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
£10.44
Pan Macmillan A Prison Diary Volume III: Heaven
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 *
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd The Letters of the Younger Pliny
Book SynopsisProviding a series of fascinating views of Imperial Rome, The Letters of the Younger Pliny also offer one of the fullest self-portraits to survive from classical times. This Penguin Classics edition is translated with an introduction by Betty Radice.A prominent lawyer and administrator, Pliny was also a prolific letter-writer, who numbered among his correspondents such eminent figures as Tacitus, Suetonius and the Emperor Trajan, as well as a wide circle of friends and family. His lively and very personal letters address an astonishing range of topics, from a deeply moving account of his uncle''s death in the eruption that engulfed Pompeii, to observations on the early Christians - ''a desperate sort of cult carried to extravagant lengths'' - from descriptions of everyday life in Rome, with its scandals and court cases, to Pliny''s life in the country.Betty Radice''s definitive edition was the forst complete modern translation of Pliny''s letters. In her intro
£12.34
Penguin Books Ltd The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings
Book SynopsisAn exciting and often terrifying adventure story, and a precursor to the famous nineteenth-century slave narratives, Equiano''s The Interesting Narrative recounts his kidnapping in Africa aged ten, his service as a slave of an officer in the British Navy for ten years, and his life after he bought his freedom in 1766, growing to become one of the foremost figures of the anti-slavery movement in Britain.The Interesting Narrative is a spirited autobiography, a tale of spiritual quest and fulfillment and a sophisticated treatise on religion, politics and economics.Table of ContentsIntroductionVincent CarrettaA Note on the TextAcknowledgmentsA Note on MoneySuggestions for Further ReadingThe Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Written by HimselfExplanatory and Textual NotesAppendix A: The Frontispieces and Title Pages of the First London (1789) and New York (1791) EditionsAppendix B: A Note on the IllustrationsAppendix C: List of Subscribers to the First EditionAppendix D: List of Subscribers to the New York EditionAppendix E: Correspondence of Gustavus Vassa, or Olaudah Equiano, Not Published in The Interesting NarrativeAppendix F: The Will and Codicil of Gustavus Vassa (Olaudah Equiano)
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd Odd Boy Out
Book SynopsisThe compelling, witty and remarkably honest autobiography from beloved star of Just a Minute, QI, Have I Got News For You and Celebrity GoggleboxTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER''Hilarious, ribald, eye-popping, unforgettable, will make you laugh out loud'' DAILY MAIL''Warm, witty, charming. A moving and very affectionate family history. An enthusiast for life'' THE TIMES________Enter the world of Gyles Brandreth - broadcaster, actor, writer, former politician - as he takes us on an extraordinary journey into his past.From growing up in an apparently well-to-do but strapped-for-cash middle-class English family to his adventures in swinging London, Gyles encounters princes, presidents, pop stars and prime ministers, gets involved in everything from setting up Scrabble championships to examining Danish sex shops, and thrills us with countless tales of family, friends and acquainTrade ReviewHilarious, ribald, eye-popping, unforgettable, will make you laugh out loud * Daily Mail *A whirlwind of witticisms and of funny tales, both short and tall . . . 'I feel I have lived my life in a magic garden where the sun is always shining' he writes, and in Odd Boy Out he offers us yet another glimpse of that bright, shining sun * Mail on Sunday *Warm, witty, charming. A moving and very affectionate family history. An enthusiast for life * The Times *A fabulous raconteur with a great many tricks up his sleeve. His infectious zest for life means he has a story for almost every well-known person you can think of * Daily Telegraph *A magnificent raconteur. A witty account of a most unusual life * Independent *Brilliant pen portraits of his father and myriad friends present a framework for Gyles's contemplation of his extraordinary life. Light-hearted and dark events alike are described with his customary deceptively jaunty style, making them funny, moving, and sometimes deeply shocking -- Sheila HancockStaggeringly brilliant, funny and touching, I loved it -- Joanna LumleyA hilarious and revealing account of growing up and coming of age in an apparently well-to-do but always strapped-for-cash middle-class English family * Eastern Daily Press *Brandreth has been an expert cheerer-upper for more than 60 years . . . Ebullient. Full of fun, famous names and sparkling facts * Daily Mail *He's cheery, fun and has a fabulous grasp of the English language, so Gyles Brandreth's autobiography makes for a scintillating read. His hilarious - and sometimes moving - account of his life from early childhood days through to the adult world of politics and television is candid. It is also a story around his everyday family life, and about happiness, ambition and love. It offers a fascinating insight into a portrait of Britain, too * People’s Friend Magazine *Hugely enjoyable. Engaging * Choice Magazine *Full of fascination . . . Tantalising. Alongside his celebrity stories, his delightfully observed domestic portraits bring to life whole lost worlds * Great British Life *Fascinating * Telegraph *
£10.99
Little, Brown & Company Tip of the Spear: The Incredible Story of an
Book SynopsisThe inspiring story of a US Special Forces soldier who was medically retired after stepping on an IED, and his incredible return to active duty.Sergeant First Class (SFC) Ryan Hendrickson is a brave, determined, and courageous soldier--a Green Beret clearing the way for his twelve-man team while conducting combat operations against the Taliban. As the 'tip of the spear,' his role is to insure the route taken by U.S. and Afghan troops are free of IEDs--improvised explosive devices. Many soldiers do not survive their last step; those who do often lose at least one limb. While rescuing an Afghan soldier outside a mud-hut compound in 2010--knowing that he was in 'uncleared' territory--Ryan stepped on an IED with his right foot. The device exploded, leaving his foot dangling at the end of his leg. American soldiers losing a limb is an all-too-common occurrence. But what makes Ryan's story different is that after undergoing two dozen surgeries and a tortuous rehabilitation, he was medically retired but fought to return to active duty. Multiple skin grafts to his lower leg and right foot successfully reattached his lower leg, and he was aided in his recovery by wearing a new prosthetic device known as an IDEO (Intrepid Dynamic Exoskeletal Orthosis). Once he passed a series of crucial physical tests, Ryan was able to rejoin the Green Berets within a year and physically perform his duties, redeploying to Afghanistan in March 2012. In 2016, he volunteered to return to Afghanistan with Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group. During a firefight with the Taliban, he risked his life under heavy enemy fire to rescue three Afghan soldiers cut off from friendly forces and return the bodies of two dead Afghan soldiers under the ethos that 'no one gets left behind.' For his heroic efforts on the battlefield, SFC Ryan Hendrickson was awarded a Silver Star, the nation's third-highest award for valor.An engaging and harrowing account, Tip of the Spear tells the amazing story of one Green Beret's indomitable spirit.
£22.50
Vintage Publishing Arrow in the Blue
Book SynopsisThe first volume of the remarkable autobiography of Arthur Koestler, author of Darkness at Noon.In 1931, Arthur Koestler joined the Communist Party, an event he felt to be second only in importance to his birth in shaping his destiny. Before that point, he lived a tumultuous and varied existence. He was a member of the duelling fraternity at the University of Vienna; a collective farm worker in Galilee; a tramp and street vendor in Haifa; the editor of a weekly paper in Cairo; the foreign correspondent of the biggest continental newspaper chain in Paris and the Middle East; a science editor in Berlin; and a member of the North Pole expedition of the Graf Zeppelin. Written with enormous zest, joie de vivre and frankness, Arrow in the Blue is a fascinating self-portrait of a remarkable young man at the heart of the events that shaped the twentieth century. The second volume of Arthur Koestler's autobiography is The Invisible Writing.Trade ReviewA brilliant and deeply moving record of a whole generation as well as of an individual * Observer *The cumulative effect is overwhelming * New Republic *He is a journalist of ideas on a very high level - the kind we lack and need in this country - who functions midway between the realms of art and of society, but whose function is indispensable, if thought is to be part of culture * Saturday Review *Perhaps the most remarkable autobiography since the confessions of Rousseau -- V. S. Pritchett * New Statesman *
£13.49
Biteback Publishing The Art of the Impossible: How to start a
Book SynopsisNothing like it had ever been done before. In January 2019, the Brexit Party was just a name. Over a matter of weeks, the party would be launched, stand candidates across seventy seats and become the largest single party in the European Parliament. Along the way, it fought Establishment quangos, the courts, Parliament, the Speaker and the government - hammering the Conservatives so hard it forced the resignation of their Prime Minister - to win nearly twice as many seats as its nearest rival. It was a success beyond anyone's dreams (or, indeed, anyone's worst nightmare). And the inside story of how it happened may serve as a manual of how to - and occasionally how not to - do it. This unique book details the wild ride of the brand-new Brexit Party as it heads from triumph in the European elections to disaster in the general election six months later. Packed with hilarious anecdotes about the reality of setting up a new party, it takes the reader on a journey through building the entire apparatus in an impossibly short time frame; losing key players to enemy action; and facing chaotic scenes created by a cat's cradle of legal complications - before arriving at the conclusion that politics is much more difficult than it looks.
£11.69
John Blake Publishing Ltd The Day the Nazis Came: My childhood journey from
Book SynopsisBy the time he was six years old, Stephen Matthews had been bombarded by the Luftwaffe and deported from occupied Guernsey, along with his family, to a prison camp in the heart of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. He had seen men die in front of him and walked with Jews straight off the cattle-trucks from Bergen-Belsen. He had nearly drowned, menaced by Alsatian guard dogs, been beaten by a member of the SS, stranded in a minefield and had his hand broken by a German guard for attempting to feed Russian prisoners.The family kept going through over three of imprisonment, held together by their will to survival and their love for each other. But the island home they eventually returned to had been scarred and stricken by Nazi occupation.The Day the Nazis Came Here is an utterly unique memoir, depicting the world of Nazi prison camps through the eyes of a child - a world in which the real dangers often seemed trivial and every day was a new adventure. Above all, it pays tribute to the preciousness of hope, and shows that human kindness may flower in the unlikeliest of places.
£8.54
Simon & Schuster Ltd Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who
Book SynopsisFor the millions moved by Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, here is Miep Gies's own astonishing story. For more than two years, Miep and her husband helped hide the Franks from the Nazis. Like thousands of unsung heroes of the Holocaust, they risked their lives every day to bring food, news, and emotional support to its victims. From her remarkable childhood as a World War I refugee to the moment she places a small, red-orange-checkered diary -- Anne's legacy -- into Otto Frank's hands, Miep Gies remembers her days with simple honesty and shattering clarity. Each page rings with courage and heartbreaking beauty.
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd Seven Pillars of Wisdom
Book SynopsisSeven Pillars of Wisdom is the autobiographical account of T.E. Lawrence - also known as ''Lawrence of Arabia'' - of his service in the Arab Revolt during the First World War, published in Penguin Modern Classics.Although ''continually and bitterly ashamed'' that the Arabs had risen in revolt against the Turks as a result of fraudulent British promises of self-rule, Lawrence led them in a triumphant campaign which revolutionized the art of war. Seven Pillars of Wisdom recreates epic events with extraordinary vividness. In the words of E. M. Forster, ''Round this tent-pole of a military chronicle, Lawrence has hung an unexampled fabric of portraits, descriptions, philosophies, emotions, adventures, dreams''. However flawed, T.E. Lawrence is one of the twentieth century''s most fascinating figures. This is the greatest monument to his character and achievements, and formed the basis for the Oscar-winning film Lawrence of Arabia, staring Peter O''Toole and
£10.44
Hikoki Publications Wings Of The Luftwaffe: Flying the Captured
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.
£27.96
Penguin Books Ltd First Confession
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 *
£11.69
Pan Macmillan A Prison Diary Volume I: Hell
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 *
£10.44
Vintage Publishing A Tale of Love and Darkness
Book SynopsisBorn in Jerusalem in 1939, Amos Oz was the internationally acclaimed author of many novels and essay collections, translated into over forty languages, including his brilliant semi-autobiographical work, A Tale of Love and Darkness. His last novel, Judas, was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2017 and won the Yasnaya Polyana Foreign Fiction Award. He received several international awards, including the Prix Femina, the Israel Prize, the Goethe Prize, the Frankfurt Peace Prize and the 2013 Franz Kafka Prize. He died in December 2018.Trade ReviewOne of the funniest, most tragic and most touching books I have ever read. A testament to a family, a time and a place. * Guardian *A masterpiece * Irish Times *One of the most gripping, intense and moving autobiographies I have ever read. * Independent on Sunday *It sweeps across 120 years of family history, weaving a tragi-comic saga of love and books, of Jewish life and immigrant life the world over, and of the universal madness of families. Read it now - I promise you won't read a more brilliant book in a long, long while. * Daily Mail *Oz's account of his childhood is often very funny - and then profoundly moving, as he circles slowly round to confront the intolerable pain at the heart of it -- Michael Frayn * Week *
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd A Taste of Power
Book SynopsisThe incredible memoir of Elaine Brown - the first woman leader of the Black Panthers''Here I was, a woman, proclaiming supreme power over the most militant organization in America''In 1974 Elaine Brown became the first woman leader of the Black Panther Party. This is her unforgettable memoir, charting her rise from an impoverished neighbourhood in Philadelphia, through her political awakening during a bohemian adolescence, and on to her time as a foot soldier for the Panthers and ascent into its male-dominated upper ranks. It is a seminal exploration of power, racism and one woman''s revolutionary struggle.''Heart-wrenching, wild and moving ... a glowing achievement'' Los Angeles Times''What Elaine Brown writes is so astonishing, at times it is even difficult to believe she survived it. And yet she did, bringing us that amazing light of the black woman''s magical resilience'' Alice WalkerTrade ReviewHonest, funny, subjective, unsparing, and passionate ... A Taste of Power weaves autobiography and political history into a story that fascinates and illuminates * The Washington Post *A stunning picture of a black woman's coming of age in America. Put it on the shelf beside The Autobiography of Malcolm X * Kirkus *What Elaine Brown writes is so astonishing, at times it is even difficult to believe she survived it. And yet she did, bringing us that amazing light of the black woman's magical resilience, in the gloominess of our bitter despair -- Alice WalkerAstonishing [and] heart wrenching ... Movie makers, where are you? This narration is as wild and moving as Bonnie and Clyde ... It also has beautiful, touching, heartbreaking accounts of a lonely black childhood ... Brown sees racial oppression in national and global context; every political word she writes pounds home a lesson about commerce, money, racism, communism ... A glowing achievement ... A profound, funny and heartbreaking American story * Los Angeles Times *A Taste of Power is chilling, well-written, and profoundly entertaining * The New York Times Book Review *This is the kind of book you develop a relationship with - one of those tumultuous, passionate relationships commonly reserved for lovers ... Fascinating ... Remarkable * Boston Review *
£10.44
Transworld Publishers Ltd The Long and Winding Road
Book SynopsisWinner of the Parliamentary Book Award, best memoir by a Parliamentarian, 2016From the condemned slums of Southam Street in West London to the corridors of power in Westminster, Alan Johnson's multi-award-winning autobiography charts an extraordinary journey, almost unimaginable in today's Britain. This third volume tells of Alan's early political skirmishes as a trades union leader, where his negotiating skills and charismatic style soon came to the notice of Tony Blair and other senior members of the Labour Party.As a result, Alan was chosen to stand in the constituency of Hull West and Hessle, and entered Parliament as an MP after the landslide election victory for Labour in May 1997. But this is no self-aggrandizing memoir of Westminster politicking and skulduggery. Supporting the struggle of his constituents, the Hull trawlermen and their families, for justice comes more naturally to Alan than do the byzantine complexities of Parliamentary procedure. But of cTrade ReviewJohnson writes with his usual warmth, wit and modesty. * The Sunday Times *Immensely engaging. * The Times *Searingly honest... moving. * Mail on Sunday *Remarkable. * The Observer *It's not often that one must reach for the phrase 'heart-warming' about the life of a politician, but Johnson is exceptional. It's rare to find such decency and likeability in public life. * Mail on Sunday *Very nicely told... Johnson is sharp on period detail. -- William Leith * Evening Standard *
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd SAS Sea King Down
Book SynopsisThe thrilling, edge-of-your-seat true story of one soldier''s Special Forces operations in the Falklands War''BRILLIANT. A ROLLERCOASTER OF BLISTERING ACTION, SURVIVAL AND BEHIND-THE-LINES DARING'' DAMIEN LEWIS________THE BIGGEST SINGLE LOSS OF LIFE FOR THE SAS SINCE WORLD WAR TWO . . .1982, the British task force sails to liberate the Falkland Islands. Aboard: SAS D Squadron, determined to make their mark.No one more so than Mark ''Splash'' Aston.But they have barely seen action when their Sea King helicopter crashes in freezing South Atlantic waters, killing 22 of Mark''s comrades.The last out of the sinking wreck, he suffers a broken neck. But defying medical evacuation orders, Mark sneaks off ship, re-joins his SAS comrades to land on a mountain near Port Stanley - to defend it against days of attacks by Argentine special forces . . .SAS Sea King Down is a pulse-pounding account of D-STrade ReviewBrilliant. A rollercoaster of blistering action, survival and behind-the-lines daring -- Damien LewisGripping, fast moving and completely authentic. A brilliant piece of work. Better than Bravo Two Zero -- Mike Rose, former Commanding Officer of the SASA gripping untold story of heroism, hardship and sacrifice within the SAS -- Bear GryllsBrings alive the hardships, fear and bravery of the elite soldier . . . A great tale, loaded with comradeship * Sun *
£11.69
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC One of Them
Book Synopsis'An extraordinary life, depicted with searing honesty ... A colourful journey sprinkled with delicious anecdotes' Daily Express 'Extraordinary ... You'll be ugly-sobbing at the end' Graham Norton ‘It tells not just the story of his life, but also the battle for LGBT equality in the UK’ Guardian 'A memoir to cherish' Ian McKellen 'A book to be savoured' Alan Johnson 'There are so many reasons to love this book' Armistead Maupin ‘A beautifully written, funny memoir’ Jo Brand Growing up in post-war East London, the son of a docker and an office cleaner, young Michael Cashman’s life changed when he was discovered, aged twelve, and transported to the West End stage. Cashman would make history – first as an actor, one half of the first gay kiss broadcast on a British soap, BBC TV’s EastEnders, and then as a campaigner and politician, founding Stonewall with Ian McKellen, and embarking on a fight for gay rights across the world that would lead him and his partner Paul Cottingham from tea in LA with David Hockney to flying the rainbow flag over the Royal Albert Hall with Elton John. One of Them contains as many multitudes as its author: glorious nostalgia, showbiz gossip and a stirring history of a civil rights movement. And above all things, it is a love story – a tender account of a partnership that changed the world. ‘Passionate and true … A great book about love, pain and the whole damn thing’ Simon Callow 'Brutally frank and brave' i 'A brave, good man' Sheila Hancock Trade ReviewBeautifully written, it moves with ease from a tough childhood in the East End of London through the bohemian life of an actor ending up in the world of politics, all knitted together with an unpredictable and moving love story. It made me happy and sad and all points in between -- JO BRANDBrutally frank and brave * i *Tells not just the story of his life, but also the battle for LGBT equality in the UK * GUARDIAN *Poignant reading * OBSERVER *A powerful account of public life, love and loss … Passionate and true, illuminating, bright and breezy … In the league of My Early Years, Charlie Chaplin’s great account of late 19th-century south London – graphic, filled with smells and tastes and strange encounters … A great book about love, pain and the whole damn thing -- Simon Callow * GUARDIAN *There is brilliance in his memoir, One of Them, and darkness, too, enough to raise it far above the normal standard of celebrity biography … Stunning … The lucidity of the writing is breath-taking … He could never be accused … in life or literature, of not doing enough * HERALD *With this memoir Michael Cashman can add "writer" to a CV that already includes "actor", "politician" and "campaigner". Apart from its important contribution to British social history, this is a book to be savoured for its own sake as a wonderful piece of descriptive writing and a rollicking good read -- ALAN JOHNSON, author of the bestselling This BoyMichael Cashman's beautifully crafted memoir left me in tears and grateful that he had the courage to lay out his almost unimaginable life with such impressive honesty ... Above all, however, this is the tenderest of love stories, a proud testament to a decades-long queer romance. There are so many reasons to love this book -- ARMISTEAD MAUPINThis book, unlike any other I’ve read, is a true portrait of a brave actor/politician/Lord. Michael Cashman shares his most private feelings in a memoir to cherish -- IAN McKELLENMichael Cashman describes his journey from a cruel Dickensian childhood to the dignity of the House of Lords with brutal honesty. I was shocked, amused, and deeply moved by this life of a brave, good, man -- SHEILA HANCOCKIn February, Michael Cashman, now Lord Cashman of Limehouse, tells his life story in One Of Them: From Albert Square To Parliament Square … from East End boy and child actor to soap star, Stonewall founder, MEP and now member of the House of Lords * SUNDAY EXPRESS *[A] roller coaster memoir … Peppered with delicious anecdotes of his encounters with celebrities * SCOTSMAN *An extraordinary account of improbable leaps of faith and changes of direction ... An amazing, complicated love story * RADIO TIMES *
£9.49
Pan Macmillan Legionnaire: Five Years in the French Foreign
Book Synopsis'One of the greatest adventure stories in years.' – Chris Patten 'The drama, excitement and colour of a good guts-and-glory thriller.' – Dr. Henry Kissinger The French Foreign Legion – mysterious, romantic, deadly – is filled with men of dubious character, and hardly the place for a proper Englishman just nineteen years of age. Yet in 1960, Simon Murray traveled alone to Paris, Marseilles, and on to Algeria to fulfill the toughest contract of his life: a five-year stint in the Legion. Along the way, he kept a diary.Legionnaire is a compelling, firsthand account of Murray's experience with this legendary band of soldiers. Subjected to brutal sergeants, merciless training methods and barbaric punishments – all in the hostile, sun-baked North African desert – Murray and his fellow men were pushed to breaking point, and beyond.Sixty years on, it remains a remarkable account of one of the most notorious military groups, a tale of true adventure and one man's determination never to surrender.Trade ReviewA pleasure to read and nearly impossible to put down * Army Times *One of the greatest adventure stories in recent years -- Chris PattenA fascinating account of life in the toughest soldiering outfit in the world * Sunday Mail *Embodies an experience that many have enjoyed in fantasy, few in reality * The Washington Post *The drama, excitement, and color of a good guts-and-glory thriller -- Dr Henry KissingerHis book is . . . perhaps the best book I remember reading - not just about the legion but about life -- George Thaw, Daily Mirror
£11.69
The New York Review of Books, Inc Memoirs Of A Revolutionary
Book SynopsisA New York Review Books Original Victor Serge is one of the great men of the 20th century —and one of its great writers too. He was an anarchist, an agitator, a revolutionary, an exile, a historian of his times, as well as a brilliant novelist, and in Memoirs of a Revolutionary he devotes all his passion and genius to describing this extraordinary—and exemplary—career. Serge tells of his upbringing among exiles and conspirators, of his involvement with the notorious Bonnot Gang and his years in prison, of his role in the Russian Revolution, and of the Revolution’s collapse into despotism and terror. Expelled from the Soviet Union, Serge went to Paris, where he evaded the KGB and the Nazis before fleeing to Mexico. Memoirs of a Revolutionary recounts a thrilling life on the front lines of history and includes vivid portraits not only of Trotsky, Lenin, and Stalin but of countless other figures who struggled to remake the world. Peter Sedgwick’s fine translation of Memoirs of a Revolutionary was abridged when first published in 1963. This is the first edition in English to present the entirety of Serge’s book.
£12.59
Flame Tree Publishing Homage to Catalonia
Book SynopsisA new edition with a new introduction, this is a deeply personal record of Orwell's growing despair and disillusionment with the Spanish Civil War, gathering themes he would later explore to perfection in Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Having joined the international leftist forces in Barcelona, Orwell grew frustrated by the repressive totalitarianism of Stalin's brand of communism.
£7.59
Biteback Publishing Breaking the Code: Westminster Diaries 1992-2007
A surprise win for the Conservatives as the voters decisively reject a Labour leader deemed 'not Prime Minister material'? A Tory Party ripped apart by European civil war? A country rebounding from one of the worst recessions in living memory?Check, check, check.One of the winners in an election victory nobody had predicted, back in 1992, Gyles Brandreth is no stranger to a poll-confounding, knife-edge Tory majority. Controversially, his gloriously indiscreet diaries revealed for the first time the secret world of the Government Whips' Office and its struggles to control a party riven by in-fighting over Europe.Now, as history looks set to repeat itself, comes the definitive edition of this widely acclaimed classic, featuring material originally excised for legal reasons, as well as additional diaries taking the story on another ten years.With candid descriptions of the key figures of the era, from the leading players to the ministers who fell from grace - and a bright young hopeful by the name of David Cameron - Breaking the Code paints an extraordinary portrait of Whitehall and Westminster in our time - warts and all.
£13.49
Authentic Media Evidence not Seen (New Edition)
Book SynopsisNEWDarlene Deibler RoseSet during World War II, this is the gripping true story of a courageous missionarys faith and her remarkable triumph over the hardships of life in the New Guinea jungles and a Japanese internment camp. 224 pages, from OM.Trade Review'The challenge of a totally dedicated life, the excitement of adventure, the satisfaction of accomplishment plus dogged determination - try this and see if you can put it down!' Ruth Bell Graham
£9.99
Pushkin Press This is Your Time
Book SynopsisOn November 14, 1960, at the age of six, Ruby Bridges became the first black child to integrate an all-white school in New Orleans. Escorted by federal marshals past angry segregationist protesters, young Ruby attended William Frantz Elementary and earned a place in civil rights history. Sixty years later, Ruby has written an impassioned letter to young people engaging in the fight for racial equality. Her words, a call to action imbued with love and grace, are paired with black-and-white photographs from then-and now. This Is Your Time will inspire readers as the struggle for liberty and justice for all continues, and the powerful legacy of Ruby Bridges endures.
£8.54
John Blake Publishing Ltd Do the Birds Still Sing in Hell?: A powerful true
Book SynopsisAn incredible tale of one man's adversity and defiance, for readers of The Tattooist of Auschwitz.Horace Greasley escaped over 200 times from a notorious German prison camp to see the girl he loved. This is his incredible true story.A Sunday Times Bestseller - over 60,000 copies sold.Even in the most horrifying places on earth, hope still lingers in the darkness, waiting for the opportunity to take flight.When war was declared Horace Greasley was just twenty-years old. After seven weeks' training with the 2/5th Battalion, the Royal Leicestershire Regiment, Horace found himself facing the might of the German Army in a muddy field south of Cherbourg, in northern France, with just thirty rounds in his ammunition pouch.Horace's war didn't last long. . . On 25 May 1940 he was taken prisoner and so began the harrowing journey to a prisoner-of-war camp in Poland. Those who survived the gruelling ten-week march to the camp were left broken and exhausted, all chance of escape seemingly extinguished.But when Horace met Rosa, the daughter of one of his captors, his story changed; fate, it seemed, had thrown him a lifeline. Horace risked everything in order to steal out of the camp to see his love, bringing back supplies for his fellow prisoners. In doing so he offered hope to his comrades, and defiance to one of the most brutal regimes in history.
£10.44
HarperCollins Publishers Women in the War
Book SynopsisAn important contribution to our recent history' ANDREW MARRAbsorbing and important' JOAN BAKEWELLOne of my favourite reads of 2021' GARETH RUSSELLPoignant and inspiring,Women in the Wartells the first-hand stories of ten of the last surviving female members of Britain''s ''Greatest Generation''.Whether flying Spitfires to the frontline, aiding code breaking at Bletchley Park, plotting the Battle of the Atlantic or working with Churchill in the Cabinet War Rooms, each of these women made a crucial contribution to the conflict overseas and helped to buttress the home front.Here they recount their remarkable experiences during the Second World War, recalling how their formative years were shaped by danger and trauma, and how friendship and romance fortified their spirits.Drawing on the insight that comes with age, they contemplate how the conflict helped women prove their worth, transforming society and sparking the later battles for equal rights.With a reporter's eye for detail, Lucy FiTrade Review‘Riveting… Stories that are not only fascinating in themselves, but contain the sort of detail that would only strike those present at the time.’THE TELEGRAPH REVIEW ‘In all the hundreds of books written about the Second World War, there is a curious lack of information about the role of women. In these series of intimate interviews with some of the last survivors, Lucy Fisher closes the gap. From pilots to land girls, nurses to radio operators, plotters to Downing Street insiders, she hears from some of the remarkable women who helped win the war that defined modern Britain. An important contribution to our recent history.’ ANDREW MARR ‘Unsung, and until now unacknowledged, Lucy Fisher tells the story of stalwart yet unassuming women who contributed in obtrusive ways to Britain’s victory in World War Two. Land girl, wireless operator, secretary in the Cabinet war rooms, plotter in the Wrens, paraphraser at Bletchley Park: these women talk of their important, even dangerous lives, setting the record straight. This is an absorbing and important footnote to the history of World War Two.’ JOAN BAKEWELL ‘One of my favourite reads of 2021. Wonderfully written, Women in the War captures the voices of ten extraordinary veterans of the Second World War whose stories take us from Bletchley Park to military aircraft, to busy English hospitals and a Blitz-torn Belfast. Women in the War is by turns uplifting, nerve-wracking, heartwarming and laugh-out-loud funny. It is also a story of finding freedom amid fear. The courage and tenacity of these women left me in awe.’ GARETH RUSSELL
£10.44
Vintage Publishing Bizot F Gate
Book SynopsisSelected as a Book of the Year in 2017 in the Scottish Herald ''The beauty of the prose is in contrast with the horror anticipated by this superbly subtle narrative'' Kapka KassabovaIn 1971, on a routine outing through the Cambodian countryside, the young French ethnologist Fran-ois Bizot is captured by the Khmer Rouge. Accused of being an agent of ''American imperialism'', he is chained and imprisoned. His captor, Douch - later responsible for tens of thousands of deaths - interrogates him at length; after three months of torturous deliberation, during which his every word was weighed and his life hung in the balance, he was released. Four years later, the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh. Fran-ois Bizot became the official intermediary between the ruthless conqueror and the terrified refugees behind the gate of the French embassy: a ringside seat to one of history''s most appalling genocides. Written thirty years later, Fran-ois Bizot''s memoir of his horrific experiences in the ''killing fields'' of Cambodia is, in the words of John le Carr-, a ''contemporary classic''.
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd The Diary of a Young Girl
Book SynopsisOne of the most famous accounts of living under the Nazi regime of World War II comes from the diary of a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl, Anne Frank. Today, The Diary of a Young Girl has sold over 25 million copies world-wide; this is the definitive edition released to mark the 70th anniversary of the day the diary begins. ''12 June 1942: I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support''The Diary of a Young Girl is one of the most celebrated and enduring books of the last century. Tens of millions have read it since it was first published in 1947 and it remains a deeply admired testament to the indestructible nature of the human spirit.This definitive edition restores thirty per cent if the original manuscript, which was deleted from the original edition. It reveals Anne as a teenage girl who fretted about and tried to cope withTrade ReviewA modern classic . . . Anne's diary tells a story that is true, memorable, important and strongly personalized . . . compelling reading * The Times *Rings down the decades as the most moving testament to the persecution of innocence * Daily Mail *
£17.00
Pen & Sword Books Ltd RAF and East German Fast-Jet Pilots in the Cold
Book SynopsisRAF and East German Fast-Jet Pilots in the Cold War is the result of ten years of research, involving many visits to the former German Democratic Republic by a small Anglo/German team of military specialists. Their purpose was to explore the lives of RAF and East German ?ghter and ?ghter-bomber pilots, in the air and on the ground, at work and play, during the Cold War in North Germany. The book is based largely on personal testimony from these pilots, coupled with facts drawn from of?cial archives and comment from other historical sources. Where possible, political considerations have been avoided and no outright criticism has been intended, readers being left to draw their own conclusions on the thinking, strategies, equipment and tactics discussed. Far from being an intellectual polemic on the Cold War, the text and photographs merely record a slice of history as seen through the eyes of a select few who took up arms in the defence of their respective homelands - and faced each other daily across the Iron Curtain. In an insightful conclusion, Nigel Walpole reassess the threat that both sides believed was genuine during those tense decades of the Cold War and examines the possible course and nature of a conflict which neither NATO nor the Warsaw Pact wanted but both actively planned for.
£16.99
Simon & Schuster What the Taliban Told Me
Book SynopsisA powerful, timely memoir of a young Air Force linguist coming-of-age in a war that is lost.When Ian Fritz joined the Air Force at eighteen, he did so out of necessity. He hadn’t been accepted into college thanks to an indifferent high school career. He’d too often slept through his classes as he worked long hours at a Chinese restaurant to help pay the bills for his trailer-dwelling family in Lake City, Florida. But the Air Force recognizes his potential and sends him to the elite Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, to learn Dari and Pashto, the main languages of Afghanistan. By 2011, Fritz was an airborne cryptologic linguist and one of only a tiny number of people in the world trained to do this job on low-flying gunships. He monitors communications on the ground and determines in real time which Afghans are Taliban and which are innocent civilians. This eavesdropping is critical to supporting Special Forces units on the ground, but there is no training to counter the emotional complexity that develops as you listen to people’s most intimate conversations. Over the course of two tours, Fritz listens to the Taliban for hundreds of hours, all over the country night and day, in moments of peace and in the middle of battle. What he hears teaches him about the people of Afghanistan—Taliban and otherwise—the war, and himself. Fritz’s fluency is his greatest asset to the military, yet it becomes the greatest liability to his own commitment to the cause. Both proud of his service and in despair that he is instrumental in destroying the voices that he hears, What the Taliban Told Me is a brilliant, intimate coming-of-age memoir and a reckoning with our twenty years of war in Afghanistan.Trade Review"The war in Afghanistan ranks as America’s longest, a conflict that started with strong public support in 2001 but ended two decades later misunderstood, controversial—and unwon. Ian Fritz’s book illuminates not only the American side, the little-known polyglot world of U.S. military linguists in particular, but also that of the Taliban. Fritz has done something difficult and noteworthy. He is a blunt and thoughtful guide who brings the Taliban to us in their own words, beyond the caricatures, and helps us understand who they, “the enemy,” really are—their war zone comradery, motivations, and humor amid all the violence. And why, in the end, they won the war. In these pages, Taliban voices have lasting echoes because Ian Fritz is a good listener and compelling writer." —J. Kael Weston, author of The Mirror Test: America at War in Iraq and Afghanistan“The future of war has arrived; and the voices of its dead are in this haunting book.”—Elliot Ackerman, author of The Fifth Act: America's End in Afghanistan“For most Americans, even for many servicemembers who deployed to Afghanistan, the Taliban proved a shapeless, inscrutable enemy over our two decades of war. Not so for Ian Fritz. As an airborne linguist tasked with listening in on suspected Taliban’s communications, he grew to know them intimately, understanding their wants, fears, and dreams in ways that transcend the normal boundaries of war. What the Taliban Told Me is a beautiful book told with rare honesty and seeking and introduces Ian Fritz as a powerful moral and literary voice.” —Matt Gallagher, author of Kaboom: Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War and the novels Youngblood and Daybreak“This book is precisely what policymakers in Washington needed 20 years ago. What the Taliban Told Me achieves something that few War on Terror books have accomplished; it puts a human face on the enemy. This somber and well-crafted memoir is essential reading for anyone attempting to comprehend our war in Afghanistan. Fritz brings a fitting conclusion to 20 years of conflict in a land that Americans never truly understood.” —Kevin Maurer, #1 New York Times bestselling author of No Easy Day“A fraught, moving account by a conflicted soldier.” —Kirkus
£17.09
Ebury Publishing Gentleman Jack: The Real Anne Lister The Official
Book SynopsisThe real Anne Lister, and the official companion to the hit BBC series created by Sally Wainwright and starring Suranne Jones.In Gentleman Jack, historian and series consultant Anne Choma draws from the explosive diaries of Anne Lister to recreate the life and times of one of the most fascinating figures of the 19th century. Anne’s remarkable diaries, partly written in a secret code, detailed her innermost thoughts on everything from sex, menstruation and money to relationships, politics and society. As Choma shows, they have opened up a previously unknown world to us.Fearless, charismatic and determined to explore her lesbian sexuality, Anne forged her own path in a society that had no language to define her. This is the real Gentleman Jack, following Anne from her crumbling ancestral home in Yorkshire to the glittering courts of Denmark as she resolves to put past heartbreak behind her and find herself a wife. The official companion to the first series, it also features unpublished journal extracts decrypted for the first time, as well as a foreword by series creator Sally Wainwright.Trade ReviewBrilliant and accessible * Suranne Jones, actress and television Producer *Top 20 audio books of 2019 * The Guardian *A probing and page-turning study… full of original insights and freshly decoded material… the best one-volume intro to the astonishing Anne Lister * Emma Donoghue, International best selling author of ‘Room', screen writer and Academy Award Winner *Exquisite * DIVA Magazine *Fascinating * Radio Times Book Club Choice *
£11.69
Cornerstone Escape: Our journey home through war-torn Germany
Book SynopsisTwo sisters.One extraordinary true story.Germany, 1945. Trapped between advancing armies, stranded hundreds of miles from their mother, and with their father missing in action, sisters Barbie and Eva were confronted with an impossible choice.Should they stay and face invasion or risk their lives to find their mother?Together, they set out on a perilous three-hundred mile journey on foot across a country ravaged by war. Fuelled by courage and love, Eva and seven-year-old Barbie encounter incredible hardship, extraordinary bravery, and overwhelming generosity.Against all odds, they both survived.But neither sister came out of the journey unscathed . . .This is the powerful true story of their escape.Trade ReviewIncredible * Sunday Express *An amazing story * Daily Mail *Compelling reading * The Good Book Guide *A sensational book that is sure to move you. * Everybody's Reviewing, blog *
£9.49
