Biography: adventurers and explorers Books
Orion Publishing Co Agent Jack The True Story of MI5s Secret Nazi
Book SynopsisJune 1940. Britain is Europe''s final bastion of freedom - and Hitler''s next target. But not everyone fears a Nazi invasion. In factories, offices and suburban homes are men and women determined to do all they can to hasten it.Throughout the Second World War, Britain''s defence against the enemy within was Eric Roberts, a former bank clerk from Epsom. Equipped with an extraordinary ability to make people trust him, he was recruited into the shadowy world of espionage by the great spymaster Maxwell Knight. Roberts penetrated first the Communist Party and then the British Union of Fascists, before playing his greatest role for MI5 - as Hitler''s man in London. Codenamed Jack King, he single-handedly built a network of hundreds of British Nazi sympathisers, with many passing secrets to him in the mistaken belief that he was a Gestapo officer. Operation Fifth Column, run by a brilliant woman scientist and a Jewish aristocrat with a sideline in bomb disposal, was kept soTrade ReviewEye-opening from start to finish. Pacy, original and frequently chilling, Hutton offers a fascinating new take on the story of the Home Front -- Henry Hemming, author of M: Maxwell Knight, MI5's Greatest SpymasterA gripping book by a talented new spy-writer which illuminates a shocking episode in our wartime history. Fans of Ben Macintyre's books will love this -- Tim ShipmanRobert Hutton's deeply researched, often astounding book describes how a loose network of homegrown fascists plotted to undermine wartime Britain, and explains the ingenious way MI5 attempted to neutralise them ... Hutton includes transcripts of eavesdropped conversations with these fanatics that would make your hair stand on end -- Anthony Quinn * Guardian *Robert Hutton has written a well-researched, highly readable account of Roberts's strange undercover life -- Ben Macintyre * The Times *Hutton's brilliant detective work uncovers a fascinating, and hitherto untold, story of spies, eccentrics and fanatics -- Josh Ireland, author of The Traitors: A True Story of Blood, Betrayal and DeceitI have never encountered a stranger or more touching picture of real-life treachery: the exciting and the humdrum, the venality and the idealism, the incompetence and the expertise ... and all the while the cocktail of high-octane subversion and the low-octane muddle of workaday life. Robert Hutton is an ace researcher but, more than that, a keen and kindly student of real people -- Matthew ParrisWe think we know the story of the Second World War, in which Britons were unambiguously on the side of good against evil. But along comes Robert Hutton to show us that that narrative, while comforting, isn't exactly true. We had our own fascists here, eager to do all they could to help the Nazi enemy. In this surprising, even shocking book Hutton tells the extraordinary story of Hitler's British friends - and the unlikely man who did so much to stop them. It's a truly compelling tale -- Jonathan FreedlandAt a time when antisemitism is once more rearing its ugly head, this fascinating and well-researched book gives us a salutary reminder that Britain is not immune to homegrown fascist treachery -- Tony RobinsonA great book -- John Crace * Guardian *In his absorbing biography Agent Jack, an unassuming Cornish bank clerk, Roberts was an unlikely hero, who set up a fifth column, posing as Jack King, a Gestapo handler, to control domestic subversives. This is a story of safe houses, drops and taped conversations, which amply illustrates Roberts' extraordinary courage -- Terry Philpot * THE TABLET *
£10.44
Orion Publishing Co Titans of History
Book SynopsisNEW EDITION - FEATURING UPDATED INTRODUCTION AND NEW CHAPTERS The giant characters of history - from Mozart to Michelangelo, Shakespeare to Einstein, Henry VIII to Hitler, Catherine the Great to Margaret Thatcher, Jesus Christ to Genghis Khan - lived lives of astonishing drama and adventure, debauchery and slaughter, but they also formed our world and will shape our future. In this eclectic and surprising collection of short and entertaining life stories, Simon Sebag Montefiore introduces his choice of kings, empresses, sultans and conquerors, as well as prophets, explorers, artists, actresses, courtesans and psychopaths. From the ancient times, via crusades and world wars, up to the 21st century, this accessible history introduces readers to the titans who changed the world: the characters we should all know, and the stories we should never forget.Trade ReviewSimon Sebag Montefiore is a master storyteller * EVENING STANDARD *Sparkling biographical essays ... A tour of the good, the bad and the ugly * MAIL ON SUNDAY *Entertaining and informative. Full of offbeat, fascinating detail * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *Comprehensive, chilling and highly compelling. A first-class chronologically arranged catalogue that enagages as it teaches * DAILY EXPRESS *Compulsive reading ... We do not shudder at the depths to which men and women throughout history have sunk, but experience a piquant relish ... a book that reminds us how thin the veneer of civilisation is * THE TIMES *A survey of great historical figures favours villainy over goodness ... A compilation of short biographical profiles ... catering to our appalled fascination with evil. Monsters outnumber heroes. Stalin, the subject of Montefiore's superb two-volume biography, is the prototype for many of the maniacal autocrats whose rages and rampages are described here. A strutting parade of psychopathic dictators, warlords, malevolent dwarves ... Montefiore finds room for a few gods, one or two secular saints, American founding fathers, Lincoln and Churchill, and a smattering artists and scientists, but their achievements hardly manage to maintain the pretence of civilisation. What excites Montefiore is villainy ... and he does this with wicked verve * OBSERVER *
£13.49
Orion Publishing Co Jennie Churchill
Book SynopsisJennie Churchill was said to have had two hundred lovers, three of whom she married. But her love for her son Winston never wavered. Jennie Churchill is an intimate picture of her glittering but ultimately tragic life, and the powerful mutual infatuation between her and her son. Anyone who wants to understand Winston must start here, with this revelatory interpretation. Anne Sebba has gained unprecedented access to private family correspondence, newly discovered archival material and interviews with Jennie''s two surviving granddaughters. She draws a vivid and frank portrait of her subject, repositioning Jennie as a woman who refused to be cowed by her era''s customary repression of women.Trade ReviewSharp and intelligent... An immensely enjoyable book. [Sebba's] prose is as smooth and elegant as expensive cashmere; it reads like a novel * Literary Review *Retrieving Jennie Churchill in sparkling three dimensions... Sebba's biography does much to put flesh on the bones of a subject who has been reduced to a cipher for American brashness * Daily Telegraph *
£13.49
Orion Publishing Co Ian Fleming
Book SynopsisThe definitive biography of James Bond creator Ian Fleming - revised and updated. 'Excellent' DAILY MAIL 'Fast paced and perceptive' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'Impressive' INDEPENDENTTrade ReviewThis is the definitive biography of Ian Fleming, a compelling and meticulously researched portrait of a fascinating and complex man -- Ben MacintyreThe only Fleming biography I have read which gets to the heart of this complex fascinating man -- Charles Cumming, author of A Foreign CountryThis is an exemplary biography, beautifully written, fast-paced, and extremely perceptive * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *A fascinating historical work * SUNDAY EXPRESS *As good as any Bond novels, it proves that facts can be equally as fascinating as any fiction * SUNDAY MERCURY *This excellent book ... is a moral tale of worldly success not bringing happiness and it is ably told ... the supporting cast is terrific * DAILY MAIL *This is a revealing biography of a man who lived life in the fast lane * GOOD BOOK GUIDE *An impressive book, painstakingly researched and thoroughly convincing * INDEPENDENT *As good as any Bond novels, it proves that facts can be equally as fascinating as any fiction * SUNDAY MERCURY *This is a revealing biography of a man who lived life in the fast lane * GOOD BOOK GUIDE *
£11.69
Adams Media Corporation Jane Austen
Book SynopsisA stunning, curated celebration of the master of romance! Featuring a die-cut cover, foil accents, and original illustrations, this perfectly packaged gift book dives into the life and works of the famed Regency-era novelist and adds a sophisticated touch to desks and bookshelves.
£10.44
Alfred A. Knopf Do Something
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£20.40
Andrews McMeel Publishing Be Straight with Me
Book SynopsisBe Straight with Me is an unforgettable memoir-in-verse about a love that blurs the boundaries of gender and sexuality—told from the perspective of a young, straight woman who finds herself in a serious relationship with her gay male best friend. With unabashed honesty and piercing emotional clarity, Emily Dalton brings to life this timely, true story about a nonconforming romance and its consequences.During her sophomore year at Middlebury College, Emily meets Max—“you” as she intimately refers to him in the book. Not exactly a tomboy, but not quite a girly girl either, Emily is intent on finding a masculine boyfriend to assuage a deeply rooted fear that she may not be quite feminine enough.Max—a boisterous class clown beloved by his many straight guy friends—has recently come out as gay and is embracing his newly claimed identity. Initially, Max and Emily dislike ea
£10.79
John Murray Press Herald of a Restless World
Book SynopsisAs heard on Radio 4''s Free ThinkingHenri Bergson, the French philosopher who defined individual creativity and transformed twentieth-century thought. At the dawn of the twentieth century, Henri Bergson became the most famous philosopher on earth. Where prior thinkers sketched out a predictable universe, he asserted the transformative power of consciousness and creativity. An international celebrity, he made headlines around the world debating luminaries like Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein about free will and time. The vision of creative evolution and freedom he presented was so disruptive that the New York Times branded him the most dangerous man in the world. In the first English-language biography of Bergson, Emily Herring traces how his celebration of the time-bending uniqueness of individual experience struck a chord with those shaken by modern technological and social change. Bergson captivated a society in flux lik
£21.25
Hodder & Stoughton Herald of a Restless World
Book Synopsis
£11.69
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PURSUING RIVER PIRATES THE HUCB
Book SynopsisThis book traces the transformation of Sam Mason from Revolutionary War militia soldier and judge to one of America's most notorious outlaws: a counterfeiter and pirate along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and the Natchez Trace in the late 18th century.
£25.20
Amazon Publishing Give Her Credit
Book SynopsisThe galvanizing true story of a group of remarkable women in the 1970s male-run world of business, banking, and finance. They didn?t play by the rules. They changed them and made history.In the 1970s, a new wave of feminism was sweeping America. But in the boys? club of banking and finance, women were still infantilized?no credit without a male cosigner, and their income was dismissed as unreliable. If bankers weren?t going to accommodate women, then women had to take control of their own futures. In 1978 in Denver, Colorado, the opening of the Women?s Bank changed everything.It was helmed by bank officer B. LaRae Orullian and the brainchild of whip-smart entrepreneur Carol Green, who forged a groundbreaking path with their headstrong colleagues, among them: Judi Foster, investment research whiz; Edna Mosley, unyielding civil rights advocate with the NAACP; Mary Roebling, renowned financial executive; Betty Freedman, a socialite and fundraiser; and Gail Schoettler, a formidable Denver mover and shaker for social justice. Coming together and facing their own unique road to revolution, they built the most successful female-run bank in the nation. It wasn?t easy.Give Her Credit follows the challenges, uphill battles, and achievements of some of the enterprising women of Denver who broke boundaries, inspired millions, and afforded opportunities for every marginalized citizen in the country. It?s about time their untold story was told.
£16.99
David R. Godine Publisher Inc Times Bounty
Book SynopsisChange your perspective about aging. Here is a bracing view of the surprises that lie ahead, as age enkindles in us new expressions of life. Our culture isn't kind towards age. The dominant drive is to celebrate youth, and striving for more and more of everything, while age, we're told, brings only depletion and loss. Even as Americans live longer, most consider old age with dread. It's time to challenge these assumptions. As author Philip Weinstein writes, Old-age situations, assumed to announce the end-of-the-road, actually generate fresh life-moves. As we age, we tend to become lighter' in more senses than one....Indeed, we may find ourselves catapulted into late-stage adventures' the young never dream of.Time's Bounty offers a view of age that differs greatly from our preconceptionssurprising, emancipating, sometimes even joyful. In five brief chapters, the author takes us from the generative discoveries that age occasions to the freedom that comes in life's late chapters, when no company or institution or cause any longer owns us. At last, we are our own, in ways we could not imagine when younger. Weinstein, a retired professor of English, draws not only on his own insights but on the insights found in writers he taught for decades: Shakespeare, Yeats, Proust, Faulkner, Eliot, Beckett, and others. Brief forays into their imaginative works add further illumination to the author's own discoveries regarding the dramasboth the trials and the giftsof old age. Whatever your own life's season, whether you're still in the Spring or deep into life's Winter, Time's Bounty will change the way you think about age.
£16.14
Histria LLC You Thought It WasMore
Book SynopsisUnravel the thrilling saga of an extraordinary counterfeiter in this raucously entertaining memoir! "You Thought It Was More" is the gripping memoir of Louis ''The Coin'' Colavecchio, recognized as the world''s best counterfeiter. Colavecchio takes readers on an amazing journey through his wild adventures around the United States and Europe through a fascinating and funny tale. He gives compelling details of his exploits as he made a great deal of undetectable slot machine tokens, exposing the hidden world of counterfeiting. Colavecchio''s prowess as a jeweler, manufacturer, and charmer has earned him a place in history, having been featured on prestigious platforms such as The History Channel and The BBC. His profound impact on the casino gaming industry has left a lasting legacy, forever changing it.
£21.56
Penguin Random House Group Water on Fire
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£15.29
Morgan James Publishing llc You Can Always Come Home
Book SynopsisCozy up with You Can Always Come Home, a charming compilation of short stories serving as a reminder that there is always hope amidst life’s challenges.From nostalgic church potlucks to delightful encounters with quirky neighbors, these tales will touch your soul, reminding you of who you are and rekindling the hope hidden in long-forgotten memories. In this fast-paced world of constant demands, these stories offer a sanctuary of solace to pause and reflect on what matters most. The good stuff, the God stuff. They capture those transformative moments that turn shattered fragments into something breathtakingly beautiful. No matter how hard or scary life becomes, hope glimmers in the moments where the Lord’s healing touch shines through the fractures to mend the brokenness. Come open the sock drawer and dig around for the memories that got stuffed in there long ago -waiting to rekindle your hope and bring you back to a place of belonging.
£17.03
BenBella Books The Dirt Beneath Our Door
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£22.94
Advantage Media Group Landing at the Top
Book SynopsisFrom a young paperboy in Southern California to a visionary leader in education and business, David R. Jackson's story is a testament to adventure, ambition, and perseverance. His passion for travel and world exploration began when he was a teenager and led to: Earning his private pilot license at 16 Skiing the Americas; he traveled down the Pan-American Highway to Chile, across the Andes to Argentina, and then to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil before heading back to California Competitive skiing at the collegiate level at Brigham Young University Spending a year road tripping and skiing through Europe, the Middle East, the Soviet Union, and Scandinavia His entrepreneurial spirit led him to launch multiple successful businesses before taking the helm at Fairmont Schools, where he transformed a small institution into a leading private school network. A dedicated philanthropist and faith-driven leader, he has spent decades shaping the educational landscape, serving in leadership roles, and giving back to communities around the world.Now semi-retired, David continues to travel, having visited over 130 countries, while devoting his time to philanthropy and family. This inspiring memoir chronicles a life of adventure, leadership, and unwavering determinationproving that with vision and courage, anything is possible.
£21.59
Insight Editions From Punk to Monk A Memoir
Book Synopsis“Ragunath’s transformation shows how one person’s choice to evolve can change the lives of so many. This book is real, funny, and inspirational.” —Jay Shetty The heartfelt memoir of Ray Raghunath Cappo, a legendary hardcore punk musician-turned-monk—and pioneer of the straight-edge movement—told with warmth, candor, and humor.Ray Cappo was a hardcore punk singer and pioneer of the straight-edge movement living on the Lower East Side of New York City in the ’80s, where his band Youth of Today played to packed clubs and touched thousands of people across the globe. But despite the accolades from fans, the popularity of his records, and the positivity he’d brought to the punk music scene, none of this success gave Ray joy. He felt stagnant, and he yearned for something more. This, along with his father’s untimely death, led him to abruptly quit the band and buy a one-way ticket to India in p
£24.64
Austin Macauley Publishers LLC Torrential Rains
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£6.99
Simon & Schuster The Prince
£10.44
Sourcebooks What the Children Told Us
Book SynopsisDoes racial discrimination harm Black children''s sense of self?The Doll Test illuminated its devastating toll.Dr. Kenneth Clark visited rundown and under-resourced segregated schools across America, presenting Black children with two dolls: a white one with hair painted yellow and a brown one with hair painted black. Give me the doll you like to play with, he said. Give me the doll that is a nice doll. The psychological experiment Kenneth developed with his wife, Mamie, designed to measure how segregation affected Black children''s perception of themselves and other Black people, was enlightening-and horrifying. Over and over again, the young children-some not yet five years old-selected the white doll as preferable, and the brown doll as bad. Some children even denied their race. Yes, said brown-skinned Joan W., age six, when questioned about her affection for the light-skinned doll. I would like to be white.What the Children Told Us is
£13.49
Douglas & McIntyre Dear DaLe
Book SynopsisIn an intensely revealing memoir written for his Canadian daughter, a man breaks a lifetime of silence about the traumas of his childhood in war-torn Vietnam and his years as a refugee in revolutionary Iran.Spanning decades and generations, this heartfelt memoir began over ten years ago as a series of letters from a worried father to his daughter. Anh Duong had witnessed countless menacing and terrible things as a child during the Vietnam War, and later as a refugee in Iran during the revolution of the late 1970s. But like many in the Vietnamese diaspora, he had remained silent about his experiences for years, believing that trauma was better left unspoken.When his daughter, Ashley Da-Lè Duong, became involved in the 2012 student protests over tuition hikes in Quebec, he felt compelled to speak. For years a deeply reserved and laconic man, he now allowed the floodgates of memory to open as he warned his child of the ways that earnest activism can descend into violence, just as he had seen in his youth in Vietnam and Iran.In precise prose, Dear Da-Lè moves along a taut narrative thread that begins with Duong’s birth in 1953 and ends with his arrival in Canada, frayed and broke, in 1980. With surprising moments of hope and tenderness amid brutal divisions, the author creates a coming-of-age story intertwined with the human costs of war and exile. Its revelations are sure to resonate not only with the generation born to refugees of the Vietnam War, but with anyone seeking to understand the lasting, often hidden torments of violent conflict and the healing that can take place in the act of telling.
£15.16
Greenhill Books For King and Country at Loos
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£17.60
Bonnier Books Ltd A Brilliant Life
Book Synopsis'A delicate, evocative story of strength and survival that turns on one of the most powerful forces in the known universe: a mother's love.' - Jonathan Freedland, author of The Escape Artist A powerful, true story of a Holocaust survivor told by her daughter - a tale that reminds us of the resilience of the soul and the ability of the heart to heal.Born in Czechoslovakia, Mira was only 12 years old when World War II broke out and 17 when the Nazis finally caught up with her. Torn apart from her family, she went on to survive four concentration camps, including Auschwitz, and a Death March when she was too weak to walk. She lived when almost everyone she knew did not.At 88, living in Australia, Mira is diagnosed with cancer and her daughter, a journalist, decides to interview her to distract her from her illness. As Mira gives her testimony Rachelle comes to understand how Mira's unique perspective - seeing her experiences through the lens of the goodness of the people who helped her - protected her from the depths of humanity's cruelty, and enabled her to go on to live a full and brilliant life.Rachelle also fits together the jigsaw pieces of her own life as a child of a survivor. She comes to understand that however different their lives have been, she and her mother are uniquely united by a fierce inner strength to live, and a mystery of strange things that always seem to happen around them.A beautiful story of love, loss, wonder and the deepest kind of trust in life, A Brilliant Life questions the role that fate, chance and destiny play. It is a tribute to family, a story of incredible resilience, and a chronicle of the deep connection between a mother and a child which not even death can destroy.
£10.44
Canongate Books Coming Undone
Book Synopsis''BREATHTAKING'' Dolly Alderton, ''REMARKABLE'' Marian Keyes, ''LIFE-CHANGING'' Emma Jane Unsworth, ''COMPELLING'' Amy Liptrot, ''STUNNING'' Cathy Rentzenbrink, ''EXTRAORDINARY'' Sali HughesTo everyone else, Terri White appeared to be living the dream, named one of Folio''s Top Women in US Media and accruing further awards for the magazines she was editing. In reality, she was rapidly skidding towards a mental health crisis that would land her in a locked psychiatric ward as her past caught up with her. Coming Undone is Terri''s documentation of her unravelling, and her precarious navigation back from a life in pieces.
£14.99
Transworld The Redemption of Bobby Love
Book SynopsisA Humans of New York Instagram sensation!This is the inspiring, dramatic and heart-warming true story of family, justice and how we all deserve a second chance. The young Walter Miller was a product of his time. Growing up Black in the Jim Crow American South, he was in trouble with the police before his fourteenth birthday. And, like so many young Black men, once he''d landed in the criminal justice system it was hard to find a way out. Soon enough, he was facing a thirty-year prison sentence. But Walter was smarter than his jailers. He escaped prison and fled to New York with a hundred dollars in his pocket. He changed his name to Bobby Love, and began again - living a crime-free life for nearly forty years, with a steady job, a loving wife, a church-going family. And a big secret. Until the FBI came knocking one cold winter morning, and it all came crashing down.The Redemption of Bobby Love is an incredible tr
£11.69
Profile Books Ltd Robin ChichesterClark
Book SynopsisElected MP for Londonderry in 1955 as the second-youngest member of the House, Robin Chichester-Clark was at the forefront of Northern Irish politics for almost 20 years during one of the most turbulent periods in its history. A son and grandson of Northern Irish MPs, he held leading positions in both government and opposition, although remaining outside the UK Government when Edward Heath came to power in 1970 because of his brother's position as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. Heath later made Robin Minister of State for Employment. Standing down from politics in 1974, he followed a dynamic career in politics with over 30 years in active philanthropy, fundraising for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, medical research, the House of Illustration and the creative writing charity Arvon, through which he came to know such figures as Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney.
£15.00
John Blake Publishing Ltd Inside Wakefield Prison
Book Synopsis*THE INSIDE STORY OF BRITAIN'S TOUGHEST PRISON*HMP Wakefield. 'Monster Mansion'. Hell to be inside. Almost impossible to escape. This prison has seen some of the most infamous prisoners of all time pass through its cells - from Levi Bellfield to Harold Shipman, Ian Huntley and Charles Bronson.Jonathan Levi and Emma French are the perfect authors to give chilling insight into all the terrible men who have served time there. After detailing the shocking truth of life in Britain's most high-profile psychiatric hospital in their bestselling book Inside Broadmoor, now they will take readers behind bars in this the UK's most notorious prison.Inside Wakefield Prison will trace its long and intriguing history, from when it was first built in 1594 all the way up to the present day. Today, just over 750 of the country's most dangerous offenders are kept there, including 'Hannibal the
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Best Minds
Book SynopsisA PULITZER PRIZE 2024 FINALIST FOR MEMOIRONE OF BARACK OBAMA''S FAVOURITE BOOKS OF 2023ONE OF THE GUARDIAN AND PROSPECT''S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES, ATLANTIC, AND WALL STREET JOURNAL'S TOP TEN BOOKS OF THE YEAR''Extraordinary... Magisterial... A remarkable meditation on friendship, success, madness and violence that refuses to oversimplify'' Guardian (Book of the Day)''The darkest of literary triumphs, and the most gripping of unbearable reads'' Telegraph (5 stars)A novelist''s gripping investigation of the forces that led his childhood best friend from academic stardom to the psychiatric hospital where he has lived since killing the woman he lovedWhen the Rosens moved to New Rochelle, New York in 1973, Jonathan Rosen and Michael Laudor became inseparable. Both children of professors, the boys were best friends and fierce rivals who soo
£11.69
The History Press Ltd The Explorer and the Journalist: Frederick Cook,
Book SynopsisOn 1 September 1909, American explorer Frederick Cook caused one of the biggest sensations in exploration history when, after a year with no word from him, news arrived that he had not only survived his Arctic expedition but had become the first person to ever reach the North Pole.Cook was instantly transformed into one of the heroes of the age. With his boat due to arrive in Copenhagen a few days later, journalists from across Europe scrambled to get there in time to meet him.One of them was Philip Gibbs, an obscure British reporter whose chance encounter in a Copenhagen café led to an exclusive interview with Cook before he reached land. But the interview left Gibbs doubting the explorer’s story, and so he decided to gamble his career and credibility by making it clear he thought Cook was lying. And so began a frantic few days when Cook was showered with accolades while Gibbs tried to prove his claim was a fraud.The Explorer and the Journalist is the extraordinary story of a high-stakes confrontation from which only one of Gibbs and Cook would emerge with their reputation intact.Trade Review*“Excellent” - * British Journalism Review ** * British Journalism Review **“Richard Evans writes in a factual but addictive manner that reels you in” - *Nimrod journal ** * Nimrod journal *“Gripping” - Daily Express * Daily Express *
£17.00
The History Press Ltd Victor Lustig
Book SynopsisThe period after the First World War was a golden age for the confidence man. A new kind of entrepreneur is stirring amongst us,' The Times wrote in 1919. He is prone to the most detestable tactics, and is a stranger to charity and public spirit. One may nonetheless note his acuity in separating others from their money.' Enter Victor Lustig (not his real name). An Austro-Hungarian with a dark streak, by the age of 16 he had learned how to hustle at billiards and lay odds at the local racecourse. By 19 he had acquired a livid facial scar in an altercation with a jealous husband.That blemish aside, he was a man of athletic good looks, with a taste for larceny and foreign intrigue. He spoke six languages and went under nearly as many aliases in the course of a continent-hopping life that also saw him act as a double (or possibly triple) agent. Along the way, he found time to dupe an impressive variety of banks and hotels on both sides of the Atlantic; to escape from no fewer than three supposedly impregnable prisons; and to swindle Al Capone out of thousands of dollars, while living to tell the tale. Undoubtedly the greatest of his hoaxes was the sale, to a wealthy but gullible Parisian scrap-metal dealer, of the Eiffel Tower in 1925.In a narrative that thrills like a crime caper, best-selling biographer Christopher Sandford draws on newly released documents to tell the whole story of the greatest conman of the twentieth century.
£17.00
The History Press Ltd Interviewing Hitler
Book SynopsisUncover the story of George Ward Price, who became the world's leading journalist through his reporting on Hitler
£18.70
Verso Books Lula
Book SynopsisLula is among the greatest political figures in Brazilian history. The only president in the country with a working-class background, combined with a party that was profoundly original in its roots, he exercised charismatic power and influence in a more lasting way than any other public figure in the republican period.Since 2011, Fernando Morais, one of Brazil's leading writers, has gained direct, frank and frequent access to Lula. To these dozens of hours of testimonies, he has added a reporter's flair and captivating prose to compose a biography that paints a picture in all its grandeur and complexity.In a narrative that makes use of flashforwards and flashbacks to maintain an electrifying pace, Morais goes from Lula's childhood to the annulment of his convictions, in 2021 - passing through the new unionism, the ABC strikes, the foundation of the PT and the first election campaign.
£22.50
Troubador Publishing A Man of Resolve Richard Henry Brunton Civil
Book SynopsisA fascinating, well-illustrated and internationally researched biography of Richard Brunton, a talented civil engineer in the nineteenth century and a proud representative of his profession in a rapidly changing world. Brunton was born in Muchalls, Aberdeenshire and initially worked on railway line development. He then came to prominence as chief lighthouse engineer to the Japanese government when the country was forced to open up. As well as building 25 lighthouses he also took a lead in town planning of the chief trading settlement of Yokohama. Returning to Scotland, Brunton became manager of a large petrochemical plant and then took over an architectural ornaments business in London. The company won prizes and worked at home and around the globe. Unfortunately, he over-dipped into its income to the extent he was declared personally bankrupt. However, one of his theatrical clients, based in Ireland, approached him to become their architect and there he created three gems of theatre design, two of which, in Cork and Dublin, still successfully function.
£21.25
Reaktion Books Frederick Barbarossa
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£15.26
Verso Books The Starmer Project
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£11.39
Pegasus Elliot Mackenzie Publishers From the Dictators Shadows A Familys Journey
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£10.44
Vanguard Press Choosing Happiness
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£13.49
Whittles Publishing The Dido Papers
£18.04
Grub Street Publishing Stanford Tuck
Book SynopsisThe first full reappraisal of one of Britain's great fighter aces, this book examines the truth behind Tuck's 1956 biography,Fly for Your Life. It looks at the evidence behind the myths, and reveals the real Stanford Tuck, a more complex man than the one-dimensional hero of the previous biography.
£13.49
Reach plc A Spy In The Family
Book SynopsisA Spy In The Family, by investigative journalists Paul Henderson and David Gardner, reveals the incredible untold story of the mother who lost her son twice. This is the first book to reveal the full, astonishing story of 'Vaclav Jelinek', aka Erwin van Haarlem.
£17.00
John F Blair Publisher Unbound
Book SynopsisThis insightful and often witty collection of essays charts the making of a reluctant disability activist—including his commentary for NPR, the New York Times and elsewhere.Ben Mattlin was born in 1962 with spinal muscular atrophy, a congenital and progressive neuromuscular weakness. He never stood or walked but grew up expecting a normal life. In this book of essays, he chronicles that life and also charts his growth as a reluctant disability activist and public intellectual.Mattlin’s disability was from birth. Raised in a family that insisted that he be educated in a mainstream setting, he never thought about his disability as being an obstacle until adulthood. It was not until he had graduated from Harvard and could not find a job that he began to understand what disability rights activists were talking about.These collected short pieces chronicle Mattlin’s intellectual coming-of-age including his beginnings, difficult conversations about disability, the social aspects of being disabled in a nondisabled world, and a wider perspective as the author looks back on his sixty years of disability. The book contains a variety of essays intermixed with a few edited podcast transcripts. Some of the pieces are deeply personal; others are stridently political. All of them are guaranteed to make readers see life and the world in a new way.Altogether, this collection is a frank, unsentimental examination of some of the most important and moving issues of our day—always rendered with intelligence, sensitivity, and a liberal sprinkling of humor.
£14.24
Everyman A Suspicion of Spies
Book SynopsisLieutenant Colonel Tim Spicer OBE has led a life filled with action and adventure. During his twenty years in the British Army he saw active service in Northern Ireland, the Falklands campaign, the Gulf War and the Balkans, as well as serving in the Far East, Cyprus and Germany. Key appointments have included Chief of Staff of an Armoured Brigade, Staff Officer at the Directorate of Special Forces and Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion Scots Guards, among many others. Over the course of his illustrious military career, Spicer has developed extensive knowledge of intelligence, counter-terrorism, complex relations and protective security. In 2001 he founded the private security company Aegis, which has counted the UK, US and Italian governments among its clients. He is the author of An Unorthodox Soldier: Peace and War and the Sandline Affair (2000), a fast-moving account of his military life, including the events surrounding his time in Papua New Guinea when he was captured and held at gunpoint, as well as the notorious 'Sandline Affair' of 1996, and A Dangerous Enterprise (2021) that charts the history of the little-known, yet remarkable 15th Motor Gunboat Flotilla, commanded directly by the Secret Intelligence Service.
£10.44
Double 9 Books John The Baptist
Book Synopsis
£11.69
Double 9 Books Across America by Motorcycle
Book Synopsis
£14.24
Double 9 Books The Autobiography Of Benjamin Franklin Edition1
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£11.69
PM PR A Clean Hell
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£18.15
Austin Macauley Publishers LLC Todor Todorov Karagochev
Book Synopsis
£16.19
