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Book SynopsisWinner of the Nobel Prize in Literature''Desperately important and impossible to put down. It is timeless. . . what shines clear from the testimonies is love - love which can make you do the most spectacular things '' Sheena Patel, Observer''- A new translation of Voices from Chernobyl based on the revised version -In April 1986 a series of explosions shook the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. Flames lit up the sky and radiation escaped to contaminate the land and poison the people for years to come. While officials tried to hush up the accident, Svetlana Alexievich spent years collecting testimonies from survivors - clean-up workers, residents, firefighters, resettlers, widows, orphans - crafting their voices into a haunting oral history of fear, anger and uncertainty, but also dark humour and love. A chronicle of the past and a warning for our nuclear future, Chernobyl Prayer shows what it is like to bear witness, and remember in a world that wants you to forget.''Beautifully written. . . heart-breaking'' - Arundhati Roy, Elle ''One of the most humane and terrifying books I''ve ever read'' - Helen Simpson, ObserverTrade ReviewAbsolutely essential and heartbreaking reading. There's a reason Ms. Alexievich won a Nobel Prize -- Craig Mazin, creator of the HBO series ChernobylDesperately important and impossible to put down. It is timeless and has sparked so much thought about infinity, sacrifice, love and unspeakable grief. . . what shines clear from the testimonies is love - love which can make you do the most spectacular things -- Sheena Patel * Observer *A beautifully written book, it's been years since I had to look away from a page because it was just too heart-breaking to go on. Give me beautiful prose and I'll follow you anywhere -- Arundhati Roy * Elle *A collage of oral testimony that turns into the psycho­biography of a nation not shown on any map... The book leaves radiation burns on the brain -- Julian Barnes * Guardian *Absolutely fantastic -- Karl Ove KnausgaardA searing mix of eloquence and wordlessness... From her interviewees' monologues she creates history that the reader, at whatever distance from the events, can actually touch -- Julian Evans * Daily Telegraph *One of the most humane and terrifying books I've ever read -- Helen Simpson * Observer *Alexievich's documentary approach makes the experiences vivid, sometimes almost unbearably so - but it's a remarkably democratic way of constructing a book... When you consider the extent to which she has been traversing the irradiated landscape, you realise she has put herself on the line in a way very few authors ever do -- Nicholas Lezard * Guardian *A moving piece of polyphony, skilfully assembled from what must have been a huge mass of material... We are living in Alexievich's 'age of disasters'. This haunting book offers us at least some ways of thinking about that predicament -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett * New Statesman *This masterly new translation by Anna Gunin and Arch Tait retains the nerve and pulse of the Russian * TLS *Alexievich assembles the previously silenced or unsung heroes into a chorus that has the power to move, stun and inspire awe. The result is a remarkable oral history, an essential read -- Malcolm Forbes * Herald Scotland *Not merely a work of documentation but of excavation, of revealed meaning. It is hard to imagine how anyone in the West will read these cantos of loss and not feel a sense of communion, of a shared humanity -- Andrew Meier * The Nation *Alexievich serves no ideology, only an ideal: to listen closely enough to the ordinary voices of her time to orchestrate them into extraordinary books -- Philip Gourevitch * New Yorker *Alexievich has become one of my heroes -- Atul GawandeAwarding the Nobel Prize for Literature to Svetlana Alexievich is a brilliant choice that recalibrates the status of "non-fiction" in the literary canon -- Arifa Akbar * Independent *Through her books and her life itself, Alexievich has gained probably the world's deepest, most eloquent understanding of the post-Soviet condition -- Masha Gessen * New Yorker *Alexievich retreats into the wings to let her subjects speak. But this is the art that conceals art. Her editor's flair for selection, contrast and emphasis, her almost cinematic touch with cuts, pans and close-ups, make her a documentary virtuoso -- Boyd Tonkin * Spectator *Her interviews go on for hours. She goes back for more. She transcribes. She discards three-quarters of her material. She polishes. She takes pains to convey the cadence of a person's words. It shows. The distilled work goes deep into the subject. She is after the ephemeral; the emotion behind written history; the "history of the soul." Here, she believes, is where the truth lies -- Vanora Bennett * Prospect *This masterly new translation by Anna Gunin and Arch Tait retains the nerve and pulse of the Russian, conveying the angst and confusion of the narrators -- Serguei Alex. Oushakine * Times Literary Supplement *The last book that made me cry... incredible -- Joe Dunthorne * Guardian *

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Book Synopsis* From the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of POLITICS ON THE EDGE and co-host of THE REST IS POLITICS *Rory Stewart spent nearly a decade as a MP of Britain's most rural constituency, Penrith and the Border. As he came to know and love this part of Cumbria, he found inspiration in the beauty of its landscape, its rugged history as a frontierland, and in the spirit of its people. Drawing on pieces originally written for a local newspaper, Debatable Land is an unforgettable portrait of rural Britain today a place caught in tensions between farming and the natural world, between the need to preserve and to grow, between local and national politics as well as a timeless evocation of the history, people and landscape of Cumbria.

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Book SynopsisThe Sunday Times Bestseller and #1 international bestseller'A moving and bittersweet story' Sun Keeping My Sister’s Secrets by Beezy Marsh is the heartwarming true story of three sisters and their fearless fight to survive the hardships of poverty and war - by whatever means necessary.Born into a close-knit working class family in the slums of London’s Waterloo, Eva, Peggy and Kathleen are three remarkably different, but very loving sisters. Desperate to escape their violent father, they find different ways to survive. Beautiful Kathleen escapes into marriage with an abusive man, and during the horrors of the Second World War, falls in love again - this time with an American GI. Peggy, serious and studious, is appalled by conditions in the factories and becomes a communist, desperate to help her fellow workers. The rebellious sister, Eva, will do anything to protect her family - even if it means breaking the law to put dinner on the table.Living closely together, the sisters support each other through thick and thin - their story is a moving tale of unconditional love, the one constant in a changing world.Trade ReviewA moving and bittersweet story * The Sun *

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Book SynopsisWill Blackburn's heart-warming story of taking urgently needed aid to Ukraine tells of the courage, kindness and compassion of ordinary people determined to help their neighbours whose lives are in constant danger.

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Book Synopsis'A brave writer whose books open up fundamental questions about life and art' – TelegraphIn this inspiring collection of essays, acclaimed writer and critic Olivia Laing makes a vivid and politically-engaged case for the importance of art – especially in the turbulent weather of the twenty-first century.We are often told art can’t change anything. In Funny Weather, Laing argues that it can. It changes how we see the world, it exposes inequality, and it offers fertile new ways of living.Across a diverse selection of essays, Laing profiles Jean-Michel Basquiat and Georgia O’Keeffe, interviews Hilary Mantel and Ali Smith, writes love letters to David Bowie and Freddie Mercury, and explores loneliness and technology, women and alcohol, sex and the body. Written with originality and compassion, Funny Weather is a celebration of art as a force of resistance and repair – and as an antidote to a frightening political moment.Trade ReviewA brave writer whose books open up fundamental questions about life and art * Telegraph *Olivia Laing is my new favourite non-fiction writer -- Nick HornbyLike all great critics, Olivia Laing combines formidable intelligence with boundless curiosity and fabulous taste, but she also has a rare quality of intimacy; an ability to connect the reader to a work of art or literature with a directness that lights it up like nothing else. It’s why I read her -- James LasdunHer observations and poetic incisiveness on art, writers and politics are a gift. This is a fascinating, excursive, tonic of a book -- Sinéad Gleeson, author of ConstellationsA thought-provoking, inspiring collection that you can go back to whenever the weather takes a funny turn * Evening Standard *Funny Weather gives the reader a tangible sense of the sprawling garden of work which Laing has planted. She is to the art world what David Attenborough is to nature: a worthy guide with both a macro and micro vision, fluent in her chosen tongue and always full of empathy and awe * Irish Times *Laing has acted as a kind of cultural sage for the past four years, an accidental literary grande dame of the emotional havoc wrought by late capitalism and digital disconnect * New York Magazine *Laing writes of her creative subjects in a winning, passionate voice that proves both soothing and galvanizing, especially amid a panic . . . It’s not just art we need in an emergency, but writers, like Laing, who gently guide our eyes to what’s out there -- Alina Cohen * Observer *The hospitality of world view in Olivia’s writing is a vital force in our disputatious present -- Maria Balshaw, director of TateLaing combines passion and curiosity in a collection of art-based essays and profiles that reflect the uncertainty of our age * Guardian *Never has a publication been more timely * Dazed *A warm, thinking, enticing sweep of a book, like spending the afternoon with your brainiest friend -- Kate Mosse, author of The Burning ChambersA fine writer’s embrace of the artists who preceded her, friendly visits with their lives and loving acknowledgement of their foundational contributions. A work of joy in recognition -- Sarah SchulmanThe book to help you make sense of the world . . . [a] mesmerizing collection of essays . . . this unique and compassionate book is a mind-expanding opportunity to rethink how we live, and what we can do to change things for the better. * Stylist *A light-footed tour of enriching stories, lives, and ideas * Dazed and Confused *Her gift as a critic is her ability to imaginatively sympathize with her subjects in a way that allows the art and life of the artist to go on radiating meaning after the book is closed * Elle *Breathtaking, beautiful, funny, shocking, sad, revealing, and timely -- Nina Stibbe, author of Love, NinaI yield to absolutely no one in my admiration of Olivia Laing; her essays are magical liberations of words and ideas, art and love; they're the essence of great 21st century literature: brilliantly expressed, wildly uncontained, wilful and wonderfully unbound. -- Philip Hoare, author of RISINGTIDEFALLINGSTAROlivia Laing shines the light for art writing. Funny Weather urges us to humanise art, and listen to what artists say about life, love and crisis. -- Charlie PorterAn incivisive meditation on the value of heartfelt, messy art in our paranoid times * Telegraph *It’s not just art we need in an emergency, but writers, like Laing, who gently guide our eyes to what’s out there * Observer *Vibrant commentary on art and society by a writer with a sharp eye for the offbeat * Kirkus *Laing’s essays are urgent, compassionate, enlivening and acutely perceptive, and that’s true whether or not we encounter them “in an emergency” * the arts desk *Her words seem balefully accurate, given what has now overtaken us * Financial Times *Laing is an intelligent and acute writer, and this book is certainly interesting and assuredly well-written * Scotsman *Laing’s arts writing is sharp-minded, and her manner is generous toward both subject and reader * Washington Post *

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Book SynopsisIsobel Wylie Hutchison was many things: a botanist, traveller, poet and artist. She travelled solo throughout the arctic collecting plant samples, wrote and published extensive volumes of essays and poetry, and was - in short - one of the most remarkable Scottish figures of her time. However, since her death in 1982 her legacy has been forgotten compared with her male counterparts. Now Isobel can speak for herself again. While better known for her solo journeys across the Arctic, these essays detail Isobel's journeys across Scotland, including visits to Skye, John O' Groats and the various literary shrines across the country. Written with characteristic wit and a keen interest in both science and myth and folklore, the essays serve as important cultural markers not just of Scotland as it was and has developed, but of a woman's experience of travelling alone and a testament to the importance of cultural connection, exploration and communication.

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Book SynopsisNo man is an island, wrote John Donne. BBC Home Editor Mark Easton argues the opposite: that we are all islands, and it is upon the contradictory shoreline where isolation meets connectedness, where 'us' meets 'them', that we find out who we truly are. Suggesting that a continental bias has blinded us, Easton chronicles a sweep of 250 million years of island history: from Pangaea (the supercontinent mother of all islands) to the first intrepid islanders pointing their canoes over the horizon, from exploration to occupation, exploitation to liberation, a hopeful journey to paradise and a chastening reminder of our planet's fragility. But that is only half of this mesmerising book: aided by the muse he names Pangaea, Easton also interweaves reflections on what he calls 'the psychological islands that form the great archipelago of humankind'. Taking readers on an enchanting adventure, he illustrates how understanding islands and island syndrome might help humanity get closer to the truth about itself. Brave, intelligent and haunting, Islands is a deep dive into geography, myth, literature, politics and philosophy that reveals nothing less than a map of the human heart.

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Book SynopsisA new translation of the complete, unabridged text of Galileo's Dialogue, with a detailed introduction and explanatory notes, giving contemporary readers access in English to Galileo's authentic text with comprehensive and up-to-date notes.Table of ContentsIntroduction Note on the Text and Translation Select Bibliography A Chronology of Galileo Dialogue on the Two Greatest World Systems Explanatory Notes

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewOne of the most dazzling luminaries of contemporary American fiction * Sunday Times *A prose magician, Mr Wallace was capable of writing . . . about subjects from tennis to politics to lobsters, from the horrors of drug withdrawal to the small terrors of life aboard a luxury cruise ship, with humour and fervour and verve -- Michiko Kakutani * The New York Times *A heady reminder of why we got hooked in the first place * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS 2021The riveting story of a nation at a crucial crossroadsFrom the start of his stint as RTÉ''s Washington Correspondent Brian O''Donovan''s lively and authoritative reporting of a tumultuous period in American life has been must-watch TV.Four Years in the Cauldron is his account of four busy years working in the US. He draws a compelling picture, full of telling colour and detail, of covering its fractured politics, particularly the extraordinary presidency of Donald Trump and the knife-edge election of Joe Biden. And he gives his unique perspective on big stories such as the Covid emergency, the Capitol riot, the murder of George Floyd and trial and conviction of his police killer.He also provides a visceral sense of what it''s like living in a country shaped by guns, God, far-fetched conspiracy theories and the running sore of racism. Yet, drawing on his network of contacts, neighbours, friTrade Review[O'Donovan] captures well both the frenetic life of a reporter . . . and the Punch and Judy period in American politics that was the Trump presidency * Irish Times *An intriguing look at an extraordinary time . . . the book brings us to some fascinating places -- Ryan TubridyA great read * The Last Word with Matt Cooper *An amazing book, full of stories and anecdotes -- Neil Prendeville * Red FM *

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments xix About the Authors xxi Introduction xxiii 1Grammar 1 Finding Nouns, Verbs, and Subjects 1 Definitions Noun Verb Subject Gerund Using verbs to find subjects Multiple subjects and verbs in a sentence Infinitives You as an understood subject Subject-Verb Agreement 4 Singular vs. plural verbs Finding subjects before phrases beginning with of With or, either/or, and neither/nor Two singular subjects One singular and one plural subject With and With interrupting expressions With here or there With distances, periods of time, sums of money, etc. With portion words such as a lot, a majority, percent, some, all With collective nouns such as group, family, staff The subjunctive mood Irregular Verbs 9 Clauses and Phrases 9 Definitions Clause Independent clause Dependent clause Phrase Pronouns 10 Definition: Pronoun Subject pronouns As the subject of the sentence Renaming the subject When who refers to a personal pronoun Object pronouns Subject and verb agreement with who, that, and which Subject and verb agreement with anyone, someone, each, etc. Following than or as Possessive pronouns Its vs. it’s; who’s vs. whose Reflexives: the -self pronouns Consistency with singular pronouns The singular they Pronouns linked with nouns by and Possessive adjectives vs. possessive pronouns Who vs. Whom 16 They/Them method Common whom pitfall Whoever vs. Whomever 17 Agreement with the verb in the dependent clause Dependent clause as the subject of the verb following the clause Who, That, Which 18 Who, that, and which with people, groups, and things That with essential clauses Which with nonessential clauses When which can be used with essential clauses Adjectives and Adverbs 19 Definitions Adjective Adverb Adjectives modifying nouns and pronouns Adverbs modifying verbs, adjectives, and adverbs When to add -ly Sense verbs: taste, smell, look, feel, etc. Good vs. well Well as an adjective when referring to health Comparisons, such as -er vs. -est and more vs. most This, that, these, and those Prepositions 22 Definition: preposition Ending a sentence with a preposition Avoiding extra prepositions Like As, as if, as though, the way of vs. have Different from vs. different than In vs. into Effective Writing 25 Concrete vs. vague language Active vs. passive voice Overuse of there is, there are, it is, it was, etc. Double negatives Parallel construction Dangling modifiers Misplaced modifiers Fragments Dialogue 2 Punctuation 31 Spacing with Punctuation 31 Periods 31 With complete sentences With abbreviations at the end of a sentence Replacing periods with question marks and exclamation points Commas 32 To separate three or more items To separate adjectives With two independent clauses Run-on sentences or comma splices Joined by connectors such as and, or, but, etc. When the subject does not appear in front of the second verb With because Starting a sentence with a dependent clause vs. an independent clause With nonessential words, clauses, and phrases With sufficiently identified noun With introductory words To set off interrupting expressions With names With dates With city and state With Jr. and Sr. With degrees and titles With quotations To introduce or interrupt quotations Following quotations To separate statements from questions To separate contrasting parts of a sentence With certain introductory words When followed by a series of items When the series of items ends with etc. Semicolons 39 To replace a period in two closely linked sentences With such words as namely, however, therefore, etc., when they introduce a complete sentence To avoid confusion where commas already exist With sentences that have multiple clauses Capitalization following a semicolon Colons 41 To introduce a series of items Except when a series of items directly follows a verb or preposition With lists With two independent clauses when the second explains the first Capitalization following a colon With long quotations After the salutation in a business letter Quotation Marks 43 Use of double quotation marks Capitalization with quotations Commas introducing, interrupting, and ending quotations Periods and commas ALWAYS inside quotation marks —Question marks and exclamation marks with quotation marks follow logic With titles of magazines, books, plays, etc. Use of single quotation marks for quotations within quotations Spacing between single and double quotation marks With nonstandard expressions With technical terms and terms used in an unusual way Avoiding single quotation marks With quoted material of more than one paragraph Question Marks 46 With direct questions Replacing periods Capitalization following a question mark Indirect questions Rhetorical questions With sentences that are half statement and half question With quotation marks Parentheses and Brackets 48 Not interchangeable Parentheses For clarification and asides With complete sentences Punctuation inside and outside parentheses Subject-verb agreement Comma placement with parentheses Brackets With interruptions Use of [sic] With quotations Apostrophes 50 Singular nouns Possession with singular nouns Possession with common nouns ending in s Possession with proper nouns ending in s Possession by inanimate objects Plural nouns Plural possession with regular nouns No apostrophe with plural regular nouns Plural possession with irregular nouns Plural possession with names ending in s No apostrophe with plural names Possession with singular compound nouns To show joint or separate possession Contractions With initials, capital letters, and numbers used as nouns With time or money With personal pronouns Apostrophes vs. single quotation marks False possessives With nouns ending in y Hyphens 56 No spaces around hyphens Not the same as dashes Hyphens between words With compound adjectives Suspended hyphens With compound verbs With compound nouns With very and -ly adverbs With ages For clarification With spans of time, distance, or other quantities With units, abbreviations, or symbols With compound numbers With spelled-out fractions With double last names Avoiding overuse Proper nouns of more than one word as compound adjectives Well-known expressions Look it up Hyphens with prefixes and suffixes Prefixes with proper nouns or proper adjectives With family relations Prefixes with double vowels With self-, ex-, and all- With re- To avoid confusion Suffixes not usually hyphenated Suffixes and double letters Using discretion and a dictionary Dashes 63 Em dashes Em dashes and subject agreement In place of other punctuation Spacing En dashes With number ranges With open compound adjectives Forming dashes Ellipses 65 Definition and three-dot method Spacing With omitted words or sentences To express hesitation, changes of mood, etc. Exclamation Points 66 To show emotion, emphasis, or surprise Replacing periods and mid-sentence commas Avoidance in formal business writing Justifiable use Slashes 66 Technical term: virgule In formal writing use hyphen or the word or 3 Capitalization 69 First word of a document and after a period Proper nouns and adjectives derived from proper nouns Reference list of capitalized categories Reference list of lowercase categories Thorny aspects of capitalization Titles Titles vs. occupations Titles in direct address Kinship names Nicknames Geographic regions vs. points of the compass The before proper nouns City, town, county, etc., before a proper name First word of a quotation Midsentence independent clauses or questions Course titles vs. academic subjects Art movements Lists following colons Lowercase the national anthem Titles of books, plays, films, songs, etc. Subtitles Gray areas 4 Writing Numbers 79 Using figures vs. spelling out numbers Numbers beginning a sentence Hyphenating compound numbers Hyphenating fractions Figures of four or more digits Sums less than a dollar Noon and midnight Time of day Mixed fractions Large numbers Decimals Writing out numbers of three or more digits When to use and Do not use commas Dates Decades Use lowercase when spelling out Using apostrophes with incomplete numerals Avoiding apostrophe + s with complete numerals Apostrophes with numbers 5 Confusing Words and Homonyms 85 Good vs. well Imply vs. infer Its vs. it’s Lay vs. lie Their vs. there vs. they’re Hundreds more words and homonyms that perplex and confound 6 Quizzes 155 Grammar Pretest 155 Finding Nouns, Verbs, and Subjects Quiz 1 157 Finding Nouns, Verbs, and Subjects Quiz 2 157 Subject and Verb Agreement Quiz 1 158 Subject and Verb Agreement Quiz 2 159 Irregular Verbs Quiz 1 160 Irregular Verbs Quiz 2 160 Pronouns Quiz 1 160 Pronouns Quiz 2 161 Who, Whom, Whoever, Whomever Quiz 1 162 Who, Whom, Whoever, Whomever Quiz 2 163 Who, Whom, That, Which Quiz 1 163 Who, Whom, That, Which Quiz 2 164 Adjectives and Adverbs Quiz 1 164 Adjectives and Adverbs Quiz 2 165 Prepositions Quiz 1 166 Prepositions Quiz 2 166 Affect vs. Effect Quiz 1 167 Affect vs. Effect Quiz 2 167 Lay vs. Lie Quiz 1 168 Lay vs. Lie Quiz 2 168 Advice vs. Advise Quiz 1 169 Advice vs. Advise Quiz 2 169 Their vs. There vs. They’re Quiz 1 170 Their vs. There vs. They’re Quiz 2 170 More Confusing Words and Homonyms Quiz 1 171 More Confusing Words and Homonyms Quiz 2 171 Effective Writing Quiz 1 172 Effective Writing Quiz 2 172 Grammar Mastery Test 173 Punctuation, Capitalization, and Writing Numbers Pretest 175 Commas and Periods Quiz 1 177 Commas and Periods Quiz 2 178 Semicolons and Colons Quiz 1 179 Semicolons and Colons Quiz 2 180 Question Marks and Quotation Marks Quiz 1 181 Question Marks and Quotation Marks Quiz 2 181 Parentheses and Brackets Quiz 1 182 Parentheses and Brackets Quiz 2 182 Apostrophes Quiz 1 183 Apostrophes Quiz 2 184 Hyphens Between Words Quiz 1 184 Hyphens Between Words Quiz 2 185 Hyphens with Prefixes and Suffixes Quiz 1 186 Hyphens with Prefixes and Suffixes Quiz 2 186 Capitalization Quiz 1 187 Capitalization Quiz 2 187 Writing Numbers Quiz 1 188 Writing Numbers Quiz 2 188 Punctuation, Capitalization, and Writing Numbers Mastery Test 189 7 Answers to Quizzes 193 Grammar Pretest Answers 193 Finding Nouns, Verbs, and Subjects Quiz 1 Answers 195 Finding Nouns, Verbs, and Subjects Quiz 2 Answers 195 Subject and Verb Agreement Quiz 1 Answers 196 Subject and Verb Agreement Quiz 2 Answers 196 Irregular Verbs Quiz 1 Answers 197 Irregular Verbs Quiz 2 Answers 197 Pronouns Quiz 1 Answers 198 Pronouns Quiz 2 Answers 199 Who, Whom, Whoever, Whomever Quiz 1 Answers 199 Who, Whom, Whoever, Whomever Quiz 2 Answers 200 Who, Whom, That, Which Quiz 1 Answers 201 Who, Whom, That, Which Quiz 2 Answers 201 Adjectives and Adverbs Quiz 1 Answers 202 Adjectives and Adverbs Quiz 2 Answers 202 Prepositions Quiz 1 Answers 203 Prepositions Quiz 2 Answers 204 Affect vs. Effect Quiz 1 Answers 204 Affect vs. Effect Quiz 2 Answers 205 Lay vs. Lie Quiz 1 Answers 205 Lay vs. Lie Quiz 2 Answers 206 Advice vs. Advise Quiz 1 Answers 206 Advice vs. Advise Quiz 2 Answers 206 Their vs. There vs. They’re Quiz 1 Answers 207 Their vs. There vs. They’re Quiz 2 Answers 207 More Confusing Words and Homonyms Quiz 1 Answers 208 More Confusing Words and Homonyms Quiz 2 Answers 208 Effective Writing Quiz 1 Answers 209 Effective Writing Quiz 2 Answers 210 Grammar Mastery Test Answers 211 Punctuation, Capitalization, and Writing Numbers Pretest Answers 213 Commas and Periods Quiz 1 Answers 215 Commas and Periods Quiz 2 Answers 216 Semicolons and Colons Quiz 1 Answers 216 Semicolons and Colons Quiz 2 Answers 217 Question Marks and Quotation Marks Quiz 1 Answers 218 Question Marks and Quotation Marks Quiz 2 Answers 219 Parentheses and Brackets Quiz 1 Answers 219 Parentheses and Brackets Quiz 2 Answers 220 Apostrophes Quiz 1 Answers 220 Apostrophes Quiz 2 Answers 221 Hyphens Between Words Quiz 1 Answers 222 Hyphens Between Words Quiz 2 Answers 222 Hyphens with Prefixes and Suffixes Quiz 1 Answers 223 Hyphens with Prefixes and Suffixes Quiz 2 Answers 223 Capitalization Quiz 1 Answers 224 Capitalization Quiz 2 Answers 224 Writing Numbers Quiz 1 Answers 225 Writing Numbers Quiz 2 Answers 226 Punctuation, Capitalization, and Writing Numbers Mastery Test Answers 226 Index 229

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Book SynopsisTHE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER, WINNER OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE A Pulitzer Prize FinalistA National Book Award FinalistA Writers'' Trust Award FinalistLonglisted for the Wainwright Conservation PrizeA Guardian Book of the YearA New York Times Book of the Year ''No book feels timelier . . . an adrenaline-soaked nightmare that is impossible to put down'' Cal Flyn, The Times''Superb and terrifying''Katherine Rundell, Guardian''It reads like a thriller . . . utterly compelling''Andrea Wulf, author of The Invention of Nature''Astounding on every page''David Wallace-Wells, author of The Uninhabitable Earth''A towering achievement . . . extraordinary''Robert Macfarlane, author of UnderlandIn May 2016, a Canadian oil town was overrun by wildfi

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Book Synopsis‘A vaulting triumph of a book’ Isabella Tree, author of Wilding'A master storyteller, Weidensaul communicates so much joy in the sheer act of witnessing and such exhilaration in the advances of the science behind what he sees that we are slow to grasp the extent of the ecological crisis that he outlines.' ObserverBird migration remains perhaps the most singularly compelling natural phenomenon in the world. Nothing else combines its global sweep with its inherent ability to engender wonder and excitement.The past two decades have seen an explosion in our understanding of the almost unfathomable feats of endurance and complexity involved in bird migration – yet the science that informs these majestic journeys is still in its infancy.Pulitzer Prize-shortlisted writer-ornithologist Scott Weidensaul is at the forefront of this research, and A World on the Wing sees him track some of the most remarkable flights undertaken by birds. His own voyage of discovery sees him sail through the storm-wracked waters of the Bering Sea; encounter gunners and trappers in the Mediterranean; and visit a forgotten corner of north-east India, where former headhunters have turned one of the grimmest stories of migratory crisis into an unprecedented conservation success.As our world comes increasingly under threat from the effects of climate change, these ecological miracles may provide an invaluable guide to a more sustainable future for all species, including us. This is the rousing and reverent story of the billions of birds that, despite the numerous obstacles we have placed in their path, continue to head with hope to the far horizon.Trade ReviewA vaulting triumph of a book. Scott Weidensaul unravels the miracles and mysteries of bird migration like an ace detective. Compelling and often deeply moving, this is a summons for international co-operation and global conservation like no other. -- Isabella Tree, author of WildingAs much as the book is upbeat and celebratory, Weidensaul is fearless in describing the acute challenges that face the birds he loves . . . a superb globetrotting survey of avian restlessness that reaches one core conclusion. Migrants may seem like here-today-gone-tomorrow nomads but they are really inhabitants of a single place and one living system, on which they and humans depend equally: the entire Earth. -- Mark Cocker * Spectator *A master storyteller who is also profoundly involved in scientific ornithology . . . Weidensaul communicates so much joy in the sheer act of witnessing and such exhilaration in the advances of the science behind what he sees, that we are slow to grasp the extent of the ecological crisis that he outlines * Observer *In vivid prose that conjures up the rich spell of each landscape, Scott Weidensaul takes us on exhilarating expeditions that crisscross the globe and travel deep into the heart of nature. For lifelong experts and backyard birders alike, he’s a superb guide to the winged marvels that share our planet and our lives. -- Diane Ackerman, author of The Zookeeper’s WifeWeidensaul’s dispatches are fascinating. Chapter by chapter, my jaw dropped and my eyes widened. The science of bird migration has reached a golden age, and we’re lucky to have such a graceful guide. This book is instantly among my all-time favorites, and one I’ll keep to re-read. -- Noah Strycker, author of Birding Without BordersThe miracle of birds meets the miracle of technology in Scott Weidensaul’s wondrous new book A World on the Wing. While there are huge gaps in our knowledge of migration, and despair in our race to save species, advances in technology from microscopic transmitters to agile drones are changing the equation and making the future look hopeful. This is a book you won’t want to put down. -- Jane Alexander, actress, writer and wildlife conservationistScott Weidensaul, one of our finest nature writers, has produced another instant classic. In A World on the Wing he takes a pair of highly complex subjects—global patterns of bird migration, and the research into those patterns—and brings them to life with his own amazing adventures around the world. Here is proof that a book of solid science can also be a page-turner. Highly recommended for anyone curious about the natural world. -- Kenn Kaufman, author of the Kaufman Field GuidesA World on the Wing brims with spectacle . . . As the birds flit through these pages, but with ever less frequency through our lives, we can only hope that birders and non-birders alike take inspiration and a call to action from A World on the Wing. This is the kind of book we’ve been waiting for. * New York Times *Mr. Weidensaul takes us to places we’ll likely never go, then deftly steps back to let us experience the scene. In an era when travel, for most, has sputtered to a stop, A World on the Wing is a bracing tonic. The author slips in facts and figures so painlessly, so richly embedded in emotional context, that you can absorb and truly appreciate their import * Wall Street Journal *Many mysteries of bird life and migration are revealed in this compelling and illuminating in-the-field narrative complete with maps and photographs. * Booklist *Based on recent scientific research and his own research and bird observations . . . Each chapter on the different bird species and migration experiences will vibrantly inform readers about the habits of migratory birds * Library Journal *As in many of his previous books, Weidensaul is a peerless guide, sharing his intoxicating passion and decadeslong experience with countless bird species all over the world . . . Another winner from Weidensaul that belongs in every birder’s library * Kirkus Reviews *Remarkable . . . Bird enthusiasts and fans of nature writing shouldn’t miss this * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisTHEY STEAL IDENTITIES.THEY BREAK THE LAW.THEY SLEEP WITH THE ENEMY.THEY ARE THE UNDERCOVER POLICE.This is the breathtaking story of forty years of state espionage revealed by award-winning journalists Rob Evans and Paul Lewis.

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Book SynopsisIn 2016, while working as a journalist in Yangon, Clare Hammond discovered an obscure map that showed a web of new railways spanning the length and breadth of the country - railways not shown on any other publicly available maps. She was determined to uncover the railways' origins, purpose, and most of all, the silence that surrounded them. She would spend three months travelling on these mysterious railways, and the next five years piecing their story together. Her journey would take her from Myanmar's tropical south to the embattled mountain towns that border India and China. In dilapidated carriages, along tracks in disrepair, through contested ethnic states and former sites of forced labour, visiting temples, tea shops and festivals, Clare encountered a colourful and contradictory Myanmar through the stories of its people. Simultaneously a lush and evocative travelogue, an unsparing account of Myanmar's recent history, and an astonishing, conversation-shifting engagement with Britain's colonial legacy, On the Shadow Tracks is that rare and necessary thing: a book that finds and tells the truth.

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Book SynopsisAvoiding the legions of power-crazed traffic wombles attempting to block highway and byway, this title: shows how the world of performance cars may be likened to Battersea Dogs Home; reveals why St Moritz may be the most bonkers town in all of the world; and argues that washing a car is a waste of time.Trade ReviewBrilliant...laugh-out-loud * Daily Telegraph *Outrageously funny...will have you in stitches * Time Out *Very funny...I cracked up laughing on the tube * Evening Standard *

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Book Synopsis‘Superbly reported, compelling . . . wonderfully captures the spirit of that time’ Financial Times'Gripping and important' Observer __________________________________________________________________________ Nine days that set the course of a nation... Johannesburg, Easter weekend, 1993. Nelson Mandela has been free for three years and is in slow-moving power-sharing talks with President FW de Klerk when a white supremacist shoots Mandela’s popular young heir apparent, Chris Hani, in the hope of igniting an all-out civil war. Will he succeed in plunging South Africa into chaos, safeguarding apartheid for perhaps years to come? Or can Mandela and de Klerk overcome their differences and mutual suspicion and calm their followers, plotting a way forward? In The Plot to Save South Africa, acclaimed South African journalist Justice Malala recounts the rivetinTrade Review‘Superbly reported, compelling . . . wonderfully captures the spirit of that time’ * Financial Times *'Gripping and important' * Observer *‘A dramatic work of history, prodigiously reported and beautifully crafted. Justice Malala is a first-rate storyteller, deftly weaving history with a narrative that reads like a novel. I couldn’t put it down’ -- Jonathan Eig, New York Times bestselling author of Ali: A Life‘Magnificent, furious, nuanced and un-put-downable. Malala steers us through the hatred, the grief, and the courage that shaped one nation-shaking week. The result is a searing thriller, a deeply moving work of investigative journalism, and a mesmerising reminder of what leadership can achieve - and what South Africa almost squandered’ -- Andrew Harding, BBC Africa correspondent‘A suspenseful nonfiction thriller’ * Kirkus *‘Fast-paced, gripping, and expertly crafted, this book reads like a political thriller. With thorough reporting and vivid writing, Justice Malala delivers readers into the heart of South Africa as it faced unprecedented upheaval. The result is a brilliant, moving, and extraordinary account of nine days that shaped a country and a continent, with the entire world looking on’ -- Toluse Olorunnipa, co-author of His Name is George Floyd‘Although heart-wrenching at times, Malala's immaculately researched account underscores the power of Mandela’s great leadership in unimaginably difficult times’ * Booklist Starred Review *Doggedly researched and immersively told, this is a fascinating study of a nation on the brink. * Publishers Weekly *

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Book Synopsis'Just incredible' Naomi Klein'Gripping and shocking...with the pace of a thriller' The TimesA New York Times bestseller, The Outlaw Ocean is a riveting, adrenalin-fuelled tour of a vast, lawless and rampantly criminal world that few have ever seen: the high seas.The oceans are some of the last untamed frontiers on our planet.Too big to police, and under no clear international authority, these treacherous waters play host to the extremes of human behaviour and activity.From traffickers, smugglers and pirates to vigilante conservationists, stowaways and seabound abortion-providers, Ian Urbina introduces us to the inhabitants of this hidden world and their risk-fraught lives. Through their extraordinary stories, he uncovers a globe-spanning network of crime and exploitation that emanates from the fishing, oil and shipping industries - but to which all of us are connected.LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2019'An astonishing book about a world most of us don't even know exists' Oliver Bullough, author of Moneyland'An outstanding investigation of a global criminal culture on the high seas' Guardian'Truly important... A complex portrait of an unseen and disturbing world' New York TimesTrade ReviewGripping and shocking by turns … Most of the book clips along with the pace of a thriller … stomach-churningly tense … as outlandish and as thrilling as a heist film * The Times *Just incredible -- Naomi KleinUrbina has written an astonishing book about a world most of us don't even know exists. These are dispatches from the lawless ocean - of traffickers, slaves, heroes, gangsters, crooks and scoundrels - which will amaze, enthral and appal you -- Oliver Bullough, author of MoneylandA riveting, terrifying, thrilling story of a netherworld that few people know about, and fewer will ever see. As Ian Urbina ventures into the darkest folds of the high seas, his courage—and his prose—are breathtaking' SUSAN CASEY, author of The Wave -- Susan Casey, author of The WaveAn outstanding investigation of a global criminal culture on the high seas … His rendezvous with contacts on at least one occasion was arranged for 100 miles offshore through mountainous waves … Little wonder the stories he tells have not been told before * Guardian *Not just a stunning read, this book is a gripping chronicle of the watery wild west and it shows us—frankly unlike anything I've read before—how the vast ocean has become a danger zone, and ultimately how we all pay a price for this mayhem and mistreatment' JOHN KERRY, former Secretary of State and founder of the Our Ocean Conference -- John Kerry, former Secretary of State and founder of the Our Ocean ConferenceTranscendent, rendering a complex portrait of an unseen and disturbing world. Urbina pursues a depth of reportage that’s rare because of the guts and diligence it requires ... The result is not just a fascinating read, but a truly important document. It is also a master class in journalism" New York Times * New York Times *Revelatory … there is no lack of danger in Urbina’s travels; impressively, he never shies away from it … gripping … this drama is riveting, but so is the endemic abuse Urbina finds … if you want to be a crook, there is no better place to do it than at sea … the laxness of enforcement makes Urbina’s investigations essential -- Rose George * New Statesman *Incredible, readable, riveting -- Sam Walker * Wall Street Journal *It’s this kind of hard-assed reporting that can ultimately change the world for the better -- Chris Dixon * Scuttlefish *You simply have to read this -- Karen Tumulty * Washington Post *Staggering -- Oliver Franklin-Walles * Wired *

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Book Synopsis"[An] incredibly moving collection of oral histories . . . important enough to be added to the history curriculum" Telegraph"Essential reading" History Today"A moving evocation . . . An illuminating if harrowing insight into life in a totalitarian state." Clarissa de Waal, author of ALBANIA: PORTRAIT OF A COUNTRY IN TRANSITION"Albania, enigmatic, mysterious Albania, was always the untold story of the Cold War, the 1989 revolutions and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Mud Sweeter Than Honey goes a very long way indeed towards putting that right" New EuropeanAfter breaking ties with Yugoslavia, the USSR and then China, Enver Hoxha believed that Albania could become a self-sufficient bastion of communism. Every day, many of its citizens were thrown into prisons and forced labour camps for daring to think independently, for rebelling against the regime or trying to escape - the consequences of their actions were often tragic and irreversible. Mud Sweeter than Honey gives voice to those who lived in Albania at that time - from poets and teachers to shoe-makers and peasant farmers, and many others whose aspirations were brutally crushed in acts of unimaginable repression - creating a vivid, dynamic and often painful picture of this totalitarian state during the forty years of Hoxha's ruthless dictatorship.Very little emerged from Albania during communist times. With these personal accounts, Rejmer opens a window onto a terrifying period in the country's history. Mud Sweeter than Honey is not only a gripping work of reportage, but also a necessary and unique portrait of a nation.With an Introduction by Tony Barber*Winner of the Polityka Passport Prize**Winner of the Koscielski Award*Translated from the Polish by Zosia Krasodomska-Jones and Antonia Lloyd-JonesTrade Review"A moving evocation of the 'everyday terror' systematically perpetrated over 41 years of Albanian communism. The author brings together survivors' accounts of life under Albania's ruthless dictator, Enver Hoxha. Despite the inevitable bleakness, the author's skillful interviewing allows those recounting their experiences to engage us in their absorbing narratives. An illuminating if harrowing insight into life in a totalitarian state. -- Clarissa de Waal * author of ALBANIA: PORTRAIT OF A COUNTRY IN TRANSITION *Beautifully researched, the book brings back to life sufferings and hopes of traumatized families and individuals that fell victim to the heartless cogwheels of a totalitarian regime. It will help a younger generation who has not lived under Communism to understand the past, and inspire them to work to build a better future -- Gjergj Erebara * Balkan Investigative Reporting Network *Like Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich, whose oral histories have documented political oppression, Rejmer allows the voices of everyday Albanians to reveal the privations and fear under which they lived . . . A gripping book of starkly revealing testimony * Kirkus Review *In the style of Svetlana Alexievich, Margo Rejmer uses interviews to approach the suffering of a still little-known people . . . Rejmer's poignant book rescues memory before it fades -- MARTA REBÓN * El País *Albania, enigmatic, mysterious Albania, was always the untold story of the Cold War, the 1989 revolutions and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Mud Sweeter Than Honey goes a very long way indeed towards putting that right. -- Charlie Connelly * New European *[Rejmer] lets the lived experience of Albanians speak for themselves, until the whole spectrum comes into view . . . a seamless translation -- Filip Noubel * Asymptote Journal *Tells, in their own words, the stories of Albanians during communism and especially those of prisoners of the regime. One word wrong or a friend who tries to flee and whole lives are ruined. Rejmer's is a fine collection. -- Tim Judah * Financial Times *[An] incredibly moving collection of oral histories . . . important enough, to be added to the history curriculum -- Tim Stanley * Telegraph *A pioneering, necessary book of such uncompromising clarity that even readers familiar with the broad outlines of Albania's recent past are likely to find its contents shocking. -- Roderick Bailey * Literary Review *Margo Rejmer, the Polish writer who assembled this extraordinary book, offers a 'polyphonic' account of victims of Albanian communism in the style of Svetlana Alexievich's Chernobyl Prayer -- Ian Thomson * Spectator *This outstanding record of recollections of those who lived through it makes for chilling reading . . . It is impossible to imagine a title that better captures the squalid and sinister horror of life in Albania under communism * Strong Words *Essential reading for anyone wishing to understand Communist Albania where, whether outside or inside prison, no one was every able to feel free -- Enriketa Papa-Pandelejmoni * History Today *

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Book SynopsisPakistan's largest city is a sprawling metropolis of 20 million people. A place of political turbulence, where lavish wealth and absolute poverty sit side by side, and where the lines between idealism and corruption can quickly blur. Through the stories of those who know the city best - including a journalist, an activist, and an ambulance driver - Samira Shackle paints a vivid, vibrant and often violent portrait of Karachi over the past decade: a period during which the Taliban arrived in Pakistan, adding to the daily perils of its residents and pushing their city into the international spotlight. Nuanced and fast-paced, Karachi Vice is an immersive, electrifying journey around one of the most compelling cities in the world.Trade ReviewAny of the finely drawn characters in Karachi Vice could be the subject of an entire book - placed beside each other they form a tapestry that reveals a violent, vibrant, remarkable, battered city. I was completely gripped by it -- Kamila ShamsieShackle expertly and empathetically leads the reader in ... the book reveals a city, a people - and through them a country - with tremendous poise and the skills of a fastidious reporter * Daily Telegraph *A blistering tour of Karachi's mean streets, seen through the eyes of the people who know it best. Heart-breaking and compelling in equal measure. To understand the forces shaping the mega-cities of the global south, join Shackle's characters and get under the skin of Pakistan's largest -- Ben RawlenceRemarkable... compelling... This is a sensitive and elegantly constructed book, which offers a moving snapshot of a restless city and its resilient citizens * Prospect *A moving account of the struggles of everday heroes - and of the unhappy metropolis that needs them * Economist *A brilliant portrait of a complex place... in some senses, the book is like a novel: each character is so beautifully drawn that we are in their heads with ease... alongside the brutality is the resilience, vitality and moral backbone of Shackle's five subjects: despite being battered day after day, they hold on to their values, and their character, and in doing so, they give us hope -- Razia Iqbal * Mail on Sunday *Gripping... Karachi Vice meticulously constructs a vibrant mosaic of a city's underbelly, while disentangling the ways in which Karachi is enmeshed with crime lords, gangs, political interests and militants. Samira Shackle's prose is nimble and propulsive, as she expertly combines interview, anecdote and reportage with in-depth socio-political analysis * TLS *Remarkable... compelling... This is a sensitive and elegantly constructed book, which offers a moving snapshot of a restless city and its resilient citizens * Prospect *

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Book SynopsisThe prizewinning author of The Ungrateful Refugee asks who is believed in our society, who is not - and why?'An ambitious and moving exploration of the borders we draw around credible victimhood that will cement Nayeri's position as a master storyteller of the refugee experience' Guardian Dina Nayeri's wide-ranging, groundbreaking new book combines deep reportage with her own life experience to examine what constitutes believability in our society. Intent on exploring ideas of persuasion and performance, Nayeri takes us behind the scenes in emergency rooms, corporate boardrooms, asylum interviews and into her own family, to ask - where lies the difference between being believed and being dismissed? What does this mean for our culture?As personal as it is profound in its reflections on language, history, morality and compassion, Who Gets Believed? investigates the unspoken social codes that determine how we relate to one another.'An important, courageous, brilliant book'Robert Macfarlane, bestselling author of Underland'Dina Nayeri asks an incredibly important question, and the answers she finds are crucial for all of us'Oliver Bullough, bestselling author of Butler to the WorldTrade ReviewAn elegant telling of truth to power... published at a poignant moment * Observer *An important, courageous, brilliant book; an interrogation of "disbelief culture" and the injustice that both fuels it and is fuelled by it, a form-shifting memoir of an already-remarkable life, and a moving, harrowing investigation of love, loss and care. -- Robert Macfarlane, author of UNDERLANDI was hugely moved by this book ... Essential reading, an extraordinary labor of love and hope that is destined to become indispensable in the continuing struggle for justice. -- John Burnside, author of A LIE ABOUT MY FATHERInstantly gripping... an ambitious and moving exploration of the border we draw around credible victimhood, and will cement Nayeri's position as a master story teller of the refugee experience * Guardian *Nayeri's mesmerizing, genre-bending book braids together narratives of asylum seekers, exonerated felons, and religious converts ... Heartbreaking and hopeful. Reading this book will upend your preconceptions about who is worthy of belief, as writing it did for Nayeri herself. -- Amanda Frost, author of YOU ARE NOT AMERICAN: CITIZENSHIP STRIPPING FROM DRED SCOTT TO THE DREAMERSA compelling, generous, and distinctive inquiry into the nature of belief, credibility, and, above all, the deeply unjust and unequal societies in which we live. -- Chitra Ramaswamy, author of HOMELANDS: THE HISTORY OF A FRIENDSHIPA profound, gorgeous, devastating book, exhilarating in both its compassion and its contemplation of pain ... Who Gets Believed? is that rarest of creations, an original work about a condition in which we are all implicated. -- Jeff Sharlet, bestselling author of THE FAMILY and THIS BRILLIANT DARKNESSA truly remarkable book, where universal and deeply personal themes are powerfully interwoven ... A masterclass in storytelling, teasing out the crucial implications of 'who gets believed' for all of us. -- Steve Crawshaw, policy director at Freedom from Torture and author of STREET SPIRIT: THE POWER OF PROTEST AND MISCHIEF

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Book SynopsisThink today's anti-abortion ideas are rooted in religious prohibitions or arguments about where life begins? Wrong: today's anti-abortion movements is largely financed and planned by far-right extremists. Many of them are avowedly fascist and white supremacist, afraid of a "great replacement" of the world's white population by other races, who are working hard to reshape governments and policies across Europe, North America and around the world. Much of this far-right organizing and funding network, however, has been overlooked by today's feminist and left movements. As investigative journalist Sian Norris uncovers here, it is through attacking abortion rights that fascist ideas from the dark web, incel chat boards, and fringe organizations comes to enter mainstream debate -- and to then shape governmental policy across Europe, from authoritarian regimes like Hungary's to liberal democracies like Britain. As Norris goes undercover at anti-abortion activist meetings, and pieces together the money trail linking American think tanks to far-right fascist groups, she maps out the pipeline by which fascism has become respectable across the Global North by taking away women's reproductive rights and autonomy.Trade ReviewWhen it comes to the critical issues shaping our society, there are journalists who try to observe and analyse from on high - and then there are journalists like Sian Norris, who throw themselves headfirst into the messy tangle of people, places and politics that matter, and do so with passion and bite. Norris is not a passive stenographer, she's a fighter for a better world and her work might just help us win one. -- Jack Schenker, author of The Egyptians and Now We Have Your AttentionA vital and sobering book. Sian Norris's reporting on reproductive rights has long been prescient, dogged, and courageous -- and in this book she gives us an unflinching portrait of quite how much women stand to lose. Her account of how abortion is positioned in our contemporary moment -- by misogyny, white supremacy, and authoritarianism -- is necessary reading. -- Katherine Angel, author of Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good AgainAttacks on abortion rights are not only assaults on women's freedom to live and love as they choose, most successfully targeting black and ethnic minority women, but they are today a key plank of the far right's drive for power. Providing a splendid call to arms, in these pages Sia^n Norris shows why the struggle to preserve women's reproductive and sexual freedoms is now fundamental to the defeat of fascistic forces globally, as well as the foundation for any fairer, progressive future for all of us. -- Lynne Segal author of Lean on MeAn incisive account of the relationship between white supremacist ideology and the attack on abortion rights. The significance, necessity, and timeliness of this book is, unfortunately, all too apparent. -- Helen Hester, co-author of After WorkA groundbreaking and definitive study of far-right misogyny and how to fight it. Norris traces the networks that are pushing bigotry into the heads of young men across the world and shows how they interact with the "respectable" right. -- Paul Mason, author of How to Stop FascismReminds us that once won, rights - all rights - have to be constantly defended. This excellent book may help do that. -- Vanessa Baird * New Internationalist *Essential reading on what has become - yet again - one of the most important battles of our times. Sian Norris is an illuminating and passionate guide to the war on women's bodies and rights - there is so much here I didn't know, and to have it all set down so lucidly makes this book as invaluable as it is engrossing. -- Marina HydeA thorough, alarmed delineation of threats to abortion rights around the world. * Kirkus Reviews *An effective clarion call against complacency. -- Mia Levitin * Sunday Times *Table of ContentsTABLE OF CONTENTSA note on languageForewordIntroductionChapter One: The Ideology: The Place of Women in Fascist ThoughtChapter Two: The Extremists: The Anti-Abortion Far RightChapter Three: The Infiltration: The Networks that Bring Extremist Right Politics Into the MainstreamChapter Four: The Allies: How (Some) Women Join the Far Right ­- from Trad Wives to Anti-Trans Chapter Five: The Money: Who is Funding the Anti-Abortion Right?Chapter Six: The Politicians: How the Far-Right Influences Governments Around the WorldChapter Seven: The Tipping Point: Which Future Do We Choose?AcknowledgementsNotes

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Book SynopsisIn 1890, the thirty-year-old Chekhov, already knowing that he was ill with tuberculosis, undertook an arduous eleven-week journey from Moscow across Siberia to the penal colony on the island of Sakhalin. Now collected here in one volume are the fully annotated translations of his impressions of his trip through Siberia and the account of his three-month sojourn on Sakhalin Island, together with his notes and extracts from his letters to relatives and associates. Highly valuable both as a detailed depiction of the Tsarist system of penal servitude and as an insight into Chekhov’s motivations and objectives for visiting the colony and writing the exposé, Sakhalin Island is a haunting work which had a huge impact both on Chekhov’s career and on Russian society.Trade ReviewAs a work of literature, Sakhalin Island is a masterpiece of restrained, dignified, unsentimental prose … a work of complete seriousness, full of clear, humane, practical suggestions for reform. * The Observer *Mr Reeve’s work reminds one that Chekhov was as great a master of the documentary genre – and also of the best academic prose – as of drama and narrative fiction … Sakhalin Island will never eclipse The Cherry Orchard. But it is every bit as impressive a masterpiece, and this new version will surely make its merits more widely known. * TLS *

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Book Synopsis''Maeve''s Times is funny and clever and kind, which are excellent qualities in both books and people'' Irish Times''As someone who fell off a chair not long ago trying to hear what they were saying at the next table in a restaurant, I suppose I am obsessively interested in what some might consider the trivia of other people''s lives.''Maeve Binchy is well known for her bestselling novels, but for many years Maeve was a journalist. From ''The Student Train'' to ''Plane Bores'' and ''Bathroom Joggers'' to ''When Beckett met Binchy'', these articles have all the warmth, wit and humanity of her fiction. Arranged in decades, from the 1960s to the 2000s, and including Maeve''s first and last ever piece of writing for the Irish Times, the columns also give a fascinating insight into the author herself.With an introduction written by her husband, the writer Gordon Snell, this collection of timeless writing reminds us of why the leading IrTrade ReviewBinchy . . . is a class act * DAILY EXPRESS *Maeve's Times is funny and clever and kind, which are excellent qualities in both books and people ... what this wonderful collection of her work for this paper from 1964 to 2011 makes abundantly clear is that she was a superb journalist * Irish Times *This selection of her work represents Binchy's eclectic interests, infectious sense of humor and wry take on social change... A blithe, entertaining collection that will surely delight Binchy's many fans. * KIRKUS *While the collection makes an enjoyable read on the merit of humor alone, editor Ingle's selections capture Binchy's journalistic apprenticeship, record an intelligent woman's perspective on a changing world, and offer entertaining glimpses of biography that Binchy fans will adore. * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY *You can see why, for a legion of female readers, Maeve Binchy is a one-woman opiate of the people * EVENING STANDARD *Maeve Binchy's work continues to inspire . . . thought-provoking, warm and funny in equal measure * WOMAN *Maeve had this marvellously black sense of humour and she was wildly funny and entertaining -- Cathy KellyAnyone seeking a wonderful spread of Maeve Binchy's unshowy, compelling, witty, truthful writing would find riches in MAEVE'S TIMES ... She has the writer's sense of how one word can make a phrase burst into life ... hugely enjoyable -- Joseph O'ConnorMaeve's Times is funny and clever and kind, which are excellent qualities in both books and people ... what this wonderful collection of her work for this paper from 1964 to 2011 makes abundantly clear is that she was a superb journalist * IRISH TIMES *

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Book Synopsis**Winner of the Lionel Gelber Prize 2024****A Financial Times Best Book of 2023**''A moving love letter to Europe'' Lea Ypi, author of FreeDrawing from the people who lived it, Homelands explores how Europe slowly recovered and rebuilt from World War Two. And then faltered.Timothy Garton Ash, our greatest writer about Europe, has spent a lifetime studying Europe and this deeply felt book is full of vivid experiences: from his father''s memories of D-Day and his own surveillance at the hands of the Stasi to interviewing Albanian guerrillas in the mountains of Kosovo and angry teenagers in the poorest quarters of Paris, as well as advising prime ministers, chancellors and presidents.Homelands is at once a living, breathing history of a period of unprecedented progress, a clear-eyed account of how so much then went wrong and an urgent call to the citizens of this great old continent to understan

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Book SynopsisJeremy Bowen is the BBC's International Editor. He has reported from more than eighty countries, covering more than twenty wars. They include all those in the Middle East since 1990, as well as those in Afghanistan, Chechnya, El Salvador, Somalia, Rwanda, former Yugoslavia and Ukraine. His books include Six Days, War Stories, The Arab Uprisings and The Making of the Modern Middle East. He lives in London.

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Book SynopsisA classic collection of the New Yorker's most urgent and groundbreaking reporting from the front lines of the climate emergencyIn 1989, just one year after climatologist James Hansen first came before a Senate committee and testified that the earth was now warmer than it had ever been in recorded history, thanks to humankind's heedless consumption of fossil fuels, New Yorker writer Bill McKibben published a deeply reported and considered piece on climate change and what it could mean for the planet.At the time, the piece was to some speculative to the point of alarmist; read now, McKibben's work is heroically prescient. Since then, the New Yorker has devoted enormous attention to climate change, describing the causes of the crisis, the political and ecological conditions we now find ourselves in, and the scenarios and solutions we face.The Fragile Earth tells the story of climate change its past, present, and future taking readers from Greenland to the Great Plains, and into both labTrade Review‘Immersive and engaging . . . Reading three decades of essays on this important and urgent topic, one is appalled that we know so much and have repeatedly done so little with that knowledge, as well as simultaneously hopeful and skeptical that technological solutions can save us now’ Library Journal ‘Illuminating and powerful . . . A memorable book with a resounding message’ Publishers Weekly (starred review)

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Book SynopsisIncludes topics as useful and diverse as: the perils of bicycle ownership; why Australians - not Brits - need bull bars; why soon only geriatrics will be driving BMWs; the difficultly of deciding on the best car for your wedding; why Jesus' dad would have owned a Nissan Bluebird; and why it is that bus lanes cause traffic jams.Trade ReviewBrilliant...laugh-out-loud * Daily Telegraph *Outrageously funny...will have you in stitches * Time Out *Very funny...I cracked up laughing on the tube * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisWill Storr is a longform journalist and novelist. His features have appeared in various publications, including Guardian Weekend, The Times Magazine, Observer Magazine, GQ, Marie Claire and the Sydney Morning Herald. He is a contributing editor at Esquire magazine. He has been named New Journalist of the Year and Feature Writer of the Year, and has won a National Press Club award for excellence. In 2010, his investigation into the kangaroo meat industry won the Australian Food Media award for Best Investigative Journalism and, in 2012, he was presented with the One World Press award and the Amnesty International award for his work on sexual violence against men. He is also the author of Selfie, an investigation into social media, and the history of individualism.Trade Review‘I loved it . . . funny, serious, richly vivid . . . Read this book.’ Daily TelegraphAn investigation not only of outlandish belief systems, but of all belief systems . . . engaging' Sunday Times'Storr can open chapters like a stage conjurer, and his prose has an easy, laconic style embracing Jon Ronson's taste for the fabulously weird and Louis Theroux's ability to put his subjects at ease. He is a funny and companionable guide . . . [who] confounds expectations.' Guardian'Incontrovertibly brilliant' Esquire'Brilliant' Grazia'The Heretics throws new and salutary light on all our conceits and beliefs. Very valuable, and a great read to boot, this is investigative journalism of the highest order.' Independent, Book of the Week'Utterly engrossing . . . The Heretics is an accessible and absolutely compelling read, Storr leaving us with a distinct lack of trust in the verity of our own beliefs. The most dangerous thing anyone can do is dismiss as stupid the beliefs of fringe extremists.' Daily Express‘I don't totally agree with The Heretics, which is why I enjoyed it so much, it pinpricked my mind from some of its lazy slumbering’ Robin Ince'Storr takes his personal experiences on a Louis-Theroux type ride . . . [and] opens up his life as another source of irrationality, leading the reader to question their own core beliefs.' Stylist‘[Storr] seeks not to mock strange convictions, but to get inside the minds of those who hold them. The result is an entertaining journey dotted with some fascinating reportage . . . Storr remains sufficiently dubious of improbable claims, but sufficiently open to the genuine distress of those who make them, to explore alternative explanations for their plight’ Observer'Read this and never trust your own mind again.' Q Magazine'The Heretics is essentially a book about belief written by a sceptic questioning his own scepticism . . . At first glance Storr covers much the same territory as those other explorers of the outer realms of belief, Jon Ronson and Louis Theroux, but his tone is both less sneery and more genuinely exploratory than either . . . This is a humane and generous book and in the face of those ultra-rationalists and materialists who wish to rob us of the wonder of human existence, its insightful exploration of lives lived “beyond the facts” is to be celebrated.' Sunday Telegraph'Will Storr is a versatile, imaginative, committed long-form journalist with a populist touch. He is often brave with regard to his article choices . . . a talented, ambitious writer.' IndependentImpressive . . . brilliant . . . Storr makes you think about the people on both sides of the debate . . . Very astute. * Evening Standard *Impressive * The Scotsman *Storr combines hard investigative journalism with a degree of compassion and self-deprecation that is rarely found in this genre. He's also very funny. -- Ed Yong, bestselling author of I Contain MultitudesA very funny, scientific look, with personal stories, about why people have different opinions and whether you can ever change somebody’s mind. -- Sara Pascoe * Daily Express *

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Book SynopsisAn important and deeply moving book' TelegraphThis gripping, inflaming book, itself an act of fury, shows how revenge can transmute into politics or be crushed by it' Larissa MacFarquharBrittany Smith, a young woman from Stevenson, Alabama, killed a man she said raped her in her own home, but was denied the protection of a self-defense argument. Angoori Dahariya led a gang in Uttar Pradesh, India, dedicated to avenging victims of domestic abuse. Cicek Mustafa Zibo fought in a thousands-strong all-female militia that battled ISIS in Syria. Can women's acts of vengeance help to create lasting change in their communities, or will they ultimately hurt their cause?In this profoundly moving book, award-winning journalist Elizabeth Flock explores the stories of three women living in deeply patriarchal places with destructive cultures of honour, places in which institutions government, police, courts failed to protect women from violence, leaving them no option but to stand up and prot

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Book SynopsisA stunning classic set in Italy's most vibrant and turbulent metropolis - Naples - in the immediate aftermath of World War Two. These lively and superbly written stories helped inspire Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels. Ortese's work was also championed by Italo Calvino, who was her Italian editor. The stories and reportage collected in this volume form a powerful portrait of ordinary lives, both high and low, family dramas, love affairs, and struggles to pay the rent, set against the crumbling courtyards of the city itself, and the dramatic landscape of Naples Bay. This classic is exquisitely rendered in English by Ann Goldstein and Jenny McPhee, two of the leading translators working from Italian today. Included in the collection is 'A Pair of Eyeglasses', one of the most widely praised Italian short stories of the last century.

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Book Synopsis'A hugely significant and wonderfully haunting collection' William Boyd In the 1920s and 1930s, Joseph Roth travelled extensively in Europe, living in hotels and writing about the towns through which he passed and the people he encountered. Collected in one volume, his experiences in Italy, Germany, Russia, Albania and Ukraine form a series of tender vignettes that capture life in the inter-war years. Evocative, curious and sharply observed, these literary postcards document a continent clinging to tradition while on the brink of further upheaval.Trade ReviewA hugely significant and wonderfully haunting collection of Joseph Roth's journalism from the 1920s and '30s. Superbly translated by Michael Hofmann -- William BoydThis wonderful selection of journalism from the Weimar years, a period Roth spent in Paris, Germany and on the road, displays his genius from every angle, as a rebel, a loyalist and a man of compassion. It has been translated by Michael Hofmann, whose ear seems so faultless that you feel in reading his work that you have not been reading a translation at all -- Jan Morris * Daily Telegraph ***** *Thanks to the expert translations of Michael Hofmann, Roth is on track to canonical status... The writing is so consistently incisive that we devour the lot, compulsively, from cover to cover. Roth's philosophical eye universalises minor incidents with aphorisms worthy of Marcus Aurelius -- Amanda Hopkinson * Independent *There are so many fantastic scenes, indelible characters and exquisite lines to marvel at... Dazzling, elegiac, mordant and harrowingly oracular -- George Prochnik * New York International Times *This collection of [Roth's] journalism creates a vivid sense of a continent on the brink of change -- Lucy Popescu * Independent on Sunday *As good as any book in the series [of Hofmann's translations] and, at certain unheralded moments, better -- James Buchan * The Oldie *Atmospheric... dark and funny * National Geographic Traveller *[Roth's] style is quick, dashed with colour and rendered vivid in English by Michael Hofmann... In an explicit labour of love, the distinguished translator draws his favourite bits of Rothania into a multi-hued frescos of a raucous time and place... A new classic -- Stoddard Martin * Jewish Chronicle *Dazzling... An exquisite time capsule -- Robert Bound * Monocle *Poet Michael Hofmann most brilliantly conveys the fury that makes Roth special * Irish Times *Each of the [collection] is an evocative vignette of a bygone era... The Hotel Years is an instant classic -- Lucy Scholes, Paperback of the Week * Observer *Wonderful... displays [Roth's] genius from every angle * Daily Telegraph *Of ineffable worth [these stories] offer us beautifully drawn portraits of the lost world of Mitel-Europa, complete with long train journeys, animated boulevard cafes, grand hotels and a seemingly stylish life lived out of two suitcases in the 1920s and 1930s... [Roth's] stories are bathed with alarming foreknowledge of the new emerging forms of power, yet have no political axe to grind. They are elegiac, dazzling and prescient -- Barnaby Rogerson * Country Life *It seems perhaps a little trite to parrot Roth's assertion that his journalism has given us a portrait of an age - but it is only trite because it is true. With The Hotel Years, Roth has done far more than just give us the portrait of just his age, however, he has also given us a portrait of our own. Reading The Hotel Years is like staring into a mirror - the same anxieties, the same hatreds, the same longings, the same forces at play... Strikingly, Roth's pieces frequently display a Kafka-like suspension of the rules of our world -- Josh Romm * Forward *

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Book SynopsisDip Lit is an anthology not just of wild swimming writing, but also of stories of how a jump into deep waters can change us. From gentle dips in calm waters to fights for survival in stormy seas and moments of revelation amidst the waves.Gasp at the cold with Amy Liptrot, marvel at the 19th century sea-cure craze with Jane Austen, be transfixed by Iris Murdoch's monster rising from the waves, slip into the river with Mark Twain.Learn how to swim with the frogs with John Muir, fight the rapid tide with Lord Byron, let go of everything with Tove Jansson.Open water swimming plays a pivotal role in many great stories, from Homer's Odyssey to contemporary poetry and memoir. There is adventure here and playfulness. Love and desire spark between characters at the edge of the water, as well as freedom from constraint.It's a dip into the deep sea of words. Slide in.

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Book Synopsis'Uplifting and utterly defiant' Matt Nixson, Daily Express 'Immediate and important ... This is an insider's account of how an ordinary life became extraordinary' Helen Davies, The Times'At first we did not understand what war was. You can't understand it until you see it and hear it.'As Russian forces build up beyond the Ukrainian borders and the prospect of war becomes a devastating reality, Andrey Kurkov chronicles the shocking impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Part political and historical commentary, part personal journal, Kurkov explores the fraught interrelation of Russian and Ukrainian history, the complicated coexistence of their languages, and in describing how a peaceful society defies occupation, the author builds an image of a culture which, contrary to Putin's claims, is unique and democratic, liberal and diverse, one that will 'resist to the end'.Redirecting his satirical flair to paint a defiant portrait of his compatriots, Kurkov tells of a people united against erasure. Bread is baked and shared in the ruins. An amputee is carried aboard an evacuating train, grandmothers escape occupied towns with their noisome roosters. And despite the networks of toloka, of community work for common good, being stretched to breaking point, and the embittering reticence of some European nations to make good their promises of aid and armaments, hope channels its perennial resistance: children are born deep within besieged cities and farmers go on working the fields made lethal by unexploded shells. Kurkov braids his personal story with those of other displaced Ukrainians and the communities that have gone to extraordinary lengths to care for them. Showing an irrepressible spirit, they 'wait for the moment when it will be safe to return,' he writes, 'just as I am waiting.'Trade ReviewA vivid, moving and sometimes funny account of the reality of life during Russia's invasion -- Marc Bennetts * The Times *No-one with the slightest interest in this war, or the nation on which it is being waged, should fail to read Andrey Kurkov -- Dominic Lawson * Daily Mail *Andrey Kurkov [is] one of the most articulate ambassadors to the West for the situation in his homeland -- Sam Leith * Spectator *Immediate and important. . . From the grim incredulity at Russians massing on the border to the displacement of millions of people, this is an insider's account of how an ordinary life became extraordinary. It is also about survival, hope and humanity -- Helen Davies * The Times *The author's on-the-ground account is packed with surprising details about the human effects of the Russian assault. . . His voice is genial but also impassioned, never more so than when deploring Putin's efforts to erase Ukrainian culture and history. Ukraine, he says, 'will either be free, independent and European, or it will not exist at all'. That's why the war has to be fought, with no concession of territory. And he remains quietly hopeful that it will be won -- Blake Morrison * Guardian *Probably the first important literary work to emerge from a conflict that appears likely to alter the course of world history, Diary of an Invasion is a thoughtful and humane memoir by one of Ukraine's most prominent living authors -- Simon Caterson * Sydney Morning Herald *Kurkov's diaries. . . make the early days of the war vivid for the reader. He writes stirringly of the notes people begin leaving in their cars offering lifts to the border; of his sudden longing for the comforting sweetness of honey; of the cigarettes required to bribe Russian soldiers at checkpoints in the east. Here are the kind of stories you don't see on the television news -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *Uplifting and utterly defiant -- Matt Nixson * Daily Express *It is little wonder. . . Kurkov, known for his keen eye for the absurdities of life, would pack his diary of the war withfascinating and eccentric details. . . yet what makes Kurkov's diary memorable is its departures into the more quotidian gossip-filled trips to the sauna, Ukraine's morale-boosting victory in the Eurovision Song Contest, ruminations on the status of Ukrainian literature amid paper shortages, and ploys to protect animals in the country's shuttered zoos -- Megan Gibson * New Statesman *Kurkov, an internationally-lauded novelist, is strongest when he writes on cultural matters. And this, he demonstrates convincingly, is a cultural war -- Ed O’Loughlin * Irish Times *With the sort of eye-witness detail missing from even the most rigorous newspaper account, this book makes for essential reading -- Claire Allfree * Metro *

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Book SynopsisAn award-winning journalist courageously reveals the personal cost of war reporting, vividly recalling his dangerous assignment and confronting its devastating impact on his family. After ten years reporting from central Africa, Anjan Sundaram is living a quiet life in Canada with his wife and new-born. But when preparations for genocide emerge in the Central African Republic, he is suddenly torn between his duty to his family, and his moral responsibility to expose the conflict. Soon he is travelling through the CAR, driven by a possible spy—discovering ransacked villages and locals fleeing imminent massacre, fielding offers of mined gold, and hearing of soldiers who steal schoolbooks for cigarette paper. When he refuses to return home, journeying instead into a rebel stronghold, he learns that there is no going back to the life he has left behind. Breakup illuminates the personal price paid by those bearing witness on the frontlines of humanitarian crimes across the globe. This brilliantly introspective, strikingly grounded account of perilous warzones and inner turmoil is sure to become a modern classic.Trade Review'War destroys countries. War destroys love. At its heart, Breakup is about a forgotten war in a country far away. But it is also a universal story, beautifully written and passionately told, of a seeker on a dangerous journey, about the power of love and the eventual redemption that a child and family can bring. Breakup captures this in all its pain, joy, sadness, and mystery.' * Janine di Giovanni, author of Ghosts by Daylight: Love, War, and Redemption *

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Book SynopsisEvery time you try to say 'Africa is...' the words crumble and break. From every generalisation you must exclude at least five countries. And just as you think you've nailed down a certainty, you find the opposite is also true. Africa is full of surprises. For the past three decades, Richard Dowden has travelled this vast and varied continent, listening, learning, and constantly re-evaluating all he thinks he knows. Country by country, he has sought out the local and the personal, the incidents, actions, and characters to tell a story of modern sub-Saharan Africa - an area affected by poverty, disease and war, but also a place of breathtaking beauty, generosity and possibility. The result is a landmark book, compelling, illuminating, and always surprising. Updated for 2018, Africa remains one of the most comprehensive, intelligent and responsive works on the continent ever written.

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisIt has been called the single most historic event of the 20th century: On July 20, 1969, after a decade of tests and training, supported by a staff of 400,000 engineers and scientists, and with a budget of billions, the most powerful rocket ever launched brought Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins to the moon. Nobody captured the men, the mood, and the machinery like Norman Mailer, hired by LIFE magazine to cover the mission in a dazzling reportage he later enhanced into the brilliantly crafted book, Of a Fire on the Moon. Rediscover this epoch-making event with TASCHEN’s adaptation of Mailer’s account, now in our popular Reader's Edition so you can really curl up and travel not just back in time, but into outer space. The text is accompanied by hundreds of photographs from the NASA vaults, the archives of LIFE, and other leading magazines of the day, documenting the development of the agency and the mission, life inside the command module and on the moon’s surface, as well as the world’s jubilant reaction to the landing.Captions by leading Apollo 11 experts explain the history and science behind the images, citing the mission log, publications of the day, and postflight astronaut interviews, while an evocative introduction by Colum McCann celebrates Mailer’s incomparable skill at transforming “the science of space...the weight of history...the breadth of mythology” into prose.Trade Review“A Moby-Dick of space… the gift of a genius.” * New York Magazine *“The greatest event of the last century as told by one of America’s greatest writers of the last century.” * Hunger *

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Book SynopsisNeerja Chowdhury's book explores India's prime ministers' key decisions, offering insights into their leadership styles and historical impact. It analyzes pivotal moments to reveal decision-making processes of leaders like Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, V. P. Singh, P. V. Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Manmohan Singh.

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Book Synopsis‘Reads like a mashup of The Godfather and Chinatown, complete with gun battles, a ruthless kingpin and a mountain of cash. Except that it’s all true.’ – TimeIn this thrilling story of real-life events, the bestselling author of Empire of Pain investigates a secret world run by a surprising criminal: a charismatic middle-aged grandmother, who from a tiny noodle shop in New York’s Chinatown, managed a multimillion-dollar business smuggling people.In The Snakehead, Patrick Radden Keefe reveals the inner workings of Cheng Chui Ping aka Sister Ping’s complex empire and recounts the decade-long FBI investigation that eventually brought her down. He follows an often incompetent and sometimes corrupt INS as it pursues desperate immigrants risking everything to come to America, and along the way he paints a stunning portrait of a generation of undocumented immigrants and the intricate underground economy that sustains and exploits them.Grand in scope yet propulsive in narrative force, The Snakehead is both a kaleidoscopic crime story and a brilliant exploration of the ironies of immigration in America.‘A powerful piece of reportage about the violent underworld of New York’s Chinatown’ - The TimesTrade ReviewReads like a mashup of The Godfather and Chinatown, complete with gun battles, a ruthless kingpin and a mountain of cash. Except that it's all true. * Time *Essential reading. . . . A rich, beautifully told story, so suspenseful and with so many unexpected twists that in places it reads like a John le Carré novel. * The Washington Post *A powerful piece of reportage about the violent underworld of New York’s Chinatown * The Times *A masterwork . . . In this single tale about a global criminal, Keefe finds a story of quintessentially American hope. * Christian Science Monitor *Painstakingly reported and vividly told. . . . As immigration reform languishes in Washington . . . everyone involved--from policymakers to activists to the undocumented--would be wise to read The Snakehead. * Newsweek *Published in the UK for the first time, Patrick Radden Keefe’s tireless investigation of human trafficking from China to the US reveals the desperation of the migrants and the woman at the heart of it * The Observer *A formidably well-researched book that is as much a paean to its author's industriousness as it is a chronicle of crime. -- Janet Maslin * New York Times *Bracing, vivid . . . Keefe writes gracefully, perceptively, insightfully . . . Without sacrificing one iota of narrative momentum, he untangles a dauntingly complicated human-trafficking operation so a reader can effortlessly follow along. * The New York Times Book Review *Thoroughly researched and creatively drawn (some scenes are highly dramatic and vivid) by the New Yorker writer, [The Snakehead] is ultimately about the risks these refugees took to play their part in the enduring, grand narrative theme of the American Dream. * The Sydney Morning Herald *Brilliant . . . Keefe’s mastery of this chapter of our ongoing immigration saga is impressive. He muses thoughtfully about its many conundrums and highlights how our ethos of welcoming the persecuted gets soured by bad policy and the pervasive exploitation of the helpless. * Los Angeles Times *Engrossing. . . . Keefe’s narrative delves deeply into Chinatown and the labyrinthine smuggling routes between China and America, but it’s also a glimpse into our conflicted feelings about illegals and the morass of America’s immigration policy. * New York Magazine *A timely, powerful and thoroughly researched book. * The Irish Times *

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Book SynopsisPolitics looked straightforward when Patrick Kidd took over the reins of the daily political sketch in The Times in 2015. David Cameron had just won a general election and would clearly be Prime Minister for as long as he wanted; George Osborne was his obvious successor (rather than the editor of a free London evening newspaper); Theresa May was a slightly underwhelming Home Secretary and Jeremy Corbyn an anonymous Labour backbencher best known as a serial rebel against his own party. Then suddenly everything went a bit strange. In this anthology of his best columns from the past four years, Kidd plays the role of parliamentary theatre critic, chronicling the collapse of Cameron, the nebulous clarity of May, the rise and refusal to fall of Corbyn and Boris Johnson's repeated failure to keep his foot out of his mouth. Featuring a menagerie of supporting oddballs, such as Jacob and the Mogglodytes, Failing Grayling, Gavin `Private Pike' Williamson and the simpering lobby fodder that are Toady, Lickspittle and Creep, this is a much-needed antidote to the gloom of the Brexit years.Trade Review"The Weak are a Long Time in Politics is a gathering of, as it were, verbal Peter Brookes cartoons, a skewering of characters capable of unabashedly giving diametrically opposed answers in five minutes to the same important question."- Roger Lewis, The Times "Much more than a collection of parliamentary sketches for The Times, it coheres as a book - a masterpiece of satire." - The Spectator

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