Politics, Philosophy & Society Books

Book SynopsisIn this poetical-philosophical manifesto, Gerald Raunig develops a materialist philosophy of multiplicity. On the basis of seventeen conceptual innovations from windy kin to transversal intellect, from dissemblage to technecologies, from minor masculinity to condividual revolution Raunig reformulates the question of revolutionary multiplicity. Always staying close to contemporary social struggles and movements, the book starts from the contention that we are in need of a storm against identitarian domination, unification, and homogeneity. Raunig argues that the conceptual and political experimentations with multiplicity around and after 1968 did not go far enough: today, anti-identitarian, queer, and multitudinarian positions should not just be defended but pushed further, over unexpected folds and along the flattest surfaces, beyond previous approaches and previous historical experiences. Making Multiplicityis a conceptual manifesto which sets a new tone in poststructural phil

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Book SynopsisRace is arguably the single most troublesome and volatile concept of the social sciences in the early 21st century. It is invoked to explain all manner of historical phenomena and current issues, from slavery to police brutality to acute poverty, and it is also used as a term of civic denunciation and moral condemnation. In this erudite and incisive book based on a panoramic mining of comparative and historical research from around the globe, Loïc Wacquant pours cold analytical water on this hot topic and infuses it with epistemological clarity, conceptual precision, and empirical breadth. Drawing on Gaston Bachelard, Max Weber, and Pierre Bourdieu, Wacquant first articulates a series of reframings, starting with dislodging the United States from its Archimedean position, in order to capture race-making as a form of symbolic violence. He then forges a set of novel concepts to rethink the nexus of racial classification and stratification: the continuum of ethnicity and race as disguis

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Book SynopsisWhat kind of philosophy do we need for the 21st century? To answer to this question, Alain Badiou imagines a dialogue between Tocéras, an earnest and engaging professor, and various interlocutors from different countries and philosophical cultures John After from Britain, Amantha from Greece, B'adj Akil from Senegal, Xi La Pong from China and several others. Their conversation takes readers on a playful journey through the history of philosophy framed by the five great questions that have preoccupied Alain Badiou: democracy, freedom, universality, language and being. At the same time, philosophy is presented not as a system or doctrine but as movement and dialogue. The philosopher is not a solitary figure; he is inseparable from his pupils, his disciples and his adversaries. It is only at the end of the journey that he arrives at the written, stable forms of his work. So we are dealing more with a play than a treatise, more with dialogues than monologues, more with a course than a book. The obvious model is Plato's Socrates, who, in founding philosophy as a discipline, ensured that it could be established anywhere in the world. In praise, yes, of philosophy as the public creation of a thought that, inventing itself and transporting itself anywhere, speaking to anyone about anything, invents the theatricalization of being.

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Book Synopsis‘There is so much aching love in this book, such pain and beauty. Behold, and rejoice.’ – Tim Winton, author of CloudstreetWas he thinking, do I have to be this kind of boy to survive? Is this what being a boy is?As a boy growing up on the south coast of England, Howard Cunnell’s sense of self was dominated by his father’s absence. Now, years later, he is a father, and his daughter is becoming his son.Starting with his own childhood in the Sussex beachlands, Howard tells the story of the years of self-destruction that defined his young adulthood and the escape he found in reading and the natural world. Still he felt compelled to destroy the relationships that mattered to him.Saved by love and responsibility, Cunnell charts his journey from anger to compassion, as his daughter Jay realizes he is a boy, and a son.Most of all, this is a story about love – its necessity and fragility, and its unequalled capacity to enable us to be who we are.Deeply thoughtful, searingly honest and exquisitely lyrical, Fathers and Sons is an exploration of fatherhood, masculinity, authenticity and family.Trade ReviewThere is so much aching love in this book, such pain and beauty. Behold, and rejoice -- Tim Winton, author of CloudstreetThis book tells the story of how family is made. It tells it frankly, unexpectedly and in such a way that both family and expectations are rewritten and renewed. I couldn't put it down. Bold, brave, beautiful - much more than biology. This is life itself. -- Jackie Kay, author of Red Dust RoadA miracle of a book: sad, wise, strong and hopeful, its depiction of parenthood will stay with me for a long time -- Sunjeev Sahota, author of The Year of the Runaways Fathers and Sons is a beautiful, moving, and marvellously honest book. I relished its resolutely masculine point of view, especially on such a subject, and the tenderness and sensuality with which Cunnell depicts child-rearing. -- Kate Clanchy, author of Antigona and MeWith Fathers & Sons, Howard Cunnell rips himself apart and reminds us what true artists do with all the mistakes they've ever made. They turn them into art. Dazzling and memorable, here is a strong and moving mosaic depicting the wayward mystery of our souls -- Austin Collings, author of The Myth of Brilliant SummersHoward Cunnell has forged from the most painful of raw materials a modern masterpiece of fiction. . . The lonelieness of a boy who never knew his father, Jason, who in turn became a father to Jay, a boy trapped in the wrong female body. Their journeys are rendered in prose as exquisite as the spaces of sea, sun and freedom Cunnell always chased for salvation and worked so hard to describe, finally finding himself and that redemption in the gift that was denied to him: being a father to a son -- Cathi Unsworth, author of WeirdoCunnell's memoir Father and Sons explores what it is to come from a family, what it is to start one, and what it is to raise one. It explores what we do to each other within that embrace, bad and good, and what we can do better, even while we fail. Cunnell's memoir is cast in light, and water, and bodies. It is a memoir burnished with love and goodwill. It will leave you watching the world differently -- Naomi Wood, author of Mrs. HemingwayA riveting work, remarkable and beautifully written, Fathers & Sons takes you to utterly unexpected places. -- Chris Salewicz, Redemption Song: The Definitive Biography of Joe StrummerJumping with beautiful compression through decades, handsomely written, honest and deeply moving, Cunnell's remarkable memoir is a work of guts, grit, and love. -- Richard House, author of The KillsI admire Cunnell's eye, his precise notation of light and water, whether in Mexico or Brixton, and the emotional commitment of his book. There is a resilience here that is on intimate terms with powerlessness. -- Adam Mars-JonesEssential reading. Agonisingly beautiful and honest. One man's uncompromising testament to love. -- Sarah Winman, author of When God Was A RabbitSpell-binding, life force of a memoir . . . For this book is all kinds of exceptional: an urgent, agonising exploration of fatherhood, masculinity and family; a testament to the power of the written word to reach out to us in dark times; and, above all, a hymn to the "shaping axe" of human love: motherly love, sibling love, erotic love, and ultimately, the transcending love of a father for a child, his in all but biology. And how, fragile as it may sometimes seem, that love can conquer a whole sea of strife. -- Caroline Sanderson * The Bookseller *Fathers & Sons will be one of 2017's most memorable memoirs . . . Concise and beautifully written, it is an unforgettable exploration of fatherhood, masculinity and family * Express *Truly heart-stopping writing: a unique and hard-won perspective unfolded in lucid and unforgettable prose * Financial Times *This tender yet hard-boiled memoir is a searing exploration of parenting and gender-creation…Cunnell deserves the accolades he will receive for his book’s painterly, masculine honesty * Socialist Review *It is one of the most good-hearted, big-souled books I’ve read, a memoir about what it means to be a man, but more importantly what it means to be a parent. I don’t cry easily, but I read the final pages through a luminous wash of tears. -- Alex Preston * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisIn King of Spies, prize-winning journalist and bestselling author of Escape From Camp 14, Blaine Harden, reveals one of the most astonishing – and previously untold – spy stories of the twentieth century.Donald Nichols was 'a one man war', according to his US Air Force commanding general. He won the Distinguished Service Cross, along with a chest full of medals for valor and initiative in the Korean War. His commanders described Nichols as the bravest, most resourceful and effective spymaster of that forgotten war. But there is far more to Donald Nichols' story than first meets the eye . . .Based on long-classified government records, unsealed court records, and interviews in Korea and the U.S., King of Spies tells the story of the reign of an intelligence commander who lost touch with morality, legality, and even sanity, if military psychiatrists are to be believed. Donald Nichols was America's Kurtz. A seventh-grade dropout, he created his own black-ops empire, commanding a small army of hand-selected spies, deploying his own makeshift navy, and ruling over it as a clandestine king, with absolute power over life and death. He claimed a – 'legal license to murder' – and inhabited a world of mass executions and beheadings, as previously unpublished photographs in the book document.Finally, after eleven years, the U.S. military decided to end Nichols's reign. He was secretly sacked and forced to endure months of electroshock in a military hospital in Florida. Nichols told relatives the American government was trying to destroy his memory.King of Spies looks to answer the question of how an uneducated, non-trained, non-experienced man could end up as the number-one US spymaster in South Korea and why his US commanders let him get away with it for so long . . .Trade ReviewBlaine Harden’s King of Spies is jaw-droppingly good — a quirky, unlikely, thrilling true story of intrigue and daring and depravity told by a master of the genre * David Maraniss, author of Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story *Blaine Harden has now produced a fascinating trilogy of stranger-than-fiction books about North Korea. His latest, King of Spies, is about a gay, middle school dropout who was one of the few U.S. officials to predict the outbreak of the Korean War and whose espionage activities had a profound impact on the course of the war. You’ve probably never heard of Donald Nichols, but you’ll never forget him after reading King of Spies * Barbara Demick, author of Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea *A must-read for readers interested in Korea, the ­Korean War, or U.S. intelligence operations * Library Journal *King of Spies is a dark story of espionage and evil by a wild American military spymaster in Korea, a tale both revelatory and tragic. Blaine Harden's superb book throws open a long-ignored chapter in the Korean War; a compelling and disturbing read, not to be missed * David E. Hoffman, author of The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal *A thrilling real-life spy story told by a terrific writer. * Tim Weiner, author of Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA *Blaine Harden has done what no one else thought to do in seven decades: He’s brought us the full, secret, astonishing story of one of the most improbably powerful characters in American history, and he has done so with crystalline writing and in jaw-dropping detail * Steve Twomey, author of Countdown to Pearl Harbor: The Twelve Days to the Attack *Many accounts of the Korean War are full of mystery, hinting at horrific crimes and large-scale covert operations. King of Spies pierces that mystery through the story of a remarkable American operative who took his mission to mind-boggling extremes. The adventures that fill these pages, from bleak battlefields to the corridors of power, tell us much about how the world really works * Stephen Kinzer, author of Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq *Fascinating account of an espionage pioneer who thrived during the Korean War and then disappeared into disgraced obscurity . . . An engrossing hidden history of wartime espionage, with elements of derring-do and moral barbarity. * Kirkus *

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Book Synopsis'Truly inspirational' The SunSabrina Pace-Humphreys is a 44-year-old mother of four and grandmother of three, an award-winning businesswoman, an ultrarunner, a social justice activist and a recovering alcoholic. She is a mixed-raced woman, the daughter of a white Scottish Roman Catholic woman and a Black man. When she was two, her parents separated and Sabrina, her mother and her white-presenting younger sister moved to a small market town where no-one looked like her. From as young as she can remember, she was the subject of verbal and physical racist abuse.In Black Sheep, Sabrina reveals how she got from there to here: about growing up in a home, a school and a town where no-one looked like her and her subsequent struggle to understand and find her identity; about her lived experience of rural racism; about becoming a teenage mother and her determination to break that stereotype; about her battle with alcoholism and her mental health; about how running saved her life; and ultimately about how someone can not only survive but thrive in spite of their past. Sabrina's experience will chime with anyone who has felt like an outsider. Poignant and eye-opening, and exploring themes of trauma, identity, mental health and addiction, Black Sheep is a tale of triumph: of grit and determination, of hope over despair.'Honest and authentic - I could not put it down' Michelle Griffith Robinson OLY'Black Sheep is powerful testimony for anyone seeking to deepen their own anti-racist journey. This is passionate, raw writing, with moments of reflection that we can all learn from. It's a story that had to be told, and must be heard' Jeffrey BoakyeTrade ReviewHonest and authentic - I could not put it down * Michelle Griffith Robinson OLY *Everyone should read this book * Renee McGregor *Wow. I found this book to be in equal parts illuminating, insightful, inspiring and intimate. Sabrina has given us a gift here, in her vulnerability and willingness to tell her story with such openness. When I read it, I felt like a gained a new friend. Black Sheep is powerful testimony for anyone seeking to deepen their own anti-racist journey. This is passionate, raw writing, with moments of reflection that we can all learn from. It's a story that had to be told, and must be heard. * Jeffrey Boakye *A truly inspirational tale * Sun *Sabrina Pace-Humphreys's anti-racist manifesto is deeply personal. A blend of storytelling and direction...This is a brilliant exploration of what it means to be mixed-race in Britain, and how our trauma shapes us * Press Association *Sabrina Pace-Humphrey's anti-racist manifesto is deeply personal. This is a brilliant exploration of what it means to be mixed-race in Britain, and how our trauma shapes us...An excellent debut - i paper

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Book SynopsisJOIN SAS LEGEND PHIL CAMPION AS HE SHARES HIS DEEPLY PERSONAL LIFE STORY, WARTS AND ALLIn WHO DARES WINS Big Phil Campion reveals his chequered past, from terrible abuse suffered in a string of kids' homes to psychological abuse suffered at a top public school.Phil guides you through his soldiering career, from the so called "green army" to the brutal trial of SAS selection and all that followed. This includes years spent providing private military services across war-torn and risk-laden Africa; in between he was body-guarded the likes of Led Zep, Oasis, Kasabian, Dizzy Rascal and Pro Green.Phil takes you on his gripping, behind-the-scenes adventure acting as a roving reporter for Sky TV in Syria and Northern Iraq, more often than not under fire.Brave, riveting and truly revelatory, WHO DARES WINS is packed full of jaw-dropping stories to quicken the blood, while also telling of the psychological toll a life in conflict took on the author.'One of the best first-hand accounts of life in combat ever written'Andy McNab on Born Fearless

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Book SynopsisFor a whole year on his train to work, Stig Abell read books from across genres and time periods. Then he wrote about them, and their impact on our culture and his own life.The result is a work of many things: a brisk guide to the canon of Western literature; an intimate engagement with writers from Shakespeare to JK Rowling, Marcel Proust to Zora Neale Hurston; a wise and funny celebration of the power of words; and a meditation on mental unrest and how to tackle it. It will help you discover new books to love, give you the confidence to give up on those that you don't, and remind you of ones that you already do.What to Read Next has been written for the reader in all of us.Trade ReviewBeyond splendid . . . a brilliant idea, beautifully realised * Bill Bryson *Far more than a guide, this is a book lover's companion, a wise friend's recommendations, an answer to the question "what to read next" and why. I wish I knew half as much about books as Stig Abell * Kit de Waal *A witty, warm and wonderfully wise celebration of the written word. A huge treat * Lucy Foley *It's like being a member of the best book club ever * Frank Skinner *Stig's books are must-haves. He educates, informs and entertains in equal measure * Dermot O'Leary *This is Abell at his best - frank, funny and fascinating. Did Clive James and Bill Bryson have a secret love child? * Lee Child *A thoroughly enjoyable saunter through some great, and not so great, works of literature * Times Literary Supplement *A book for Christmas and the fireside, but a book also for all days and weathers, even for a chilly morning commuter train - once commuting is back in fashion -- Allan Massie * Scotsman *It is always interesting when an intelligent reader comes fresh to books you have known for a long time . . . the whole book is a lucky dip: put in your thumb, pull out a plum, and relish it. * Yorkshire Post *

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Book SynopsisA GUARDIAN, ECONOMIST AND PROSPECT BOOK OF THE YEAR 'A superb book' Simon Sebag Montefiore 'An empowering story of human ingenuity' Economist 'Full of curious facts' The Times Causes of death have changed irrevocably across time. In the course of a few centuries we have gone from a world where disease or violence were likely to strike anyone at any age, and where famine could be just one bad harvest away, to one where in many countries excess food is more of a problem than a lack of it. Why have the reasons we die changed so much? How is it that a century ago people died mainly from infectious disease, while today the leading causes of death in industrialised nations are heart disease and stroke? And what do changing causes of death reveal about how previous generations have lived? University of Manchester Professor Andrew Doig provides an eye-opening portrait of death throughout history, looking at particular causes – from infectious disease to genetic disease, violence to diet – who they affected, and the people who made it possible to overcome them. Along the way we hear about the long and torturous story of the discovery of vitamin C and its role in preventing scurvy; the Irish immigrant who opened the first washhouse for the poor of Liverpool, and in so doing educated the public on the importance of cleanliness in combating disease; and the Church of England curate who, finding his new church equipped with a telephone, started the Samaritans to assist those in emotional distress. This Mortal Coil is a thrilling story of growing medical knowledge and social organisation, of achievement and, looking to the future, of promise.Trade ReviewYou might expect a book on this morbid theme to be forbidding or sombre. This one is neither. Instead Mr Doig, a biochemist at the University of Manchester, tells an empowering story of human ingenuity * Economist *Surprisingly upbeat . . . The chapters on plague are the most interesting in the book, perhaps because they are so resonant and show how lucky we are to live in the age of the vaccine . . . Each chapter looks at a cause of death, ranging from scurvy to car safety, alcoholism to yellow fever . . . Full of curious facts . . . Although the book is about death, Doig is optimistic. Look at how life expectancy has soared across the world and infant mortality rates have plummeted * The Times *An absorbing read . . . A gripping and fascinating book; informative and seasoned with dry humour * Mail on Sunday *Told in five acts like a Shakespearean tragedy, Andrew Doig’s book considers our vulnerabilities and vices, from typhoid to tobacco . . . A compelling story that is made admirably accessible * Financial Times *Fascinating, clear-eyed . . . Woven through are a series of brilliant anecdotes of individual experiments, inventions and lethal misfortunes . . . Doig’s attention to detail, personable style and clear explanations make the book easily accessible . . . The obvious beauty of This Mortal Coil is that in being a history of death, it is also a history of life, and a brilliant, fascinating one at that * Scotsman *An utterly fascinating history of death, this masterful volume traces changes in the causes of mortality over the centuries -- WaterstonesRather than being a depressing read, the book actually gives a wonderful long-term perspective on our current situation, discussing plagues and famines of the past, living conditions and social organisation, and even looking at how causes of death might change in the future . . . This intriguing and detailed discussion of death and its causes provides a bedrock of context to look at how we might tackle mortality going forward . . . Oddly life-affirming * Big Issue *From the black death to small pox, Andrew Doig’s This Mortal Coil reminds us that some of humankind’s most miraculous innovations – including vaccines, statistics and gene sequencing – arose from society’s attempts to thwart death . . . It’s hard to imagine a book with more relevant insights into how societies fail and succeed when navigating threats to life * City AM *This is a book that deserves a wide and appreciative audience * Oldie *The way we humans have died has changed profoundly over history: from famine and pestilence, to modern lifestyle diseases like obesity, heart disease and diabetes. In this gripping book, Andrew Doig explores the fascinating biology of our own mortality and, crucially, what death can teach us about life -- Prof. Lewis Dartnell, author of ORIGINS: HOW THE EARTH SHAPED HUMAN HISTORYWry, insightful and optimistic, This Mortal Coil brings a compassionate yet amused eye to one of the last great taboos. Essential reading for us all -- Matthew Cobb, Baillie Gifford Prize-shortlisted author of THE IDEA OF THE BRAINAndrew Doig tackles the complex and unsettling history of mortality with matter of fact and clarity but also with tenderness and humanity. This is a remarkable debut interspersing history with science to create a mille feuille of what it means to be human -- Helen Carr, author of THE RED PRINCE and WHAT IS HISTORY, NOW?This is a wonderful book: a history of life expectancy, of disease, of death, and of medicine all rolled up into one. An exceptional instance of a book with lots of statistics which is throughout an enthralling read. For anyone who wants to understand how we have come to live so long, and what we are likely to die of, this is a must read – and, since birth and death are the only things we all have in common, no subject could be more important to understand who we are and what will become of us -- David WoottonThe story of how we die is deeply entwined with all of science, technology, economics, global health, sociology and human behaviour – in other words, pretty much everything. Which amounts to a book that is profound and original -- Daniel M. Davis, author of THE BEAUTIFUL CURE and THE SECRET BODYBig history meets biology in this meticulous chronicle of how death has shaped us, and how we have shaped it. Doig illuminates the historical and scientific idiosyncrasies behind our most universal experience explaining how, by trading plants and plagues, discovering continents and life-saving drugs, our collective past has determined our individual futures. If you're expecting a fascinating insight into why we die, This Mortal Coil delivers – but you'll also get an eye-opening account of how we've lived -- Andrew Steele, author of AGELESSThe most fascinating book I’ve read in a long time. As much about how we live as how we die -- Anna Mazzola, author of THE CLOCKWORK GIRLIn this detailed exploration of the many different ways in which human life can end, Andrew Doig takes us on a killer ride from the earliest systematic records of death, through the tremendous toll infection has had over history, to the ways in which we kill ourselves and others through drugs, pollution and motor vehicles. If you are dying to know how we die, this is the book for you -- John Tregoning, author of INFECTIOUS

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Book Synopsis**Winner of the 2022 Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award** **A Sunday Times Paperback of the Year** **Longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger 2023** **Longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize 2022** ‘Oxblood shows us that there are few places literature can’t take us, if the writer is brave enough, and gifted enough’ FRANCIS SPUFFORD 'The master of northern noir' SUNDAY TIMES 'Brilliant' DENISE MINA 'An absolute triumph' GUARDIAN 'Powerful and so beautifully written' HARRIET TYCE, Sunday Times-bestselling author of BLOOD ORANGE ________________________________________________________________ Wythenshawe, South Manchester. 1985. The Dodds family once ruled Manchester’s underworld; now the men are dead, leaving three generations of women trapped in a house haunted by violence, harbouring an unregistered baby and the ghost of a murdered lover. Over the course of a few days, Nedra, Carol and Jan must each confront the true legacy of the men who have defined their lives; and seize the opportunity to break the cycle for good. _______________________________________________________________ ‘If I read a better novel than Oxblood in 2022, it’ll be a blinding year for fiction’ JOSEPH KNOX 'A propulsive, bountiful, fearless work of art' OYINKAN BRAITHWAITE 'One of the most powerful and urgent writers of our times' DAVID PEACETrade ReviewWith a brutal yet compassionate honesty, Oxblood confronts the past as it was and how it shapes who we are now, and confirms Tom Benn as one of the most powerful and urgent writers of our times -- DAVID PEACE, author of THE RED RIDING QUARTETDeeply immersive and evocative ... a novel to lose yourself in * SUNDAY TIMES, 100 best books for summer 2023 *The master of northern noir * SUNDAY TIMES *A rich archive of bygone badness * THE TIMES *An astonishing piece of work. Captures the stories of three women from an underworld family with ferocious honesty and compassion. Audacious writing - visceral, rich and intense. Unforgettable characters haunted by violence and grief. Exceptional -- CATH STAINCLIFFEOxblood shows us that there are few places literature can’t take us, if the writer is brave enough, and gifted enough -- FRANCIS SPUFFORDI really felt I needed to savour each sentence ... An utterly unique voice, telling a working-class story that resists the usual cliches -- OTEGHA UWAGBAPowerful stuff and so beautifully written - like David Peace wrote Alan Warner’s The Sopranos and so lyrical, too. You don’t care where it’s heading, you’re just happy to step into the flow and let it take you. Brilliant stuff - this is really very good indeed -- HARRIET TYCETom Benn is one of publishing’s best kept secrets. His story about the struggles of three generations of women in a Manchester crime clan has been rendered with such care and specificity that it feels wholly original. The result is a rich, dark, atmospheric family saga that contains so much buried love and anger and grief and sexual jealousy and bitter disappointment … I emerged from it exhilarated -- JOHANNA THOMAS-CORRIf I read a better novel than Oxblood in 2022, it’ll be a blinding year for fiction. Tom Benn, please take a bow. Everybody else, please take note -- JOSEPH KNOXReading Oxblood is a compelling and deeply unsettling experience; this is a novel that glitters with the dark energy and lifeblood of its characters -- NAOMI BOOTHA propulsive, bountiful, fearless work of art -- OYINKAN BRAITHWAITEWhat a voice Tom Benn has got, what a feel for character and place, and what an uncompromising approach he has to his subject and material. He’s gritty but totally empathetic, and inhabits his milieu of 1980s Manchester with total conviction and no attempt to soften the voices of his characters -- ANDREW HOLGATEA remarkable galvanization of a time and a place, its style and substance so rooted in one another it is impossible to imagine it being written by anyone else. A story that seeps into you, sentences turned to catch the light like night eyes. A living thing -- DOMINIC NOLAN, author of Vine StreetOne of those rare books where place and time are conjured so effortlessly, the cast of characters drawn with so much ease and grace -- MONA ARSHIMore than anything, I was enamored with Benn's audacity: to tell this raw, violent, compassionate story; to use language in such a thrilling and fresh way; to explore the dark hearts of ordinary people, and to not look way when things get messy; to be, basically, this good -- D W WILSONThe gangland novel you have never read before, the one that gets inside the minds of three generations of women whose lives are bound to the crime lords of Wythenshawe by blood, flesh, fear, desire and a hunger for possession that cannot be contained in one lifetime. In a place where Mean Streets meets Most Haunted, with his hyper-intense, hallucinogenic prose, Benn will make you believe in ghosts -- CATHI UNSWORTHOxblood is a book to get lost headlong in. Tom Benn manages to be heart-felt and attentive and generous, without ever resorting to being sentimental … This is a book of anti-sentimental greatness, wonderfully written, deft and pungent and sensuous … It is honest and truthful, but also a great feat of fiction -- STIG ABELL

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Book SynopsisA parent’s deeply moving love letter to a daughter who has always known exactly who she is.‘Stunning . . . Built like a thriller, moving, wise and illuminated on every page with love’ - Joanne Harris, author of ChocolatWhen Carolyn Hays’s child made clear to the family that they were all wrong, he was not a boy, but, in fact, a girl, the Hays shifted pronouns, adopted a nickname and encouraged her to dress as she felt comfortable.One ordinary day, a caseworker from the Department of Children and Families knocked on their door to investigate an anonymous complaint about the upbringing of their transgender child. It was this threat that instilled in them a deep-seated fear for their child’s safety in the Republican state they called home. And so they uprooted their lives to the more trans-accepting Northeast United States, though they were never far from the hate and fear resting at the nation’s core.Intimate and thought-provoking, A Letter to My Transgender Daughter is an ode to Hays’s brilliant, brave child, as well as a cathartic revisit of the pain of the past. It tells of the brutal truths of being trans, of the sacrificial nature of motherhood, and of the lengths a family will go to shield their youngest from the cruel realities of the world. Hays asks us all to love better, for children everywhere enduring injustice and prejudice just as they begin to understand themselves.A Letter to My Transgender Daughter is a celebration of difference, a plea for empathy, a hope for a better future, but moreover, it is a love letter to a child who has always known herself and is waiting for the rest of the world to catch up.Originally published as A Girlhood: A Letter to My Transgender DaughterTrade ReviewStunning . . . Built like a thriller, moving, wise and illuminated on every page with love' -- Joanne Harris, author of ChocolatHays’s story is about more than the transgender question: it’s about ignorance and wisdom; hatred and love; men, women, and children. In the end, [A Letter to My Transgender Daughter] is about all of us. -- Jennifer Finney Boylan, author of She’s Not There and Good BoyIt’s impossible to read this book and not root for the fierce, human, beautiful family at its center and the daughter that they - ‘like tanks’ - protect against those who try to steal her joy. -- Beth Ann Fennelly, author of Great with Child: Letters to a Young Mother'I saw facets of my own trans identity I’d never pondered, questions about the construction of self I’d never even thought to pose . . . An act of epic compassion. -- Diana Goetsch, author of This Body I WoreTouching, combative, compelling . . . this memoir begins with the suspense of a thriller and ends with hope * Vogue (Italy) *An important and moving book, which traverses family bonds, change, courage, politics, rights, faith and reason . . . dictated by a love that will not accept compromises. * La Repubblica *An incredibly poignant and timely story for trans families everywhere. I wish my parents had access to these words, stories, and beautiful thoughts while raising me -- Tommy Dorfman

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Book Synopsis'Important, compelling, and detailed . . . a superb analysis of the West’s policy missteps and the tragic consequences of them.' - General David PetraeusIn Assad: The Triumph of Tyranny, Con Coughlin, veteran commentator on war in the Middle East and author of Saddam: The Secret Life, examines how a mild-mannered ophthalmic surgeon has transformed himself into the tyrannical ruler of a once flourishing country.Until the Arab Spring of 2011, the world’s view of Bashar al-Assad was largely benign. He and his wife, a former British banker, were viewed as philanthropic individuals doing their best to keep their country at peace. So much so that a profile of Mrs Assad in American Vogue was headlined ‘The Rose in the Desert’. Shortly after it appeared, Syria descended into the horrific civil war that has seen its cities reduced to rubble and thousands murdered and displaced, a civil war that is still raging over a decade later.In this vivid and authoritative account Con Coughlin draws together all the strands of Assad's remarkable story, revealing precisely how a young doctor ensured not only that he inherited the presidency from his father, but has held on to power by whatever means necessary, continuing to preside over one of the most brutal regimes of modern times.Trade ReviewEngrossing . . . Coughlin, as this fine book proves, is a careful judge of situations, and what might be hyperbole from another writer is a damning indictment of a man whose name should join the ranks of those who linger in infamy, including Hitler, Stalin and, more recently, another of this author’s most recent subjects: Saddam Hussein . . . [it is] meticulously researched and even-handed – as far as such an account can be – and has the vice-like grip of a thriller -- Alexander Larman * The Daily Telegraph *Useful, clear and interesting . . . a biography, but also an indictment -- Jason Burke * Literary Review *An important, compelling, and detailed examination of the failure of Western powers to act decisively in the early years of the Syrian Civil War and to prevent one of the worst humanitarian disasters of the early twenty-first century. In this significant new book, Con Coughlin provides a superb analysis of the West’s policy missteps and the tragic consequences of them. -- General David PetraeusFascinating, timely and sharp, Con Coughlin delivers a lucid portrait of the brutal power games and byzantine conspiracies of Syria's Assad dynasty. -- Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The World: a Family HistoryCon Coughlin's Assad curdles the blood from beginning to end and is always underpinned by superb foundations in analysis. A must-read for everyone who wants to understand the Middle East today. -- Robert ServiceCon Coughlin examines how a quiet eye surgeon could have turned into one of the world’s most vicious blood-stained dictators. No one could be better qualified than Coughlin to write this thought-provoking and penetrating book. -- Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destinty

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Book SynopsisThis timeless collection brings together three hundred of the most enduringly popular of Aesop’s fables in a volume that will delight young and old readers alike. Here are all the age-old favourites - the wily fox, the vain peacock, the predatory cat and the steady tortoise - just as endearingly vivid and relevant now as they were for their very first audience. Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure. This elegant Macmillan Collector’s Library edition of Aesop's Fables features an afterword by publisher and editor Anna South and illustrations by Arthur Rackham.

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Book SynopsisInspired by recent approaches to the field, the book reexamines the field of Renaissance art history by exploring the art of this era in the light of global connections. It considers the movement of objects, ideas and technologies and its significance for European art and material culture, analysing images through the lens of cultural encounter and conflict.Trade Review‘This book offers important new insights into the history of Renaissance arts by rethinking key objects and themes through the lens of cross-culturality. Its contribution is especially welcome as it demonstrates how exactly the idea of the Renaissance was formed by its global contacts and through acculturation of arts and ideas from beyond Europe.’ Sussan Babaie, Andrew W. Mellon Reader in the Arts of Iran and Islam, The Courtauld Institute of Art 'Art history has become increasingly engaged with global connections, but to date no study has filled the need for a synthetic overview of the early modern period. We can never again see the 'Renaissance' in the same, isolated way after reading these chapters.’ Larry Silver, Farquhar Professor of Art History, University of Pennsylvania‘Bringing together essays synthesizing recent scholarship on Renaissance art and material culture, Christian and Clark (both, Open Univ., UK) have created the first undergraduate-level treatment of the global nature of Renaissance art. The editors' goal is to illuminate “commonalities” between Europe and non-Western, non-Christian cultures. Two of the essays, Christian's on Renaissance altarpieces and Clark's on European collections of non-Western objects, consider indirect influences on art that came from luxury goods traded into Europe. The other two essays—one on art and architecture of Islamic, Jewish, and Christian inhabitants of Spain, and of Amer-Indians of the New World, the other on Venice as a palimpsest of Italian, Byzantine, and Islamic art and culture—are particularly successful in revealing direct connections between different cultures and the hybrid art that developed from close proximity.’ J. B. Gregory, formerly, Delaware College of Art and Design, CHOICE, Vol. 56, No. 2 (October 2018)‘This welcome volume is a textbook, and a very good one. It is first in a series of four titled Art and Its Global Histories that surveys the manifold cross-cultural influences between Western Europe and the world from the Pax Mongolica to postmodernism, supplemented by an anthology of seminal essays and primary sources for the entire period. The full series offers a suite of much-needed pedagogical materials for teaching early modern and modern art history from an inclusive, global-studies perspective […] Clear and comprehensive, it is written in a serious but lively style, appropriately theoretical without becoming abstruse or jargon ridden. The introduction and essays read like particularly pithy and eloquent class lectures, and the bibliographies following each chapter are worth the price of admission, with thorough and up-to-date coverage that provides a solid starting point for both student and scholarly researchers.’James M. Saslow, Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 71, No. 4 (Winter 2018) -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction – Kathleen Christian and Leah Clark1 Renaissance altarpieces: the far in the near – Kathleen Christian2 Cultural crossings in Spain and the New World c. 1350–c.1550 – Kim Woods3 Collecting the world: art, nature, and representation – Leah Clark4 Aspects of art in Venice: encounters with the East – Paul Wood with Kathleen Christian and Leah ClarkConclusion – Kathleen Christian and Leah Clark Index

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Book SynopsisFifty years ago Enoch Powell made national headlines with his 'Rivers of Blood' speech, warning of an immigrant invasion in the once respectable streets of Wolverhampton. This local fixation brought the Black Country town into the national spotlight, yet Powell's unstable relationship with Wolverhampton has since been overlooked. Drawing from interviews and archival material, this book offers a rich local history through which to investigate the speech, bringing to life the racialised dynamics of space during a critical moment in British history. What was going on beneath the surface in Wolverhampton and how did Powell's constituents respond to this dramatic moment? The research traces the ways in which Powell's words reinvented the town and uncovers highly contested local responses. While Powell left Wolverhampton in 1974, the book returns to the city to explore the collective memories of the speech which continue to reverberate. In a contemporary period of new crisis and national divisions, revisiting the shadow of Powell allows us to reflect on racism and resistance from 1968 to today.Trade Review‘Enoch Powell made his notorious Rivers of Blood speech in the Midland Hotel in Birmingham on 20 April, 1968. At the time he was the Conservative MP for the constituency of Wolverhampton South West. In her book In the Shadow of Enoch Powell Shirin Hirsch examines the impact of Powell’s speech in the Wolverhampton of 1968 and analyses its significance 50 years later. Hirsch draws on archival material as well as her own contemporary interviews.’Vivek Lehal, Socialist Review, Vol. 444 (March 2019)As the extensive list of secondary sources in the book’s bibliography suggests, Enoch Powellhas been the subject of considerable research. Shirin Hirsch’s short but powerful bookstands out by offering insight into the experience of those both facing and fighting theramifications of Powell’s speech and the attitudes it represented. Hirsch’s masterful commandof contemporary newspapers and oral accounts presents the reader with an excellentperception of the prevailing societal ideas.Midland History -- .Table of ContentsForeword by Patrick VernonIntroduction1 ‘The Commonwealth is much too common for me’: another 19682 The world in Wolverhampton3 Reverberations from ‘Rivers of Blood’4 Resistance in the schools and on the buses5 ‘A monstrous reputation’: remembering Enoch PowellConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThis book is a record of the Black music culture that emerged in post-colonial London at the end of the twentieth century; the people who made it, the racial and spatial politics of its development and change, and the part it played in founding London’s precious, embattled multiculture. It tells the story of the linked Black musical scenes of the city, from ska, reggae and soul in the 1970s, to rare groove and rave in the 1980s and jungle and its offshoots in the 1990s, to dubstep and grime of the 2000s. Melville argues that these demonstrate enough common features to be thought of as one musical culture, an Afro-diasporic continuum. Core to this idea is that this dance culture has been ignored in history and cultural theory and that it should be thought of as a powerful and internationally significant form of popular art.Trade Review‘This book is rare and special. It combines loving appreciation of London’s overlooked black music scenes with a richly detailed social history of their place in the evolving life of our city. There really is no other book like it. Caspar Melville knows because he was there.’ Paul Gilroy is a recovering vinyl junkie who teaches at UCL ‘I've waited decades for a book like this to be written. Turning each page is like digging through the crates. Important connections, intersections and black sonic samples are weaved throughout the text like a seamless mix. Black British music deserves this kind of attention. It's an important piece of the puzzle of DJ and Club culture that has yet to be assembled in its entirety.’ Lynnée Denise is a renowned DJ and lecturer in African American studies at UCLA ‘Caspar goes in deep! I am so proud to be part of the London clubland story he tells.’ Gilles Peterson is a club and BBC radio DJ and founder of Brownswood Recordings and Worldwide FM'It’s a London Thing is a compelling exploration of dance music history, inviting us to keep our eyes and ears glued to where the music comes from and what it can teach us.'Ivan Mouraviev, Popular Music -- .Table of ContentsList of figuresList of platesPrefaceAcknowledgements Introduction: London’s sonic space 1 Hostile environment: London’s racial geography, 1960-80 2 Warehouse parties, rare groove and the diversion of space 3 From Ibiza to London: Brixton acid and rave 4 ‘A London Sum’ting Dis’: diaspora remixed in the urban jungle Epilogue: music and the multicultural city Appendix: interviews for the book Bibliography

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Book SynopsisOver recent years, the issues of Brexit, COVID and the ‘migrant crisis’ put Kent in the headlines like never before. Images of asylum seekers on Kent beaches, lorries queued on motorways and the crumbling white cliffs of Dover all spoke to national anxieties, and were used to support ideas that severing ties with the EU was the best – or worst – thing the UK has ever done. In this coastal driftwork, Phil Hubbard – an exiled man of Kent – considers the past, present and future of this corner of England, alighting on a number of key sites which symbolise the changing relationship between the UK and its continental neighbours. Moving from the geopolitics of the Channel Tunnel to the cultivation of oysters at Whitstable, from Derek Jarman’s feted cottage at Dungeness to the art-fuelled gentrification of Margate, Borderland bridges geography, history, and archaeology, to pose important questions about the way that national identities emerge from contested local landscapes.Trade Review'Borderland deftly combines thorough research and objective analysis with the author’s intimate first-hand knowledge of place, as he revisits sites on foot in an extended field trip. Hubbard’s unflinchingly questioning approach to the contested spaces he encounters is written with the ease of an armchair traveller’s guide. The result is a peregrination peppered with gems of descriptive detail and astute personal reflections. Ultimately, Borderland isn’t just about Kent. It’s a book that scrutinises how – wherever we live – we perceive, shape, reimagine and reinvent place to suit our own uses and desires.' Sonia Overall, author of Heavy Time 'It's been called the "frayed edge" of England, but our coastline is by no means just wearing out. As emerges from this highly revealing excursion around the coast of Kent, it is also being restitched and fortified as the frontline of an "exclusionary nationalism" thanks to which even insects and oysters are being asked to prove they're not aliens. Although horrifying in places, as the times demand, Borderland is full of contrary energy too.' Patrick Wright, author of The Sea View Has Me Again: Uwe Johnson in Sheerness 'A timely interrogation of the connection between place and identity in the post-Brexit era. Hubbard's Kentish borderland is an ever-shifting space, rife with contradictions, culture clashes, and eco-anxiety.' Gareth E. Rees, author of Car Park Life 'With an impressive mix of erudition and accessibility, Phil Hubbard’s Borderland shines the light on an English South East that is rarely apprehended – let alone comprehended – by Middle England and the London establishment. Venturing into a Kentish coastal terrain transformed into a new debatable land by Brexit and recurrent migrant crises, Hubbard manages to combine sympathy for the plight of refugees with great sensitivity in exploring wider questions of twenty-first century citizenship, national identity, and political representation. This is a book which asks all the right questions with immense eloquence and remarkable understanding of a people and a place.' Alex Niven, author of New Model Island'A brilliant book. Superficially, a story of part of the Kent coast. However, under its surface Borderland, is a search for England’s soul – and soullessness.' Danny Dorling, author of Rule Britannia: Brexit and the End of Empire 'A powerful, poignant and beautifully written journey through the frontier lands of Brexit Britain. This is travel writing with a purpose, charting an anxious and often hostile landscape with care and passion.' Alastair Bonnett, author of The Age of Islands: In Search of New and Disappearing Islands'Borderland is a hugely engaging read and offers some profound insights into the past and present of Kent’s coastline and, by extension, of England as a whole. Hubbard examines the myths we summon up to explain our national past together with the malleability of memory and how some will seek to exploit that. This is neither an academic textbook nor a straightforward travel guide. Instead, in a short but cogent review of what he terms the ‘new nature writing’, he clearly seems to wish to ally himself with this approach.'Bobby Seal, Psychogeographic Review 'Overall, Phil Hubbard’s latest book is certainly one of the most inspiring and cogent contributions to critical border studies published in the past years.' Dimitri Almeida, Ethnic and Racial Studies -- .Table of Contents1 The new edge of Europe?2 Natives3 Albion on sea4 Defending the nation5 The white horse6 Boat people7 The strange coastAfterword: The Kent variantList of figuresAcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisAfrica 2.0 provides an important history of how two technologies – mobile calling and internet – were made available to millions of sub-Saharan Africans, and the impact they have had on their lives. The book deals with the political challenges of liberalisation and privatisation that needed to be in place in order for these technologies to be built. It analyses how the mobile phone fundamentally changed communications in sub-Saharan Africa and the ways Africans have made these technologies part of their lives, opening up a very different future. The book offers a critical examination of the impact these technologies have had on development practices, and the key role development actors played in accelerating regulatory reform, fibre roll-out and mobile money. Southwood shows how corruption in the industry is a prism through which patronage relationships in government can be understood, and argues that the arrival of a start-up ecosystem in the region has the potential to change this. A vital overview of the changes of the last three decades, Africa 2.0 examines the transformative effects of mobile and internet technologies, and the very different future they have opened out for sub-Saharan Africa.Table of ContentsIntroductionPart I: Technology diffusion: the spread of mobile calling and internetPrologue (1986–2004)1 Mobile voice calling booms (1993–2004)2 Bandwidth as the digital economy’s fuel: getting sub-Saharan Africa connected (1991–2015)3 Cheaper mobile internet and low-cost smartphones come together with apps sub-Saharan Africans want to use (2005–18)Part II: Technology influences: uses, behaviours and abuses4 Mobile money: from transferring cash by SMS to a digital payments ecosystem (2000–20)5 Sub-Saharan Africans start to live the digital life (2000–20)6 Sprinkling on the magic dust: digital’s impact on development (1982–2020)7 The ugly underbelly of the communications revolutions: corruption, cronyism, regulation and government (1999–2020)Part III: Taking the long view: start-up innovation and complex behaviour change8 Sub-Saharan African start-ups: getting beyond the hype to address deep market challenges (1995–2020)9 Doing complexity: making sense of what has happened over thirty-five yearsAppendix A: GlossaryAppendix B: List of those interviewedSelect bibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisIn recent decades, the global wealth of the rich has soared to leave huge chasms of wealth inequality. This book argues that we cannot talk about inequalities in Britain today without talking about the monarchy.Running the Family Firm explores the postwar British monarchy in order to understand its economic, political, social and cultural functions. Although the monarchy is usually positioned as a backward-looking, archaic institution and an irrelevant anachronism to corporate forms of wealth and power, the relationship between monarchy and capitalism is as old as capitalism itself. This book frames the monarchy as the gold standard corporation: The Firm. Using a set of case studies – the Queen, Prince Charles, Prince Harry, Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle – it contends that The Firm’s power is disguised through careful stage management of media representations of the royal family. In so doing, it extends conventional understandings of what monarchy is and why it matters.Trade Review'This is a major reassessment of the British monarchy and its place in cultural, social and economic life. Laura Clancy offers a lucid examination of the ideological roles of the royals and, through detailed research, pulls back the curtain to reveal their economic organisation and vested interests. Arguing that monarchy is a key means through which the social mechanisms of inequality are disguised and naturalised, she offers a thorough, persuasive and far-reaching account of what the monarchy really "gives back."'Jo Littler, Professor of Sociology, City, University of London'Running the Family Firm is an incisive account of what propels the public image of the British monarchy and how it is shaped by issues concerning gender, class, colonialism, corporate power, social media, and national identity.'Francesca Sobande, author of The Digital Lives of Black Women in Britain'There are few institutions that have been as effective in hiding their operations from public view as the British monarchy. In her brilliantly researched book, Running the Family Firm, Laura Clancy deftly traces the strategic ways in which the corporation known as “The Firm” has maximised profits and engaged in capital accumulation for its own benefit, whilst projecting to the world a false image of a benign family institution, committed to simple, selfless service to the nation. Rather than the mythical tale we’ve been sold, of the British Monarchy as an apolitical entity, a different, more disturbing picture emerges from the pages of this book, namely a portrait of an economic and political enterprise ruthlessly managed as an exploitative financial machine. By exposing the co-constitutive and co-dependent relationships between invisibility, visibility and power, Clancy provides a penetrating sociological take on what Prince Harry once called the “invisible contract” between the Monarchy and the British media. Clancy takes us “backstage” to reveal how the Monarchy’s tax havens abroad are directly connected to class inequality at home. More than a book “just about the Monarchy”, Running the Family Firm is a brilliant sociological account about power, media manipulation, and the reproduction of social and economic inequality today. This is contemporary sociology at its best.'Ben Carrington, Associate Professor of Sociology and Journalism, University of Southern California -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction: Why does monarchy matter?1 The (Family) Firm: Labour, capital and corporate power2 ‘The greatest show on earth’: Monarchy and media power3 ‘Queen of Scots’: National identities, sovereignty and the body politic4 Let them have Poundbury! Land, property and pastoralism5 ‘I am Invictus’: Masculinities, ‘philanthrocapitalism’ and the military-industrial complex6 The heteromonarchy: Kate Middleton, ‘middle-classness’ and family values7 Megxitting the Firm: Race, postcolonialism and diversity capitalPostscript: The post-royalsNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisIn 1934, Joseph Stalin enacted sodomy laws, unleashing a wave of brutal detentions of homosexual men in large Soviet cities. Rustam Alexander recounts the compelling stories of people whose lives were directly affected by those laws, including a naïve Scottish journalist based in Moscow who dared to write to Stalin in an attempt to save his lover from prosecution, and a homosexual theatre student who came to Moscow in pursuit of a career amid Stalin’s harsh repressions and mass arrests. We also meet a fearless doctor in Siberia who provided medical treatment for gay men at his own peril, and a much-loved Soviet singer who hid his homosexuality from the secret police. Each vignette helps paint the hitherto unknown picture of how Soviet oppression of gay people originated and was perpetuated from Stalin’s rule until the demise of the USSR. This book comes at a time when homophobia is again rearing its ugly head under Putin’s rule.Trade ReviewSHORTLISTED FOR THE PEOPLE'S BOOK PRIZE 2023As President Putin ramps up his anti-queer attacks, this book is particularly timely and important. Alexander has done a superb job of telling the history of homosexuality in Russia since the Revolution, and his book deserves to be widely read.Dennis Altman, author of Homosexual: Oppression and Liberation and Global SexAt a time when President Putin’s regime is viciously repressing Russia’s LGBTQ community and criminalizing anyone who speaks up about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans lives, the appearance of this book is an important act of resistance. Red Closet brings to life stories of gay oppression in the Soviet Union and traces some of the roots of contemporary Russia’s homophobia.Dan Healey, author of Russian Homophobia from Stalin to Sochi Rustam Alexander has undertaken rigorous archival research with great passion to produce a superb book. His narrative is refreshingly free of academic jargon and theory but Red Closet can be appreciated by a wide readership. Stephen Bourne, author of Fighting Proud: The Untold Story of the Gay Men Who Served in Two World Wars'In the world of academic writing in Slavic Studies, Alexander’s book is a fresh take on storytelling for all.(This) new book is a queer socialist historical thriller and a page-turner. It serves the drama (of which Soviet queer history has more than plenty) and does it in a way that makes the readers keep wanting more. And I cannot help but want to see more from this author.'The Russian Review -- .Table of ContentsPart I: Under Stalin 1 Stalin decides to make male homosexuality a crime 2 A Scottish man stands up for the rights of Soviet homosexuals 3 A young man from Siberia comes to Moscow in pursuit of his dreams 4 A Soviet celebrity leads a double life and lives in quiet suffering 5 A visit to a bathhouse ends in a nightmare 6 Soviet homosexuals travel to Siberia for "medical" treatment Part II: Under Khrushchev 7 Stalin’s heirs deal with homosexuality in the GULAG 8 In which a murder occurs 9 Soviet jurists push for the decriminalization of sodomy 10 Soviet psychiatrists try to cure lesbianism 11 A KGB lieutenant goes rogue 12 Soviet doctors invent a new medical science and try to cure male homosexualityPart III: Under Brezhnev 13 Soviet jurists try to decriminalize consensual homosexuality 14 A married couple try to save their marriage 15 Yan Goland tries to cure a youth of his homosexuality 16 A jurist proposes to criminalize lesbianism 17 A former soldier is crippled with internalized homophobia 18 In which we learn about emerging gay activism in the USSRPart IV: Under Gorbachev19 A strange patient from Africa baffles Soviet doctors 20 Soviet officials try to protect the USSR from AIDS 21 The Soviet KGB becomes inspired by the American gay press 22 Soviet doctors find Soviet "Patient Zero" 23 Soviet homophobia hits its peak 24 Soviet homosexuals finally speak about themselves in public Epilogue: In which Boris Yeltsin decriminalizes consensual homosexuality – but homophobia remains Index

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Book SynopsisWith 1 in 4 people experiencing a mental health problem in any given year, mental health is a more important part of social work training than ever before, and all successful social workers need to understand the core values, skills and knowledge that underpin excellent practice in a modern mental health system. Written as an accessible introduction to the complex issues around mental health, this book has become a classic in its field. Law and policy are clearly outlined while the authors give space to important ethical considerations when working with the most vulnerable in society. There are clear links between policy, legislation and real life practice as well as a wealth of learning features.Table of ContentsChapter 1: Values and Ethical Mental Health Social Work Chapter 2: Social Work Practice and Mental Health Chapter 3: The Policy and Legal Context for Practice: Part 1: History and the Mental Health Legislation Chapter 4: The Policy and Legal Context for Practice: Part 2: Mental Health Tribunals: Mental Capacity Chapter 5: Working with Vulnerable People: Mental Health in Children, Adolescents and Young People Chapter 6: Working with Vulnerable People: Adults Who Are Short-Term Service Users Chapter 7: Working with Vulnerable People: Adults Who Are Long-Term Service Users Chapter 8: Working across Organisational and Professional Boundaries

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Book SynopsisHow to Coach: First Steps and Beyond is an essential guide for anyone starting out in the coaching profession and for existing coaches seeking to develop their craft. It is a practical introduction to the theory, skills and art of coaching. This extremely practical introduction contains numerous case studies showing theory in action, aiding in understanding of how to apply theory to actual practice in a variety of settings. The book: Uses clear, uncomplicated language throughout Explains key ideas through brief illustrations from the author′s practice and quotes from leading writers on coaching Contains a wide selection of ideas, models and exercises to stimulate the reader′s learning Encourages students to try things out in conversation, and reflect upon and make sense of their experiences How to Coach is a must-have book for anyone interested in coaching skillfully, ethically and effectively. Table of ContentsPART ONE: LEARNING THE BASICS 1. What is coaching? 2. Directive and non-directive coaching 3. Listening to understand 4. Questioning 5. Playing back 6. Learning how to coach PART TWO: DEVELOPING YOUR PRACTICE 7. Contracting 8. Practical issues 9. Ethical issues in coaching 10. Tools you might use in coaching 11. Feedback and psychometric instruments 12. Coaching as a relationship 13. The use of self in coaching 14. The inner game of coaching PART THREE: EXTENDING YOUR APPROACH 15. Cognitive and cognitive behavioural approaches to coaching 16. Other approaches to coaching 17. Supporting confidence and motivation 18. Coaching as a line manager 19. Coaching a team 20. Coaching across cultures 21. Coaching supervision 22. Continuing your development journey

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Book SynopsisWhether you’re in a lecture or the library, it’s easy to get information overload. Take Great Notes helps you figure out which points matter most, and how to digest information efficiently and effectively. Identify and set good notetaking habits Take clear concise notes at every study session Pick the best notetaking method to suit you Use to improve your assignments right away. Super Quick Skills provides the essential building blocks you need to succeed at university - fast. Packed with practical, positive advice on core academic and life skills, you’ll discover focused tips and strategies to use straight away. Whether it’s writing great essays, understanding referencing or managing your wellbeing, find out how to build good habits and progress your skills throughout your studies. Learn core skills quickly Apply them right away and see results Succeed in your studies and in life Super Quick Skills gives you the foundations you need to confidently navigate the ups and downs of university life.Trade ReviewThis book develops students′ understanding of note taking. It is easy to read and engage with: it would be beneficial to students whom are enrolling onto university programmes as preparation material for their course. -- Alice Evans * Journal of Perioperative Practice *Packed with concise information to help students succeed at university. Whether you are an undergraduate student or undertaking a postgraduate programme, you will be able to find a book that will help you develop your study skills. Of the three books I reviewed [Take Great Notes, Find Your Source and Plan Your Essay], all of them were easy to read and follow, with each book providing a 60 second summary before moving onto more detail in each section and providing reasoning throughout. -- Julie Quick * Journal of Perioperative Practice *Table of ContentsWhy and What? Chapter 1. Why should I take notes? Chapter 2. What are good notes like? Chapter 3. How do I take notes in a digital age? Methods of Notetaking Chapter 4. What is the Outline Method of notetaking? Chapter 5. What is the Cornell (layout) Method? Chapter 6. What is the Charting Method? Chapter 7. What are Visual Methods of notetaking? Chapter 8. What are Electronic Methods of notetaking? Notetaking in Context Chapter 9. How do I take notes of a lecture or lesson? Chapter 10. How do I take notes from an article or book?

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Book SynopsisThe Welsh at War trilogy is the culmination of over twelve years of painstaking research by the author into the Welsh men and infantry units who fought in the Great War. These units included the four regular regiments-the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, South Wales Borderers Welsh Regiment and Welsh Guards-as well as the Territorial Monmouthshire Regiment, the Yeomanry regiments: the Denbighshire Hussars, Pembroke Yeomanry, Montgomeryshire Yeomanry, Glamorgan Yeomanry and Welsh Horse Yeomanry and their amalgamation into service battalions for the regular regiments during 1917. Welsh troops fought with great courage in every theatre of the war-the Western Front, Aden, China, Gallipoli, Egypt, India, Italy, Salonika and in Palestine-and as well as the casualties who were suffered during these campaigns, many men gained recognition for acts of gallantry. The three volumes, split chronologically, cover all of the major actions and incidents in which each of the Welsh infantry regiments took part, as well as stories of Welsh airmen, Welshmen shot at dawn, Welsh rugby players who fell, Welsh gallantry winners and the Welshmen who died in non-Welsh units, such as the Dominion forces and other units of the British armed forces. While chronicling a history of the war through the events and battles that Welshmen took part in, the stories of many individual casualties are included throughout, together with many compelling photographs of the men and their last resting places. Volume III-'Through Mud To Victory'-'Third Ypres And The 1918 Offensives'-records the stories of the Welsh troops involved in the Third Battle of Ypres, from the Welsh battalions of the 19th (Western) Division at Messines Ridge, through the storming of the Pilckem Ridge by the 38th (Welsh) Division and the Guards Division; and the Welsh troops who fought in the final offensives at Passchendaele Ridge. The actions of Welsh troops during the Battle of Cambrai carry through to the final winter of the war and the volume records the sufferings of Welsh troops fighting during the desperate German 'Kaiserschlacht', offensives of the spring of 1918; and carries through the summer of 1918, when the 38th (Welsh) Division moved back to the Somme, to the actions of Welsh troops during the 100 Days Offensive which finally ended the war. The volume also covers the stories of the final battles in Italy, Salonika and Palestine, which saw Welsh troops play a large part.

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Book SynopsisLlewelyn Wyn Griffiths Up to Mametz, published in 1931, is now firmly established as one of the finest accounts of soldiering on the Western Front. It tells the story of the creation of a famous Welsh wartime battalion (The Royal Welsh Fusiliers), its training, its apprenticeship in the trenches, through to its ordeal of Mametz Wood on the Somme as part of 38 Division. But there it stopped. General Jonathon Riley has however discovered Wyn Griffiths unpublished diaries and letters which pick up where Up to Mametz left off through to the end of the War. With careful editing and annotation, the events of these missing years are now available alongside the original work. They tell of an officers life on the derided staff and provide fascinating glimpses of senior officers, some who attract high praise and others who the author obviously despised. The result is an enthralling complete read and a major addition to the bibliography of the period. Llewelyn Wyn Griffiths was born into a Welsh speaking family in Llandrillo yn Rhos, North Wales. He joined the Civil Service as a Tax Surveyor. Aged 24 on the outbreak of War, he was accepted for a commission in the 15th (1st London Welsh) Battalion of the Royal Welch Fusiliers and served in the Battalion or on the staff for the rest of the War. Returning to the Inland Revenue he was responsible for the pay-As-You-Earn tax system, retiring in 1952. He filled many distinguished appointments, such as the Arts Council, and was a regular broadcaster. Awarded an Honorary DLitt by the University of Wales, he was holder of the CBE, OBE, Croix de Guerre and an MID. He died in 1977.

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Book SynopsisThe Battle of El Alamein is well established as a pivotal moment of the Second World War. Following the wildly fluctuating fortunes of the opposing sides, there was a real risk that Rommel s Afrika Korps and his Italian allies would break through and seize Cairo with catastrophic strategic and political implications for the Allies. That this never happened is, of course, well known but, as this highly readable yet authoritative work reveals, there were moments of extreme peril and anxiety. Churchill s bold, nay desperate, decisions concerning key appointments, Montgomery s stubborn refusal to be rushed, Rommel s chronic logistic problems and critical air superiority are all examined in expert detail. The author s description of the actual fighting is brought to life by personal accounts as well as his complete grasp of the plan and tactics involved. The result, seventy-five years on, is a delightfully fresh and fascinating account of one of the iconic battles, not just of the War but in military history.

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Book SynopsisThe Battle of the Bulge took the Allied armies by surprise in 1944\. It was a result of the extraordinary recovery of Hitler's panzer divisions following crushing defeats on the Eastern and Western fronts. In a daring offensive he hoped his panzers would unhinge the American and British push on the Rhine by charging through the Schnee Eifel, thereby prolonging the war. The consequence was one of the best-known battles of the entire conflict, and Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic history is the ideal introduction to it. The story is told through a sequence of revealing contemporary photographs and a concise text. They give a sharp insight into the planning and decision-making, the armoured forces involved, the terrain and the appalling mid-winter conditions, the front-line fighting and the experience of the troops involved. The armoured battle, which was critical to the outcome, is the main focus. Through a massive tank offensive the Germans aimed to cut through the US 1st Army to Antwerp and Brussels, in the process trapping three Allied armies. The confusion and near collapse of the Americans as their defences were overrun is vividly recorded in the photographs, as is their resistance and recovery as the German spearheads were slowed, then stopped.

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Book SynopsisThis book describes the extraordinary combat career of the American-built Vultee Vengeance dive-bomber in both the Royal Air Force and Indian Air Force service during the Burma Campaigns of 1942-45. This single-engine, all-metal aircraft was ordered by the Ministry of Supply during the darkest days of World War II when the lethal German combination of Junkers Ju.87 Stuka and Panzer tank forces had conquered most of Europe in a campaign that lasted a mere few weeks and the invasion of Britain was considered imminent. The RAF had invented the dive-bomber concept in 1917 but had consistently rejected it in the inter-war period with the obsession of heavy bombing predominating official thinking almost exclusively. By the time the Vengeance arrived a still-reluctant RAF was seeking a precision bomber to prevent a repeat of the Japanese Naval attacks in the Indian Ocean and six squadrons were set up to counter this threat. With the Japanese on the borders of Burma and India, these aircraft, no longer required for the original role, proved by far and away the most accurate bomber aircraft operated by the British up to that time. The Allied Armies on the ground, including Orde Wingate's Chindits, clamoured for their continued use and considered them essential, but in vain, and by 1945 all had been replaced. Their achievements have been ignored, falsified or scorned ever since but here, from eyewitness accounts and official records, is their full and true story.

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Book SynopsisThis is the story of the air war over Western Europe, much of it told by the Halifax pilots and air crew who took part. It spans the period between 1942 and 1945 and covers the encounters between the Luftwaffe and the air forces of Britain and the Commonwealth. Many unique experiences are recounted from the day bombing raids that were hurled against Hitler's war machine. The author has sought the experiences of RAF and German fighter pilots, who explain how they stalked their prey and pounced from. This book contains vivid accounts of some of the most heroic actions in the history of air warfare.

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Book SynopsisA visit to the battlefield of Verdun is usually dominated by the forts of Douamont and Vaux, the museum at Fleury and the striking, huge Ossuary, Although this gives a flavour of the horrific fighting that took place in the area, particularly in 1916, the visitor will be hard pressed to get much more than an impression from such places.This book seeks to guide the battlefield pilgrim into parts of the battlefield that get rarely visited by means of a series of walks, a number of which include the major sites. The four tours have been carefully walked. All are practicable for a reasonably healthy adult; the tours vary in length, most taking a half day to complete and the longest (the last) a day. In a twist to the usual walks to be found in the Battleground series, Christina makes full use of the numerous field graves and isolated memorials that are to be found on the Verdun battlefield, a number of which will bring visitors to the most visited sites. In the course of these walks many physical remnants will be found, such as gun positions, bunkers and trench systems, the significance of which is fully explained. The walks have not been chosen at random: by following these the tourer will get a far greater understanding of why the fighting at Verdun developed as it did and why such places as Fort Vaux were so significant to both sides. The field graves and memorials to the combatants, very often of individuals, provide an opportunity to give their story and the unit action in which they were fighting when they were killed. Verdun is a battlefield where the story of units and individuals can easily become lost in the horror of the incessant fighting that raged over ten months; and over ground which is extremely difficult to read because of the post war forestation programme. Profusely illustrated and with excellent mapping, a hallmark of Christina Holstein's books, a visitor who follows the walks in this book will be left with a far clearer idea of the men who fought and died here and of the features of the battlefield and their significance in this battle that so challenged the endurance of the armies of two nations.

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Book SynopsisUnderneath the dreaming spires of Oxford's world-famous university, generations of women have lived their lives, fighting for the right to study there, and for a role within the city's educational, political and social spheres. Although a few of these women's names have been recorded for posterity, they have been largely because of their association with worthy or famous men; in this book, though, their own lives are detailed, along with those who have been largely omitted from history. Women's lives have always been less recorded than those of men; where a woman helped her husband with his business, this help may not have been formally recorded in the census returns, and the details of jobs recorded there might not reflect the full scale of women's work and responsibilities. So here, learn about the variety of work women undertook; their education, their social lives, and their attempts to carve out a valuable role for themselves. Learn too of the problems they faced in living their lives: poverty, prison, suicide, or even murder. This is no pretty picture of Oxford life designed for tourist brochures; instead, it aims to take a snapshot of the varied experiences of the city's female population over the course of a century.

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Book SynopsisDrawing on a superb collection of rare and unpublished photographs the 6th SS Mountain Division Nord 1941 - 1945 is the 6th book in the Waffen-SS Images of War Series compiled by Ian Baxter. The book tells the story of the 6th SS Mountain Division Nord, which was formed in February 1941 as SS Kampfgruppe Nord (SS Battle Group North). The Division was the only Waffen-SS unit to fight in the Arctic Circle when it was stationed in Finland and northern Russia between June and November 1941\. It fought in Karelia until the Moscow Armistice in September 1944, at which point it left Finland. It suffered heavy losses in the Operation Nordwind in January 1945 and in early April 1945, the division was destroyed by the US forces near Budingen, Germany.

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Book SynopsisThe Wehrmacht used reconnaissance and support vehicles widely in the Second World War and this book sets out to show the full range of both categories using over 200 rare images and descriptive text and captions in true Images of War Series fashion. Both tracked and wheeled vehicles were employed for reconnaissance and screening. These included light tanks mainly comprising of the Pz.Kpfw.I, armoured cars such as the six and eight wheeler Sd.Kfz.231,232,233,234 and its variants, 263, the Sd.Kfz.221,222,223,234 and 247, motorcycles such as the famous BMW R75, the Zundapp KS750. In addition to their recce role they would, when possible, engage similar or light units. Support vehicles such as the tracked Sd.Kfz.2 Kettenkrad, and the renowned Sd.Kfz.251 halftracks were used in the follow-up role, frequently with mounted grenadiers to mop up over-run enemy positions. The book fills a gap by outlining the full range of such equipment including the variety of armaments and power plants, and the crews that performed these missions.

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Book SynopsisTo counter the Soviet threat and that of their client States during the Cold War years 1949-1991, the American military deployed an impressive range of main battle tanks (MBTs) and armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs). The Patton series of medium MBTs (including the M46, M47 and M48) supplemented by the M103s Heavy Tank initially formed the core of the US tank fleet. In 1960 the M60 MBT with its British designed 105mm gun entered service and, in turn, was replaced by the M1 Abrams in 1980. In support were armoured reconnaissance vehicles, progressively the M41 bull dog (1951); the M114 (1961), the M551 Sheridan (1967) and M3 Bradley Cavalry Fighting Vehicle (1981). The armoured personnel carrier (APC) range included the ubiquitous M113 and its replacement the M2 Bradley, cousin of the M3. Expert author Michael Green covers all these vehicles and their variants in this informative and superbly illustrated Images of War series work.

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Book SynopsisThe Russian Revolution is remembered as the catalyst for the bloody conflict between the Reds and the Whites as each side tried to gain control of the country. But it was far from being so simple. The conflict did not only involve the Russians. The author contemplates whether the Russians could have capitulated to Germany and whether in fact Russia was ever in any condition to carry on the fight even before the revolution began, examining whether a collapse of the war in the east would lead to Allied defeat in the west. The effect of the revolution and the civil war went far beyond the borders of the enormous Russian Empire and far beyond the end of the Great War and the civil war, not least of all whom the millions of subject peoples and races supported: the Reds, the Whites, the Germans, or none. The conflict in Russia between 1917 and 1922 is a fascinating and complex period of history but the brutally colourful cast of characters-Tsar Nicholas II, Brusilov, Kerensky, Lenin, Trotsy, Stalin and Churchill-would make a violent impact on the world stage for a century to come.

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Book SynopsisIn almost 200 archive photographs Leo Marriott traces the course of the development of British and American jet fighters during the first pioneering decade of their production. In many ways the period from 1944 to 1954 was one of the most exciting and innovative in the history of military aviation. Rare images show the first jet fighters flown by the RAF towards the end of the Second World War and takes the story forward to the most advanced designs that played a key role in the war in Korea. The range of experimental and operational warplanes that were conceived and built during this short time was remarkable. The initial straight-wing jets began with the Gloster Meteor and Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star which were later superseded by the first operational swept-wing fighters such as the Hawker Hunter, North American F-86 Sabre and Grumman F9F-6 Cougar. Development of all these benefited greatly from German Second World War advances in aerodynamics that were exploited by the British and Americans when the war ended. Progress was so swift that, by the mid-1950s, the prototypes of the next generation of truly supersonic fighters were starting to appear, and these are featured in Leo Marriott's fascinating selection of images. He even includes a variety of prototypes which for various reasons did not result in production orders, as well as several unusual concepts such as flying boat fighters and mixed-power designs. Early Jet Fighters: British and American 1944-1954 is a graphic and informative introduction to an extraordinary stage in the evolution of the modern warplane.

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Book SynopsisOver the course of many years Richard Pursehouse has painstakingly unravelled the story of a First World War prisoner of war camp which held captured German personnel in the very heart of the English countryside. He first became aware of the existence of the camp while walking over Cannock Chase in Staffordshire, finding sewer covers in what appeared to be uninhabited heathland. Intrigued, the author set out to investigate the mystery and discovered that the sewers were for two Army camps - Brocton and Rugeley - that had been constructed for soldiers training during the First World War. What he also found, however, was that the Brocton Camp site also included a segregated autonomous prisoner of war camp. With the aid of an old postcard, Richard was able to identify the exact location and layout of the long-lost camp. His research continued until he had accumulated an enormous amount of detail about the camp and life for its prisoners. He found a file by the Camp Commandant, Swiss Legation correspondence, stories in newspapers, letters and diaries, and received photographs from interested individuals. Amongst his finds was a box holding scores of fascinating letters sent home by an administration clerk while he was working at the camp. During his investigations, Richard also learned of attempted murders and escapes (including the only escapee to make it back to Germany), deaths, thefts - and a fatal scandal. The letters, documents and diaries reveal how the prisoners coped with incarceration, as well as their treatment, both in terms of camp conditions and their medical needs. He has also established a definitive answer to the 'myth' that some of the prisoners assisted in building the nearby Messines terrain model. The model was a post-battle training tool to instruct newly-arrived New Zealand troops, which also provided a visual explanation of how they had defeated the Germans in the Battle of Messines in June 1917. The result is a unique insight into what life was like inside a British Prisoner of War camp during the First World War.

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In the spring of 73 AD the rock fortress of Masada on the western shore of the Dead Sea was the site of an event that was breathtaking in its courage and self-sacrifice. Here the last of the Jewish Zealots who, for nearly eight years, had waged war against the Roman occupiers of their country made their last stand. The Zealots on Masada had withstood a two-year siege but with Roman victory finally assured, they were faced by two options: capture or death. They chose the latter and when the Roman legions forced their way into the hill fort the following morning they were met only with utter silence by row upon row of bodies. Rather than fall into enemy hands the 960 men, women and children who had defended the fortress so heroically had committed suicide. The story of the siege and eventual capture of Masada is unique, not just in Israeli legend but in the history of the world. It is a story of bravery that even the Roman legionaries, well used to death and brutality, could see and appreciate. It was a massacre but a massacre with a difference: carried out by the victims themselves. The story of Masada has gone down in Israeli and Jewish folklore. It is little known elsewhere and it is time to redress the balance.

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Book SynopsisOn 1st June 1666, during the second Anglo-Dutch War, a large but outnumbered English Fleet engaged the Dutch off the mouth of the Thames in a colossal battle that was to involve nearly 200 ships and last four days. False intelligence had led the English to divide their fleet to meet a phantom fleet from France and although the errant squadron rejoined on the final day of the battle, it was not enough to redress the balance. More than 1,500 English sailors were killed, 2,000 taken prisoner and two vice admirals killed. The battle ended when the English escaped into a fog bank, both fleets by this time having expended their ammunition. Like many a defeat, it sparked controversy at the time, and has been the subject of speculation and debate ever since. The battle was an event of such overwhelming complexity that for centuries it defied description and deterred study, but this superbly researched book is now recognised as the definitive English-language account. First published in 1996, it provides the only clear exposition of the opposing forces, fils many holes in the narrative and answers most of the questions raised by the actions of the English commanders. The narrative is totally engrossing and worthy of what was the greatest battle anywhere in the age of sail, and this new paperback edition will bring the story to new readers who missed the book in its earlier editions.

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