Search results for ""Author Bill"
Intersentia Ltd Globalization and Its Impact on the Future of Human Rights and International Criminal Justice
Globalization is not a new phenomenon. New realities have emerged over the past two decades which have given it greater influence in the affairs of states. This coincided with the increasing inability of states and international organizations to carry out their institutional functions for the common good. This is testing a number of assumptions about the future of human rights and international criminal justice.The changes in state priorities concerning human rights and international criminal justice evidence a subtle change in the values of the international community. This is particularly evident in the enhanced concerns of states with issues of national security as they are perceived in so many different ways. At the same time states' ability to govern and deliver public services are increasingly being challenged.Science and technology dominate the present state of globalization and in some positive ways and have increased human interdependence and interconnectedness but with paradoxical positive and negative effects and outcomes.They enhance the power and wealth of certain states while increasing the gap between those states and others. This gap between the ''haves'' and the ''have nots'' continues to increase. With world population projected to grow from seven to nine billion, with disproportionate availability of food and other resources for those most in need of it, social, economic and political disparities are enhanced. Internal state dysfunction is on the increase as evidenced by the number of failed and failing states among developing and under-developed societies.Globalization has not only enhanced the power and wealth of certain states with resources and technological, including military capabilities, it has also given these states a claim of exceptionalism. That claim has also extended to certain multinational corporations and other non-state actors (NSAs) because of their wealth, worldwide activities, and their economic and political power and influence over national and international institutions. For all practical purposes, many of these multinational entities have become beyond the reach of the law, whether national or international. As a result they and their principal actors benefit from impunity notwithstanding the harmful consequences of their conduct on human beings and on the environment. Environmental changes resulting from the international community's failure to develop and adequate system of control over fossil fuel consumption and other factors impacting climate change have and will continue to unleash harmful consequences on certain parts of the world, which will impact certain populations.As these and other negative consequences of globalization occur, it is already evident that the values and legal protections afforded to human rights, including an end to impunity for international crimes is receding. The ''Responsibility to Protect'', adopted by world summit of 2005 has never been put into effect. Similarly, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Victims of Crime has also never been put into effect. How states and the international community will react in the face of the forthcoming challenges of population growth, resource scarcity, environmental disasters and other natural and human tragedies is a legitimate source of concern.The absence of an international system to regulate these needs for human survivability will necessarily mean that the human rights of some will be sacrificed. All this has negative consequences for human rights, yet nothing that the international system presently offers can mitigate these consequences only the occasional good will of some states.What remains to help counteract and mitigate the cascade of negative effects and outcomes of unbridled globalization on our planet are international civil society institutions and some concerned states. What they may be capable of achieving in the face of the changing landscape of the world order is, however, difficult to assess.
£119.00
Permuted Press They Call Me Ishmael
Set in the South Pacific and based on true events, this is a novel about war, gold, interracial friendship, and the emergence of a new nation.Growing up in Bougainville, an island archipelago in the South Pacific, Ishmael always wanted to be a soldier. The Crisis—a brutal civil war with Papua New Guinea ignited by the gargantuan Panguna Mine—gives him his chance. As the guerrilla leader of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army, Ishmael secures a peace agreement that provides his islands with a measure of autonomy and the future right to conduct an independence referendum. If the people vote affirmatively, Bougainville could become the newest nation on earth. In the aftermath of the Crisis, Bougainville’s corrupt and inept government causes a vacuum. From its perch across the Pacific, China salivates. They covet Bougainville, both for its Panguna Mine and its strategic location, and are prepared to do whatever it takes to grab it. When Ishmael and Bougainville’s chiefs ask Jack Davis, a pin-striped American investor, to help rebuild their economy, he is intrigued. Although primitive, Bougainville holds billions in gold and copper, and its people seem lovely. Jack’s life has been comfortable, but things are changing. His family members have moved on with their lives, and his country doesn’t seem to value people like him anymore. Maybe Bougainville would be different. That two men—one black and one white—from totally different walks of life could meet on a remote island and decide they stand for the same things is a testament to Bougainville and its people, and shapes a story that anyone who believes in the innate goodness of humanity should read. The fact that it all really happened is truly inspirational.
£24.98
Oxford University Press Inc The Curse of the Somers: The Secret History behind the U.S. Navy's Most Infamous Mutiny
A detailed and riveting account of the U.S. Navy's greatest mutiny and its wide-ranging cultural and historical impact The greatest controversy in the history of the U.S. Navy of the early American Republic was the revelation that the son of the Secretary of War had seemingly plotted a bloody mutiny that would have turned the U.S. brig Somers into a pirate ship. The plot discovered, he and his co-conspirators were hastily condemned and hanged at sea. The repercussions of those acts brought headlines, scandal, a fistfight at a cabinet meeting, a court martial, ruined lives, lost reputations, and tales of a haunted ship “bound for the devil” and lost tragically at sea with many of its crew. The “Somers affair” led to the founding of the U.S. Naval Academy and it remains the Navy's only acknowledged mutiny in its history. The story also inspired Herman Melville's White-Jacket and Billy Budd. Others connected to the Somers included Commodore Perry, a relation and defender of the Somers' captain Mackenzie; James Fenimore Cooper, whose feud with the captain, dating back to the War of 1812, resurfaced in his reportage of the affair; and Raphael Semmes, the Somers' last caption who later served in the Confederate Navy. The Curse of the Somers is a thorough recreation of this classic tale, told with the help of recently uncovered evidence. Written by a maritime historian and archaeologist who helped identify the long-lost wreck and subsequently studied its sunken remains, this is a timeless tale of life and death at sea. James P. Delgado re-examines the circumstances, drawing from a rich historical record and from the investigation of the ship's sunken remains. What surfaces is an all-too-human tale that resonates and chills across the centuries.
£23.49
Cornell University Press The Despot's Guide to Wealth Management: On the International Campaign against Grand Corruption
An unprecedented new international moral and legal rule forbids one state from hosting money stolen by the leaders of another state. The aim is to counter grand corruption or kleptocracy ("rule by thieves"), when leaders of poorer countries—such as Marcos in the Philippines, Mobutu in the Congo, and more recently those overthrown in revolutions in the Arab world and Ukraine—loot billions of dollars at the expense of their own citizens. This money tends to end up hosted in rich countries. These host states now have a duty to block, trace, freeze, and seize these illicit funds and hand them back to the countries from which they were stolen. In The Despot's Guide to Wealth Management, J. C. Sharman asks how this anti-kleptocracy regime came about, how well it is working, and how it could work better. Although there have been some real achievements, the international campaign against grand corruption has run into major obstacles. The vested interests of banks, lawyers, and even law enforcement often favor turning a blind eye to foreign corruption proceeds. Recovering and returning looted assets is a long, complicated, and expensive process. Sharman used a private investigator, participated in and observed anti-corruption policy, and conducted more than a hundred interviews with key players. He also draws on various journalistic exposés, whistle-blower accounts, and government investigations to inform his comparison of the anti-kleptocracy records of the United States, Britain, Switzerland, and Australia. Sharman calls for better policing, preventative measures, and use of gatekeepers like bankers, lawyers, and real estate agents. He also recommends giving nongovernmental organizations and for-profit firms more scope to independently investigate corruption and seize stolen assets.
£23.99
Taylor & Francis Inc Mobile Communication: Dimensions of Social Policy
In the few short decades since their commercial deployment, 5 billion people—about three-quarters of all humanity, including children—have become mobile phone users. No technology has even approached the mobile phone's wildfire success. Effects of this success are apparent everywhere, ranging from accident scenes and earthquake rescue efforts to demeanor in the classroom and at dinner tables. No one interested in the next generation of issues provoked by the mobile communication revolution will want to miss this important new collection of essays.The mobile phone has given near-transcendent power to ordinary people. All aspects of social life have been touched by mobile technology. An ever-growing host of tracking, immersion, gaming, and commercial applications are becoming available. The community of mobile communication scholars has blossomed from a handful of pioneers a decade ago to a large and dynamic intellectual community that spans the globe. Area researchers have gained much insight into cultural, symbolic, and social interaction aspects of mobile communication as well as its relevance to commerce.To address the social policy dimension of the mobile communication revolution, this volume presents analyses by leading thinkers in the field. The volume offers novel and keen insights into the topic. Subjects include the role of mobiles in policy formation and evaluation in several areas including the mobile-digital divide and political campaigns. Also explored are processes and policy implications of mobiles in creating or alleviating social problems including social isolation and family dispersion. Other chapters analyze social policies for mobile devices, including attempts to regulate the use of the technology and to understand and moderate its potential harm to human health. The contributors' scope ranges across five continents and they address concerns at local, national, and international levels.
£135.00
University of Pennsylvania Press Covenant Brothers: Evangelicals, Jews, and U.S.-Israeli Relations
Weaving together the stories of activists, American Jewish leaders, and Israeli officials in the wake of the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, Covenant Brothers portrays the dramatic rise of evangelical Christian Zionism as it gained prominence in American politics, Israeli diplomacy, and international relations after World War II. According to Daniel G. Hummel, conventional depictions of the Christian Zionist movement—the organized political and religious effort by conservative Protestants to support the state of Israel—focus too much on American evangelical apocalyptic fascination with the Jewish people. Hummel emphasizes instead the institutional, international, interreligious, and intergenerational efforts on the part of Christians and Jews to mobilize evangelical support for Israel. From missionary churches in Israel to Holy Land tourism, from the Israeli government to the American Jewish Committee, and from Billy Graham's influence on Richard Nixon to John Hagee's courting of Donald Trump, Hummel reveals modern Christian Zionism to be an evolving and deepening collaboration between Christians and the state of Israel. He shows how influential officials in the Israeli Ministry of Religious Affairs and Foreign Ministry, tasked with pursuing a religious diplomacy that would enhance Israel's standing in the Christian world, combined forces with evangelical Christians to create and organize the vast global network of Christian Zionism that exists today. He also explores evangelicalism's embrace of Jewish concepts, motifs, and practices and its profound consequences on worshippers' political priorities and their relationship to Israel. Drawing on religious and government archives in the United States and Israel, Covenant Brothers reveals how an unlikely mix of Christian and Jewish leaders, state support, and transnational networks of institutions combined religion, politics, and international relations to influence U.S. foreign policy and, eventually, global geopolitics.
£45.00
Harvard University Press Rosewood: Endangered Species Conservation and the Rise of Global China
A riveting study of the booming rosewood trade between China and Madagascar uncovers an alternative approach to environmentalism that disrupts Western models.Rosewood is the world’s most trafficked endangered species by value, accounting for larger outlays than ivory, rhino horn, and big cats put together. Nearly all rosewood logs are sent to China, fueling a $26 billion market for classically styled furniture. Vast expeditions across Asia and Africa search for the majestic timber, and legions of Chinese ships sail for Madagascar, where rosewood is purchased straight from the forest.The international response has been to interdict the trade, but in this incisive account Annah Lake Zhu suggests that environmentalists have misunderstood both the intent and the effect of China’s appetite for rosewood, causing social and ecological damage in the process. For one thing, Chinese consumers are understandably seeking to reclaim their cultural heritage, restoring a centuries-old tradition of home furnishing that the Cultural Revolution had condemned. In addition, Chinese firms are investing in environmental preservation. Far from simply exploiting the tree, businesses are carefully managing valuable forests and experimenting with extensive new plantings. This sustainable-use paradigm differs dramatically from the conservation norms preferred by Western-dominated NGOs, whose trade bans have prompted speculation and high prices, even encouraging criminal activity. Meanwhile, attempts to arm conservation task forces—militias meant to guard the forests—have backfired.Drawing on years of fieldwork in China and Madagascar, Rosewood upends the pieties of the global aid industry. Zhu offers a rigorous look at what environmentalism and biodiversity protection might look like in a world no longer dominated by the West.
£31.46
Columbia University Press For Better or for Worse: The Marriage of Science and Government in the United States
The development of an American science establishment-today an amalgam of scientists, engineers, universities, industrial laboratories, and federal science agencies-began early in the twentieth century when the federal government began to invest in a national scientific infrastructure. During World War II this investment swelled to colossal proportions. At present, the yearly federal investment in basic science and technology amounts to about thirty-five billion dollars. How did this complex marriage between science and government occur? How will increasing economic pressures affect its future? In this engaging overview of the science establishment and its relationship with the federal government, renowned physicist Alfred K. Mann details the reasons behind the creation of the four nonmilitary federal science agencies that are responsible for the bulk of this budget and are the principal supporters of scientific research and technology in American universities. Looking into each agency, he elucidates the ways in which decisions were made, whose interests were at stake, and the resulting discoveries, mishaps, and bureaucratic mazes that were constructed in the name of research. Mann interweaves fascinating stories that grew out of the scientific enterprise: * the allies' invention during World War II of the proximity fuse and its tremendous battlefield success, * the first use of blood plasma in World War II field hospitals, * the invention of radar, * strategic policies of the Cold War, * the double helix of DNA, * space explorations and the space missions, * modern global positioning systems (GPS), * satellite surveillance, and * recent declassification of covert operations. Charting the origins and operations of a remarkable collaboration, For Better or for Worse encompasses many of the key scientific discoveries of our time and offers a renewed vision of the future direction of the United States science establishment.
£49.50
Nova Science Publishers Inc Diabetes and Diabetic Complications: Current Status and Future Perspectives
Diabetes mellitus is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in the modern world. Persistent hyperglycaemia is responsible for several complications of diabetes, such as diabetic retinopathy, diabetic nephropathy, diabetic neuropathy, diabetic cardiomyopathy, diabetic autonomic neuropathy, diabetic ketoacidosis, diabetic foot ulcer, gestational diabetes, and diabetic mastopathy. With the advancement of technology, several new drugs have been developed for treatment of diabetes and diabetic complications. Moreover, alternative and complementary medicines have also been employed to manage diabetes and its associated complications. Despite the availability of a plethora of therapeutic agents, the management of diabetes and diabetic complications is an uphill battle associated with several limitations. Various leading research groups across the world are investing billions of dollars to develop impeccable solutions for the treatment of diabetes and diabetic complications. This book focuses on the understanding of recent advancements in the pathogenesis of diabetes and diabetic complications, the molecular basis of the disease and recent advancements in diabetic treatment. The chapters are specifically dedicated to different complications associated with diabetes. Moreover, recent advances in treatments and medications in clinical trials for these complications are explained. Some chapters are dedicated to the use of herbal medicines, alternative and complementary therapy and personalized medicines. Furthermore, the role of epigenetics in diabetic complications is described, as well as the role of antidiabetic drugs and their interactions. Due to its widespread prevalence, diabetes is presently considered a pandemic. This book provides contemporary information to researchers and health care practitioners about diabetes and diabetic complications, which may pave the way for designing new strategies to manage diabetes and diabetic complications. Moreover, the insights on alternative and complementary medicines will help in providing a background for inclusion of these medicines as an important therapeutic option for treatment of diabetes.
£215.09
Simon & Schuster How to Invest: Masters on the Craft
A master class on investing featuring conversations with the biggest names in finance, from the legendary cofounder of The Carlyle Group, David M. Rubenstein.What do the most successful investors have in common? David M. Rubenstein, cofounder of one of the world’s largest investment firms, has spent years interviewing the greatest investors in the world to discover the time-tested principles, hard-earned wisdom, and indispensable tools that guide their practice. Rubenstein, who has spent more than three decades in the hypercompetitive world of private equity, now distills everything he’s learned about the art and craft of investing, from venture capital, real estate, private equity, hedge funds, to crypto, endowments, SPACs, ESG, and more. -How did Stan Druckenmiller short the British pound in one trade for a profit of $1 billion dollars? -What made Sam Zell the smartest, toughest investor the world of real estate has ever seen? -How did Mike Novogratz make $250 million off crypto in one year? -How did Larry Fink build BlackRock from scratch into a firm that manages more than $10 trillion? -How did Mary Callahan Erdoes rise to the top of J.P. Morgan’s wealth management division to manage more than $4 trillion for individuals and families all over the world? -How did Seth Klarman perfect value investing to consistently deliver net returns of nearly 20 percent? With unprecedented access to global leaders in finance, Rubenstein has assembled the most authoritative book of its kind. How to Invest reveals the thinking of the most successful investors in the world, many of whom rarely speak publicly. Whether you’re brand-new to investing or a seasoned professional, this book will transform the way you approach investing forever.
£22.50
Oxford University Press Inc The Amazon: What Everyone Needs to Know®
The Amazon is a land of superlatives. The complex ecosystem covers an area about the size of the continental U.S. The Amazon River discharges 57 million gallons of water per second--in two hours, this would be enough to supply all of New York City's 7.5 million residents with water for a year. Its flora and fauna are abundant. Approximately one of every four flowering plant species on earth resides in the Amazon. A single Amazonian river may contain more fish species than all the rivers in Europe combined. It is home to the world's largest anteater, armadillo, freshwater turtle, and spider, as well as the largest rodent (which weighs over 200 lbs.), catfish (250 lbs.), and alligator (more than half a ton). The rainforest, which contains approximately 390 billion trees, plays a vital role in stabilizing the global climate by absorbing massive amounts of carbon dioxide--or releasing it into the atmosphere if the trees are destroyed. Severe droughts in both Brazil and Southeast Asia have been linked to Amazonian deforestation, as have changing rainfall patterns in the U.S., Europe, and China. The Amazon also serves as home to millions of people. Approximately seventy tribes of isolated and uncontacted people are concentrated in the western Amazon, completely dependent on the land and river. These isolated groups have been described as the most marginalized peoples in the western hemisphere, with no voice in the decisions made about their futures and the fate of their forests. In this addition to the What Everyone Needs to Know® series, ecologist and conservation expert, Mark J. Plotkin, who has spent 40 years studying Amazonia, its peoples, flora, and fauna. The Amazon offers an engaging overview of this irreplaceable ecosystem and the challenges it faces.
£10.99
University of Minnesota Press Flames of Discontent: The 1916 Minnesota Iron Ore Strike
On June 2, 1916, forty mostly immigrant mineworkers at the St. James Mine in Aurora, Minnesota, walked off the job. This seemingly small labor disturbance would mushroom into one of the region’s, if not the nation’s, most contentious and significant battles between organized labor and management in the early twentieth century. Flames of Discontent tells the story of this pivotal moment and what it meant for workers and immigrants, mining and labor relations in Minnesota and beyond.Drawing on previously untapped accounts from immigrant press newspapers, company letters, personal journals, and oral histories, historian Gary Kaunonen gives voice to the strike’s organizers and working-class participants. In depth and in dramatic detail, his book describes the events leading up to the strike, and the violence that made it one of the most contentious in Minnesota history. Against the background of the physical and cultural landscape of Minnesota’s Iron Range, Kaunonen’s history brings the lives of working-class Finnish immigrants into sharp relief, documenting the conditions and circumstances behind the emergence of leftist politics and union organization in their ranks. At the same time, it shows how the region’s South Slavic immigrants went from “scabs” during a 1907 strike to full-fledged striking members of the labor revolt of 1916. A look at the media of the time reveals how the three main contenders for working-class allegiances—mine owners, Progressive reformers, and a revolutionary union—communicated with their mostly immigrant audience. Meanwhile, documents from mining company officials provide a strong argument for corruption reaching as far as the state’s then governor, Joseph A. A. Burnquist, whose strike-busting was undertaken in the interests of billion dollar corporations.Ultimately, anti-syndicalist laws were put in place to thwart the growing influence of organizations that sought to represent immigrant workers. Flames of Discontent raises the voices of those workers, and of history, against an injustice that reverberates to this day.
£21.99
Cornerstone Body and Soul
'John Harvey is one of the all-time greats and remains one of my favourite writers.' IAN RANKIN_____________________Frank Elder's last case could be the one that breaks him for good.The heavy manacles around the girl's wrists, perhaps not surprisingly, looked very much like the ones that had been found on the studio floor. For a moment, she had a vision of the chain to which they were attached being swung through the air, taking on force and speed before striking home. Then swung again.When his estranged daughter Katherine appears on his doorstep, ex-Detective Frank Elder knows that something is wrong.Katherine has long been troubled, and Elder has always felt powerless to help her. But now Katherine has begun to self-destruct; the breakdown of her affair with a controversial artist, known for his pornographic paintings, has sent her into a tailspin.But when the artist is found murdered in his studio, suspicion falls on Katherine. The vultures are circling.And as Elder struggles to protect his daughter and prove her innocence, the terrors of the past threaten them both once more...Daily Telegraph Book of the Year_____________________'A masterpiece from a master of the genre.' MARK BILLINGHAM'An expertly plotted and moving final act for an old-school investigator of the best sort, from a true master of the genre' GUARDIAN Books of the Month'This is wonderfully atmospheric crime writing - a tribute to Harvey's exceptional talent' MAIL'The 79-year-old Harvey has made it clear that Body & Soul is his last novel, and what an excellent farewell it is .... Elder and Resnick are both greats of British crime fiction.' THE TIMES Book of the Month'Few writers have even approached Harvey's grasp of atmosphere which, mingled with some sharpish social comment and utterly believable characters, makes them a must read' CRIME REVIEW'Sadly, this is Harvey's last book after a 40-year crime writing masterclass.' PETERBOROUGH TELEGRAPH
£8.42
Amberley Publishing Leeds United in the 1980s and 1990s: From Wilderness Years to Wilko
For Leeds United fans of a certain age, the 1980s are the dark ages, the wilderness years between the collapse of the team that Don Revie built and the rebirth brought to Elland Road by Howard Wilkinson in the 1990s. That was when Leeds United were, for a time, once again the best team in the country. It was before Wilkinson sold Eric Cantona to the hated Manchester United and then lost his way and his job. Success came too early and too quickly for Wilkinson’s own good. When the Caspian Group bought out the club in 1996 they had eyes only for George Graham and gave him the chance to redeem himself from his ‘bung’ controversy. When Graham high-tailed it off back to London, David O’Leary succeeded him and built a brand-new and very exciting team around his ‘Babies’. The 1980s were grim and grey days when Margaret Thatcher held sway. Leeds United imploded before Wilkinson came to lead the club back to the Promised Land and a completely unexpected league championship triumph in 1992. And how we partied when Wilko delivered the Holy Grail. This is the tale of how Don Revie’s paradise was lost, how Leeds collapsed into the Second Division, almost made it to the FA Cup final and promotion in 1987 before Billy Bremner was sacked and chairman Leslie Silver recruited Howard Wilkinson from Sheffield Wednesday to develop a new legacy. These are the years when the First Division gave way to the Premier League, when money and television changed everything and football became a business rather than the people’s game. This book covers the period from 1980 to 2000 when Leeds United crashed and burned and rose from the ashes to become the last English First Division champions.
£16.99
Amberley Publishing Anti-Semitism and the Left
‘Under Corbyn, the true Left of radical campaigning and genuine anti-racism has been bastardised into a hate cult distinguished by repellent self-righteousness. Corbyn’s cronies, more than willing to act with venality when it suits them, have told themselves that if you say you are on the side of the poor and the downtrodden, anything goes. Anyone who disagrees is obviously on the side of the imperialist, the fat cat bankers and hedge fund managers, the exploiters driven by greed alone to make their billions.’ Charges that anti-Semitism was widespread in the Labour Party did much to undermine Jeremy Corbyn’s chances of entering No. 10 Downing Street in the 2019 general election. This book, by a veteran political correspondent, examines whether such charges were justified and to what extent they were facilitated by a lack of leadership. It also traces the roots of anti-Semitism on the Left which can make uncomfortable reading for adherents of such socialist icons as Karl Marx, Keir Hardie, Ernest Bevin, John Burns and George Bernard Shaw. The strand of anti-Semitism that has existed on the Left since the birth of socialism as an effective movement is hard to fathom – especially as Jews played an integral part in the creation of both the British trade union movement and the Labour Party. No one with a single brain cell can doubt the persecution and death camps of the twentieth century. In addition, Zionism – opposition to which is now used as a dodgy excuse for anti-Semitism – was for decades embraced by the Left as a template for a socialist paradise. Ian Hernon writes: ‘The most virulent anti-Semitism has over the last century or so come from the Far Right, the British Establishment, the aristocracy and home-grown bigots of all classes. But that does not excuse the Left for its, in some instances, overlapping racism due to populist pursuit of power, bigotry, ignorance or a twisted understanding of history and socialist ideals.’
£20.00
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC First Light: Switching on Stars at the Dawn of Time
Opens a window into a previously dark and secret time in our universe's history: when the first stars were born. Astronomers have successfully observed a great deal of the Universe’s history, from recording the afterglow of the Big Bang to imaging thousands of galaxies, and even to visualising an actual black hole. There’s a lot for astronomers to be smug about. But when it comes to understanding how the Universe began and grew up, we are literally in the dark ages. In effect, we are missing the first one billion years from the timeline of the Universe. This brief but far-reaching period in the Universe’s history, known to astrophysicists as the ‘Epoch of Reionisation’, represents the start of the cosmos as we experience it today. The time when the very first stars burst into life, when darkness gave way to light. After hundreds of millions of years of dark, uneventful expansion, one by the one these stars suddenly came into being. This was the point at which the chaos of the Big Bang first began to yield to the order of galaxies, black holes and stars, kick-starting the pathway to planets, to comets, to moons, and to life itself. Incorporating the very latest research into this branch of astrophysics, this book sheds light on this time of darkness, telling the story of these first stars, hundreds of times the size of the Sun and a million times brighter, lonely giants that lived fast and died young in powerful explosions that seeded the Universe with the heavy elements that we are made of. Dr Emma Chapman tells us how these stars formed, why they were so unusual, and what they can teach us about the Universe today. She also offers a first-hand look at the immense telescopes about to come on line to peer into the past, searching for the echoes and footprints of these stars, to take this period in the Universe’s history from the realm of theoretical physics towards the wonder of observational astronomy.
£10.99
Verlag Barbara Budrich Controlling Corruption in Europe: The Anticorruption Report, volume 1
Corruption has an impact. It is about time that anticorruption starts having an impact, too. This is the first annual policy report of the European Seventh Framework Research Project ANTICORRP, which has started in 2012 and will continue until 2018. Based on the work of 21 different research centers and universities gathering original data, ANTICORRP offers yearly updates on the latest from corruption research, analyzing both the consequences of corruption and the impact of policies attempting to curb it. This first report offers a methodology to evaluate corruption risk and quality of government at country, region and sector level by means of corruption indicators that are sensitive to change and policy intervention. The aim of the project is to offer testable, easy to handle policies which reduce corruption risk. Corruption distorts market competition, bolsters deficits on behalf of discretionary spending, hurts real investment in public health and education, reduces tax collection, detriments the absorption rate of EU funds, and generates vulnerable employment and brain drain. This study estimates that if EU member states would all manage to control corruption at the Danish level, tax collection in Europe would increase by 323 billion Euro per year – double of the EU budget for 2013.
£17.95
Nova Science Publishers Inc An Essential Guide to Occupational Exposure
The World Health Organization estimates that about 2.9 billion workers around the world are regularly exposed to risks at their workplace. Therefore, a significant fraction of the world's working force, principally in low- and middle-income countries, is at an increased risk of occupational hazards with direct implications on occupational safety and health. Occupational injuries and illness lead to (short/long) workers' absences with significant economic costs for both employees and employers. Also, the quality of life and wellbeing of active workers are profoundly affected. This book - An Essential Guide to Occupational Exposure - will attract the attention of people that want to know more about occupational exposure and its implications on hygiene, safety, and health in work environments. This work aims to highlight the predominant occupational risks that all working groups can be exposed to. Also, it informs readers about emerging health surveillance tools, namely cytogenetic and human biomonitoring assays, that are being used in the assessment of occupational exposure and health risk assessment. This book is aimed at the active and working civil society, occupational safety and hygiene technicians among other related occupations (e.g., health professionals), scientific community, and stakeholders. This reading will promote a reflection on the topic of occupational exposure and its implications on the safety and health of workers from different occupations.
£127.79
Orion Publishing Co The Lathe Of Heaven
'Ursula Le Guin was able to reimagine many concepts we take to be natural, shared, and unalterable - gender, utopia, creation, war, family, the city, the country - and reveal the all-too-human constructions at their centre ... Literature will miss her. There's no one like her' Zadie Smith'Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power' OBSERVERThrough his dreams, George Orr can make alternate realities real - but who is controlling him?War rages and global warming wreaks havoc on the quality of life everywhere as seven billion people jostle for living space and food. For George Orr, a mild and unremarkable man, the world is overwhelmingly difficult. But George is different: his dreams can change reality - although he has no means of controlling this extraordinary power.Psychiatrist Dr William Haber offers to help, directing George to dream a world without racism. But as ambition gets the better of ethics, no one can predict the devastating consequences.
£9.48
Republic Book Publishers The Soros Agenda
George Soros is a man with billions at his disposal and one of the most powerful networks in the world, whose motto is: "If I spend enough, I can make it right." But what is "right," according to Soros?George Soros's past as a survivor of World War II is an experience he applies as his primary credential to justify meddling in the political and social affairs of countries around the world. The self-proclaimed agnostic, Soros disputes Israel's right to exist as the Jewish State but exploits the religion he was born into as a tactic to shield him from criticism. For the past four decades, Soros has been using his multibillion-dollar, political-philanthropic global network to impose his Weltanschauung on the world.By 1993, Soros was heralded as "The Man Who Broke the Bank of England." He used the praises and publicity to create a network of powerful foundations dedicated to his overriding ambition and objective to reshape the world's only constitutional democratic republic, the United States of America. By 2023 the nation's political and social landscape has changed beyond recognition. The financial speculator's enormous sums of money oiled the Democrat Party's machine that advanced his agenda that turned the American dream into a nightmare. How did he do that?Decades ago, Rachel Ehrenfeld perceptively predicted, "Unchallenged, Soros would change the political landscape of the U.S." Join her on the journey as she exposes the Orwellian lingo, schemes, and strategies Soros has been using to transform America from a thriving, law-and-order democracy into a Sorostian world.
£15.95
Advantage Media Group Wish I Knew That Sooner: Strategies To Avoid Financial Regret
The Right Financial Information at the Right Time---BEFORE YOU DO THE WRONG THING! If you have ever learned a financial lesson the hard way, you’ve probably said, “I wish I knew that sooner.” Everyone, from small business owners to millionaires and even billionaires, has had the same regrets at one time or another. Now they—and you—have somewhere to turn for no-nonsense, bottom-line financial guidance. In his groundbreaking book, financial expert Sten Morgan will give you the same advice he shares with his clients—advice most “experts” will not. Sten isn’t going to tell you to wait thirty years to achieve financial success; he didn’t. He’s not going to make you feel guilty about buying a latte, and he’ll point out times when spending money on yourself is a good idea. First, he lays out the fundamentals you need for financial success, and then he teaches you the strategies that worked for him and his clients. You’ll learn about the positive power of debt, creative tax strategies, active versus passive investing, and the savvy ways to make money in real estate. With this book as your guide, you will learn to tip the odds in your favor, avoiding poor choices and pitfalls that lead to most financial regrets. Do not wait and look back years from now, wishing you would have known sooner. Take control of your finances today. Your future self will thank you.
£20.99
Island Press Evolution in a Toxic World: How Life Responds to Chemical Threats
With BPA in baby bottles, mercury in fish, and lead in computer monitors, the world has become a toxic place. But as Emily Monosson demonstrates in her groundbreaking new book, it has always been toxic. When oxygen first developed in Earth's atmosphere, it threatened the very existence of life: now we literally can't live without it. According to Monosson, examining how life adapted to such early threats can teach us a great deal about today's (and tomorrow's) most dangerous contaminants. While the study of evolution has advanced many other sciences, from conservation biology to medicine, the field of toxicology has yet to embrace this critical approach. In "Evolution in a Toxic World", Monosson seeks to change that. She traces the development of life's defence systems - the mechanisms that transform, excrete, and stow away potentially harmful chemicals - from over three billion years ago to today. Beginning with our earliest ancestors' response to ultraviolet radiation, Monosson explores the evolution of chemical defences such as antioxidants, metal binding proteins, detoxification, and cell death. As we alter the world's chemistry, these defences often become overwhelmed faster than our bodies can adapt. But studying how our complex internal defence network currently operates, and how it came to be that way, may allow us to predict how it will react to novel and existing chemicals. This understanding could not only lead to better management and preventative measures, but possibly treatment of current diseases. Development of that knowledge starts with this pioneering book.
£24.99
Encounter Books,USA Never Enough: Americas Limitless Welfare State
Since the beginning of the New Deal, American liberals have insisted that the government must do more--much more--to help the poor, to increase economic security, to promote social justice and solidarity, to reduce inequality, and to mitigate the harshness of capitalism. Nonetheless, liberals have never answered, or even acknowledged, the corresponding question: What would be the size and nature of a welfare state that was not contemptibly austere, that did not urgently need new programs, bigger budgets, and a broader mandate? Even though the federal government's outlays have doubled every eighteen years since 1940, liberal rhetoric is always addressed to a nation trapped in Groundhog Day, where every year is 1932, and none of the existing welfare state programs that spend tens of billions of dollars matter, or even exist. Never Enough explores the roots and consequences of liberals' aphasia about the welfare state's ultimate size. It assesses what liberalism's lack of a limiting principle says about the long-running argument between liberals and conservatives, and about the policy choices confronting America in a new century. Never Enough argues that the failure to speak clearly and candidly about the welfare state's limits has grave policy consequences. The worst result, however, is the way it has jeopardized the experiment in self-government by encouraging Americans to regard their government as a vehicle for exploiting their fellow-citizens, rather than as a compact for respecting one another's rights and safeguarding the opportunities of future generations.
£15.70
Encounter Books,USA Never Enough: America's Limitless Welfare State
Since the beginning of the New Deal, American liberals have insisted that the government must do more--much more--to help the poor, to increase economic security, to promote social justice and solidarity, to reduce inequality, and to mitigate the harshness of capitalism. Nonetheless, liberals have never answered, or even acknowledged, the corresponding question: What would be the size and nature of a welfare state that was not contemptibly austere, that did not urgently need new programs, bigger budgets, and a broader mandate? Even though the federal government's outlays have doubled every eighteen years since 1940, liberal rhetoric is always addressed to a nation trapped in Groundhog Day, where every year is 1932, and none of the existing welfare state programs that spend tens of billions of dollars matter, or even exist. Never Enough explores the roots and consequences of liberals' aphasia about the welfare state's ultimate size. It assesses what liberalism's lack of a limiting principle says about the long-running argument between liberals and conservatives, and about the policy choices confronting America in a new century. Never Enough argues that the failure to speak clearly and candidly about the welfare state's limits has grave policy consequences. The worst result, however, is the way it has jeopardized the experiment in self-government by encouraging Americans to regard their government as a vehicle for exploiting their fellow-citizens, rather than as a compact for respecting one another's rights and safeguarding the opportunities of future generations.
£19.51
Skyhorse Publishing The Illustrated Directory of North American Locomotives: The Story and Progression of Railroads from The Early Days to The Electric Powered Present
More than 250 classic American locomotives."Let the country but make the railroads, and the railroads will make the country." — Edward PeaseDuring the mid-1800s, American railroads became the lifeblood of new communities in the West and brought new ways of life and means of commerce to rural communities. Railroads became the shining thread that tied together the tapestry of American life into a land of plenty. The Illustrated Dictionary of North American Locomotives explores the story of railroads and their motive power. Giant beasts of iron and steel once roamed the land. Their descendants still race across the country.This book charts the progress of motive power on America's railroads from 1830 until the present. Its 432 pages illustrate a wide variety of grand and humble locomotives from the steam powered Puffing Billy types of the "Early Days" chapter, to the mighty Allegheny class steamers that were used to haul coal for the American industry in the "Steam in Charge" chapter. Technical specifications are given for each engine type and the book is fully illustrated with both black & white and color photos. The book goes on to show the progress of Diesel Power, including the output of General Electric and General Motors electromotive division (EMD) from the 1920s to the present. Ultimately, the book also explores the Electric Power that powers so many of today's railways.
£24.43
Amber Books Ltd Chernobyl
On 26 April 1986, the unthinkable happened near the Ukrainian town of Pripyat: two massive steam explosions ruptured No. 4 Reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, immediately killing 30 people and setting off the worst nuclear accident in history. The explosions were followed by an open-air reactor core fire that released huge amounts of radioactive contamination into the atmosphere for the next nine days, spreading across the Soviet Union, parts of Europe, and especially neighbouring Belarus, where around 70% of the waste landed. The following clean-up operation involved more than half a million personnel at a cost of $68 billion, and a further 4,000 people were estimated to have died from disaster-related illnesses in the following 20 years. Some 350,000 people were evacuated as a result of the accident (including 95 villages in Belarus), and much of the area returned to the wild, with the nearby city of Pripyat now a ghost town. Chernobyl provides a photographic exploration of the catastrophe and its aftermath in 180 authentic photos. See the twisted wreckage of No. 4 Reactor, the cause of the nuclear disaster; marvel at historic photos of the clean-up operation, with helicopters spraying decontamination liquid and liquidators manually clearing radioactive debris; see the huge cooling pond used to cool the reactors, and which today is home to abundant wildlife, despite the radiation; explore the ghost town of Pripyat, with its decaying apartment blocks, empty basketball courts, abandoned amusement park, wrecked schools, and deserted streets.
£17.99
Profile Books Ltd War on Wheels: Inside Keirin and Japan’s Cycling Subculture
SHORTLISTED FOR THE SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 'Cycling Book of the Year' 2022 The strange and thrilling world of Japanese track racing - a cycling and betting culture unlike anything else on earth The Olympic cycling sport of keirin was invented in Japan more than 70 years ago to raise money to rebuild the country after World War II. Now, fans bet billions of dollars a year on races, with the top riders earning huge sums. In each race, a pacemaker leads nine riders around huge concrete velodromes, then leaves the track with around a lap and a half to go - the cue for a frantic finish as the competitors reach speeds of up to 70 kph. Along the way they block and shove each other, clash heads and occasionally crash (the two Japanese characters used to write keirin mean 'battle' and 'wheel'). To prevent race fixing, the cyclists spend meets living in dorms, with no access to online technology. Their lives are ruled by ritual and fierce competition, from their rookie days at the Japan Keirin School near Mount Fuji to the annual Grand Prix final, whose winner takes home prize money of almost one million dollars. A small number of foreign riders are invited to compete in Japan every year and some, like Shane Perkins, have overcome culture shock to prosper in the home of keirin. Justin McCurry, the Guardian's Japan and Korea correspondent, explores a blue-collar Japan we rarely see and a uniquely fascinating sporting culture.
£9.99
Bloodaxe Books Ltd Lifesaving Poems
Inspired by a remark of Seamus Heaney, Lifesaving Poems began life as notebook, then a blog. How many poems, Heaney wondered, was it possible to recall responding to, over a lifetime? Was it ten, he asked, twenty, fifty, a hundred, or more? Lifesaving Poems is a way of trying to answer that question. Giving himself the constraint of choosing no more than one poem per poet, Anthony began copying poems out, one at a time, as it were for safekeeping. He asked himself: was the poem one he could recall being moved by the moment he first read it? And: could he live without it? Then he posted each poem on his blog and said why he liked it. Word spread and soon his blog had thousands of followers, everyone reading and responding to the poems he talked about - and sharing his posts. Now Lifesaving Poems has turned into an anthology, not one designed to be a perfect list of 'the great and the good', but a gathering of poems he happens to feel passionate about, according to his tastes. As Billy Collins says: 'Good poems are poems that I like'. Anthony's popular personal commentaries are included with the poems. There are Lifesaving Poems by John Ashbery, Elizabeth Bishop, Raymond Carver, Carol Ann Duffy, Thom Gunn, Seamus Heaney, Marie Howe, Jaan Kaplinski, Brendan Kennelly, Jane Kenyon, Galway Kinnell, Philip Levine, Norman MacCaig, Ian McMillan, Derek Mahon, Sharon Olds, Mary Oliver, Sylvia Plath, Adrienne Rich, Jo Shapcott, Tomas Transtromer, Wislawa Szymborska, and many, many others.
£12.00
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Joe Biden: American Dreamer
The new biography of President Joe Biden by National Book Award winner and New Yorker staff writer Evan Osnos - A Financial Times, Guardian and Daily Express Book of the Year 'A thoroughly readable primer' Guardian 'Biden has overcome unimaginable tribulation, multiple presidential primary humiliations, a potentially crippling speech impediment and his own mediocrity. Now he carries the hopes of billions upon his shoulders' Sunday Times President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has been called both the luckiest man and the unluckiest – fortunate to have sustained a fifty-year political career that reached the White House, but also marked by deep personal losses that he has suffered. Yet even as Biden’s life has been shaped by drama, it has also been powered by a willingness, rare at the top ranks of politics, to confront his shortcomings, errors and reversals of fortune. His trials have forged in him a deep empathy for others in hardship – an essential quality as he addresses a nation at its most dire hour in decades. Blending up-close journalism and broader context, Evan Osnos illuminates Biden’s life and captures the characters and meaning of an extraordinary presidential election. He draws on lengthy interviews with Biden and on revealing conversations with more than a hundred others, including President Barack Obama, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, and a range of progressive activists, advisers, opponents, and Biden family members. In this nuanced portrait, Biden emerges as flawed, yet resolute, and tempered by the flame of tragedy – a man who just may be uncannily suited for his moment in history.
£9.99
Stanford University Press Revolutionizing World Trade: How Disruptive Technologies Open Opportunities for All
Almost 15 years ago, in The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman popularized the latest wave of globalization as a world of giant corporate supply chains that tripled world trade between 1990 and 2010. Major corporations such as Apple, Dell, and GE offshored manufacturing to low-cost economies; China became the world's factory, mass-producing and exporting computers and gadgets to Western shoppers. This paradigm of globalization has dominated global trade policy-making and guided hundreds of billions of dollars in business investments and development spending for almost three decades. But we are now on the cusp of a new era. Revolutionizing World Trade argues that technologies such as ecommerce, 3D printing, 5G, the Cloud, blockchain, and artificial intelligence are revolutionizing the economics of trade and global production, empowering businesses of all sizes to make, move, and market products and services worldwide and with greater ease than ever before. The twin forces of digitization and trade are changing the patterns, players, politics, and possibilities of world trade, and can reinvigorate global productivity growth. However, new policy challenges and old regulatory frameworks are stifling the promise of this most dynamic, prosperous, and inclusive wave of globalization yet. This book uses new empirical evidence and policy experiences to examine the clash between emerging possibilities in world trade and outdated policies and institutions, offering several policy recommendations for navigating these obstacles to catalyze growth and development around the world.
£120.60
Stanford University Press The Myth of Millionaire Tax Flight: How Place Still Matters for the Rich
In this age of globalization, many countries and U.S. states are worried about the tax flight of the rich. As income inequality grows and U.S. states consider raising taxes on their wealthiest residents, there is a palpable concern that these high rollers will board their private jets and fly away, taking their wealth with them. Many assume that the importance of location to a person's success is at an all-time low. Cristobal Young, however, makes the surprising argument that location is very important to the world's richest people. Frequently, he says, place has a great deal to do with how they make their millions. In The Myth of Millionaire Tax Flight, Young examines a trove of data on millionaires and billionaires—confidential tax returns, Forbes lists, and census records—and distills down surprising insights. While economic elites have the resources and capacity to flee high-tax places, their actual migration is surprisingly limited. For the rich, ongoing economic potential is tied to the place where they become successful—often where they are powerful insiders—and that success ultimately diminishes both the incentive and desire to migrate. This important book debunks a powerful idea that has driven fiscal policy for years, and in doing so it clears the way for a new era. Millionaire taxes, Young argues, could give states the funds to pay for infrastructure, education, and other social programs to attract a group of people who are much more mobile—the younger generation.
£76.50
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Simon Stephens Plays 5: Wastwater; Birdland; Blindsided; Song From Far Away; Heisenberg
"Stephens writes dramas set in uncaring, uncompromising worlds, whose characters speak in a language at once naturalistic and yet artificially pared-down and whose uncertain attempts to assert their own identities sometimes lead to gratuitous and brutal acts of violence." - Financial Times A fifth collection of plays by one of Britain's most prolific contemporary playwrights, Simon Stephens, charting his work from 2011-2016, ranging from London's Royal Court Theatre, Manchester's Royal Exchange and Broadway. Wastwater (2011) "Metaphoric, allusive, and thoroughly disturbing in its evocation of suspicion and uncertainty, Wastwater is a thought-provoking play whose quiet intensity stays with you for days — its effect is like that of a ugly stone dropped into a pool, which results in constant ripples of dirty water lapping at your subconscious" (Aleks Sierz) Birdland (2014) "Mega-fame and limitless cash can turn a man into a monster, and Simon Stephens's new play excellently evokes its hero's spiritually shrunken world" (Michael Billington, Guardian) Blindsided (2014) “the dialogue has a rare quality of moment-by-moment intensity" (Telegraph) Song From Far Away (2015) "a meditative monologue – a searching study of impotently self-aware emotional insufficiency" (Independent) Heisenberg (2016) "Mr. Stephens ... is an uncannily subtle dramatist who never wears his depths on the surface ... he probes clichés until they fall apart, before reassembling them into solid but transformed shapes, reminding us why such clichés have become enduring elements of our collective mythology." (Ben Brantley, New York Times)
£19.99
St Martin's Press Yours for the Taking
The year is 2050. Ava and her girlfriend live in what's left of Brooklyn, and though they love each other, it's hard to find happiness while the effects of climate change rapidly eclipse their world. Soon, it won't be safe outside at all. The only people guaranteed survival are the ones whose applications are accepted to The Inside Project, a series of weather-safe, city-sized structures around the world. The director of the Inside being built on the bones of Manhattan is Jacqueline Millender, a reclusive billionaire/women’s rights advocate. Her ideas are unorthodox, yet alluring, challenging the very concept of empowerment. Shelby, a business major from a working-class family, is drawn to Jacqueline’s promises of power and impact. When she lands a job as Jacqueline’s personal assistant, she's swept up into the glamourous world of corporatised feminism. Also drawn into Jacqueline's orbit is Olympia, who Jacqueline recruits to run the health department Inside. The more Olympia learns about the project, though, the more she realizes there's something else at play. As Ava, Olympia, and Shelby start to notice the cracks in the system, Jacqueline tightens her grip, becoming increasingly dangerous in what she is willing to do - and who she is willing to sacrifice - to keep her dream alive. At once a mesmerising story of queer love, betrayal, and chosen family, and an unflinching indictment of cis, corporate feminism, Yours for the Taking holds a mirror to our own world, in all its beauty and horror.
£21.59
The History Press Ltd Hanged at Durham
For decades the high walls of Durham gaol have contained some of the countrys most infamous criminals. Until hanging was abolished in the 1960s it was also the main centre of execution for convicted killers from all over the north east. The history of execution within the walls of Durham Gaol began with the hanging of two labourers side by side in 1869, by the notorious hangman William Calcraft. Over the next ninety years a total of seventy-seven people took the short walk to the gallows - including poisoner Mary Cotton, who for over a century was the worst mass murderer in Great Britain, Gatesheads copycat Jack the Ripper, William Waddell, army deserter Brian Chandler, nineteen-year-old Edward Anderson, who murdered his blind uncle, a Teeside dock worker hanged on Christmas Eve, Carlisle muderer John Vickers, the first man hanged under the 1957 Homocide Act, and a South African sailor who preferred death to ten years in prison. Infamous executionors also played a part in the gaols history - Calcraft, who preferred slow strangulation, Marwood, the pioneer of the 'long drop', bungling Bartholomew Binns, the Billingtons, the Pierrepoint family, and Doncaster hangman Stephen Wade. Steve Fielding's highly readable new book features each of the seventy-five cases in one volume for the first time and is fully illustrated with photographs, news cuttings and engravings. It is bound to appeal to anyone interested in the darker side of County Durhams history.
£15.99
Princeton University Press The Spike: An Epic Journey Through the Brain in 2.1 Seconds
The story of a neural impulse and what it reveals about how our brains workWe see the last cookie in the box and think, can I take that? We reach a hand out. In the 2.1 seconds that this impulse travels through our brain, billions of neurons communicate with one another, sending blips of voltage through our sensory and motor regions. Neuroscientists call these blips “spikes.” Spikes enable us to do everything: talk, eat, run, see, plan, and decide. In The Spike, Mark Humphries takes readers on the epic journey of a spike through a single, brief reaction. In vivid language, Humphries tells the story of what happens in our brain, what we know about spikes, and what we still have left to understand about them.Drawing on decades of research in neuroscience, Humphries explores how spikes are born, how they are transmitted, and how they lead us to action. He dives into previously unanswered mysteries: Why are most neurons silent? What causes neurons to fire spikes spontaneously, without input from other neurons or the outside world? Why do most spikes fail to reach any destination? Humphries presents a new vision of the brain, one where fundamental computations are carried out by spontaneous spikes that predict what will happen in the world, helping us to perceive, decide, and react quickly enough for our survival.Traversing neuroscience’s expansive terrain, The Spike follows a single electrical response to illuminate how our extraordinary brains work.
£15.99
Faber & Faber And Still I Rise
'This book for me is a warning as well as a reminder. May you never experience what I have experienced.'In April 1993, Stephen Lawrence was murdered by a group of young white men on a street in south-east London. From the first police investigation onwards, the case was badly mishandled. In the end, long after the case against the five suspects had been dropped, the government had to give in to mounting pressure and hold a public inquiry, which became the most explosive in British legal history.These facts leave the reader unprepared for Doreen Lawrence's own story of her son's murder. In this raw, honest book, she writes frankly about her childhood, about her struggle for a decent life for herself and her children and her hopes for her bright, motivated son. Her account of the murder and the botched and insensitive investigation by the Metropolitan Police is deeply moving. She recreates the pain, frustration and bafflement she experienced as she realised that there might never be a moment when she could say to herself that justice had been done.A cold case review led to the discovery of DNA evidence in 2009. In November 2011, two of the alleged members of the gang that killed Stephen were finally brought to trial at the Old Bailey. A guilty verdict was pronounced on 3 January 2012. 'To be put alongside Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom or the works of Maya Angelou.' Andrew Billen, The Times
£10.99
Columbia University Press How Did Lubitsch Do It?
Orson Welles called Ernst Lubitsch (1892–1947) “a giant” whose “talent and originality are stupefying.” Jean Renoir said, “He invented the modern Hollywood.” Celebrated for his distinct style and credited with inventing the classic genre of the Hollywood romantic comedy and helping to create the musical, Lubitsch won the admiration of his fellow directors, including Alfred Hitchcock and Billy Wilder, whose office featured a sign on the wall asking, “How would Lubitsch do it?” Despite the high esteem in which Lubitsch is held, as well as his unique status as a leading filmmaker in both Germany and the United States, today he seldom receives the critical attention accorded other major directors of his era.How Did Lubitsch Do It? restores Lubitsch to his former stature in the world of cinema. Joseph McBride analyzes Lubitsch’s films in rich detail in the first in-depth critical study to consider the full scope of his work and its evolution in both his native and adopted lands. McBride explains the “Lubitsch Touch” and shows how the director challenged American attitudes toward romance and sex. Expressed obliquely, through sly innuendo, Lubitsch’s risqué, sophisticated, continental humor engaged the viewer’s intelligence while circumventing the strictures of censorship in such masterworks as The Marriage Circle, Trouble in Paradise, Design for Living, Ninotchka, The Shop Around the Corner, and To Be or Not to Be. McBride’s analysis of these films brings to life Lubitsch’s wit and inventiveness and offers revealing insights into his working methods.
£31.50
Verso Books After Diana: Irreverent Elegies
The death of Diana, Princess of Wales, was met by the deepest mourning of the twentieth century. Two and a half billion people worldwide watched the funeral on television, floral tributes flooded London's royal parks and sprung up, too, in small towns in Texas, conspiracy theories ricocheted around the Internet, commemorative stamps were issued in newly communist Hong Kong.Press coverage of the death was also unprecedented in both its scale and uniformity. Yet, in an enormous welter of schmaltz, very little was said about the meaning of what had occurred-whether Tony Blair's public emoting heralded a new kind of politics; what, if anything, the anguish of so many who never knew Diana in person revealed about modern society; how the intertwining of the ideas of celebrity and victim, physical beauty and moral worth, affected people's responses; what was implied for the future of the royal family.For those perplexed by the events surrounding Diana's death, this book provides some answers. Insisting that all aspects of the affair are open to investigation, that nothing (and especially not royalty) is sacred, it brings together a group of distinguished writers whose primary interest is to analyze the death rather than lament it.Contributors: Mark Augé, Jean Baudrillard, Sarah Benton, Homi K. Bhabha, Mark Cousins, Alexander Cockburn, Richard Coles, Régis Debray, Françoise Gaillard, Peter Ghosh, Christopher Hird, Christopher Hitchens, Linda Holt, Sara Maitland, Ross McKibbin, Mandy Merck, Tom Nairn, Glen Newey, Naomi Segal, Dorothy Thompson, Francis Wheen, Judith Williamson, and Elizabeth Wilson.
£19.15
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Nobel Prizes: Cancer, Vision And The Genetic Code
The present book discusses the Nobel Prizes in physiology or medicine 1966-68. The 1966 prize recognized that viruses may be involved in cancer formation. Later studies revealed that these kinds of infectious agents could pick up and transmit cellular genes of importance for regulation of cellular growth. It was then possible to recognize that many genes of this kind could be involved in the formation of cancer. The disease was found to represent the dark side of evolution. As a consequence of this insight new means of treatment fortunately have been developed.The rear parts of the eyes are extensions of the central nervous system. They have a fascinating intrinsic complexity, the neurophysiology and biochemistry of which has been progressively analyzed. These revealing studies concern both our capacity to distinguish different colors and also our possibility to see in the dark. The Prize in 1967 identified seminal contributions in this wide field by Ragnar Granit, Haldan Hartline and George Wald.The 1968 Prize is distinct in its recognition of Robert Holley, Ghobind Khorana and Marshall Nirenberg, who in different ways had contributed to the cracking of the genetic code. Insights into the language used by Nature, since the dawn of cellular life some 4.6 billion years ago, have completely revolutionized modern life sciences. The capacity to read and also to write the books of life has defined new kinds of science, deepening our understanding of the magic of evolution and opened the possibilities for molecular medicine by understanding the genetic background to diseases, not least cancer.Related Link(s)
£35.00
Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd Predator Politics: Mabuza, Fred Daniel and the Great Land Scam
Corruption cost taxpayers around R1.5 trillion during Jacob Zuma’s spell as president of South Africa. Despite attempts by the police, the courts and the Public Protector to stem the rising tide of graft in South Africa, several politicians were rewarded with high office after stealing the aspirations of millions of people. Fred Daniel, one citizen among many targeted by predator politicians, stood up against the scourge. The retaliation he faced after attempts by corrupt politicians to grab his nature reserve in Mpumalanga included vandalism, arson, smears and death threats. His nemesis is Deputy President D.D. Mabuza, who presided over several departments in the province that were wrecked by graft before he ascended to the position of the second most powerful politician in the country. Fred has won more than twenty cases over the past fifteen years in magistrates’ and high courts where his claims of corruption-related harassment were found credible. The North Gauteng High Court is hearing his damages claim against Mabuza, government departments and officials amounting to more than R1 billion. It stems from Fred’s exposure of fraudulent land scams allegedly orchestrated by Mabuza. At great personal cost, Fred and his family stood up to corruption. They endured the loss of a livelihood and their home – and the fear that follows when the government places a target on the back of a citizen blowing the whistle on its misdeeds. Fred will not back down. For him, failure is not an option.
£18.95
McFarland & Co Inc Ticket Scalping: An American History, 1850-2005
Ticket scalping is as much an American staple as apple pie. Beginning as early as the mid - 1800s, scalpers, known as ""sidewalk men,"" were charging all the traffic would bear for event tickets. Although these speculators were generally viewed as pariah and public opinion was against the practice, legal attempts to limit their activities were far from successful. Boston enacted laws as early as 1873, while Pennsylvania followed suit in 1884. Still, such measures did little good since some laws were declared unconstitutional and, for the ones that were upheld, the fines were negligible with jail time rarely served. Over the years, as moral objections to scalping dimmed, the public became more tolerant as the practice became increasingly prevalent. By the 1950s, the capitalist mantras of free market and economic principles of supply and demand were even being used to justify the practice. This volume details the ways in which scalping has changed over the years from a one-man business to an agency-controlled enterprise, from performances by Jenny Lind to Billy Joel. The book examines the general situation, public opinion and legal perception of scalping for four distinct periods: 1850-1899; 1900-1917; 1918-1949 and 1950-2005. Emphasis is placed on the ways in which public and legal perception of the practice has evolved over this period. Scalping, slowly gaining a more positive status, has become more accepted as part of the economic practice of free market.
£28.99
Simon & Schuster After We Collided MTI
Book 2 of the After series—newly revised and expanded, Anna Todd's After fanfiction racked up one billion reads online and captivated readers across the globe. Experience the internet's most talked-about book for yourself from the writer Cosmopolitan called “the biggest literary phenomenon of her generation.” Tessa has everything to lose. Hardin has nothing to lose...except her. AFTER WE COLLIDED...Life will never be the same. #HESSA After a tumultuous beginning to their relationship, Tessa and Hardin were on the path to making things work. Tessa knew Hardin could be cruel, but when a bombshell revelation is dropped about the origins of their relationship—and Hardin’s mysterious past—Tessa is beside herself. Hardin will always be...Hardin. But is he really the deep, thoughtful guy Tessa fell madly in love with despite his angry exterior—or has he been a stranger all along? She wishes she could walk away. It’s just not that easy. Not with the memory of passionate nights spent in his arms. His electric touch. His hungry kisses. Still, Tessa’s not sure she can endure one more broken promise. She put so much on hold for Hardin—school, friends, her mom, a relationship with a guy who really loved her, and now possibly even a promising new career. She needs to move forward with her life. Hardin knows he made a mistake, possibly the biggest one of his life. He’s not going down without a fight. But can he change? Will he change...for love?
£8.99
Anness Publishing Illustrated History of Islam
This is the story of Islamic religion, culture and civilization, from the time of the Prophet to the modern day, shown in over 180 photographs. It offers an overview of Islamic history from the time of the Prophet to the present day, featuring the successors to the Prophet, the power of the Umayyads, the golden age of the Abbasids, the Shiah empire of the Fatimids, the rise of the Ottomans, and the Muwahiddum movement. It explores the history of Islam in many different parts of the world, such as Iraq, Iran, Spain, North Africa, Turkey, India and China. It includes a timeline listing the major events in Islam's rich and culturally diverse history, and a glossary of frequently used Arabic terms. It is beautifully illustrated throughout with over 180 images of manuscripts, angelic visitations, scholars, rulers, mosques, battles, shrines, palaces, and modern pilgrims and leaders. With Muslims statistically representing around a quarter of the global population - some 1.4 billion people - Islam is a powerful force in today's world. This book offers a chronological history of the main events that have shaped the Islamic religion since the year of Muhammad's birth in 570. Topics include the preservation of the Prophet's sayings; laws and scholars; mathematics, medicine and astronomy; the Islamic Renaissance in Spain; Islam in Asia; and radical Islam. A useful glossary of Arabic terms is also included. With over 180 paintings and photographs, this sumptuously illustrated book is a valuable introduction to the history of Muslim civilization.
£8.42
O'Reilly Media The Cathedral & the Bazaar - Musings on Linux & Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary Rev
Open source provides the competitive advantage in the Internet Age. According to the August Forrester Report, 56 percent of IT managers interviewed at Global 2,500 companies are already using some type of open source software in their infrastructure and another 6 percent will install it in the next two years. This revolutionary model for collaborative software development is being embraced and studied by many of the biggest players in the high-tech industry, from Sun Microsystems to IBM to Intel. The Cathedral & the Bazaar is a must for anyone who cares about the future of the computer industry or the dynamics of the information economy. Already, billions of dollars have been made and lost based on the ideas in this book. Its conclusions will be studied, debated, and implemented for years to come. According to Bob Young, "This is Eric Raymond's great contribution to the success of the open source revolution, to the adoption of Linux-based operating systems, and to the success of open source users and the companies that supply them." The interest in open source software development has grown enormously in the past year. This revised and expanded paperback edition includes new material on open source developments in 1999 and 2000. Raymond's clear and effective writing style accurately describing the benefits of open source software has been key to its success. With major vendors creating acceptance for open source within companies, independent vendors will become the open source story in 2001.
£17.99
Pen & Sword Books Ltd The Blackout Ripper: A Serial Killer in London 1942
Two days before the outbreak of the Second World War, the British government imposed blackout regulations across the nation as it was believed that in the event of war, Germany would very quickly begin conducting air raids on British towns and cities. The measures included covering windows in a dark, thick material at night to ensure no light could be seen from the outside. The use of vehicle headlamps was also prohibited, which resulted in a number of accidents and pedestrians being killed. These restrictions, enforced by Air Raid Precaution wardens and the police, were for the benefit and safety of the British public, but it also unintentionally made life a lot less dangerous for members of the criminal fraternity, allowing them to go about their regular night time activities with less chance of being caught by the police. As a result, during one week in February 1942, Gordon Cummins, RAF, was able to move around freely to carry out his attacks and make it back to his billet without being caught, or even stopped, by the police. The very restrictions put in place to protect the British public from German bombers actually placed women in danger from men such as Cummins: three of his victims were known prostitutes, as was at least one of the two women he is known to have attacked, but who survived. All of Cummins victims were attacked during the hours of darkness whilst the blackou? was in place, leading to him becoming known as the Blackout Ripper.
£15.99
Headline Publishing Group A History of Heavy Metal: 'Absolutely hilarious' – Neil Gaiman
'Absolutely hilarious' - Neil Gaiman'One of the funniest musical commentators that you will ever read . . . loud and thoroughly engrossing' - Alan Moore'A man on a righteous mission to persuade people to "lay down your souls to the gods rock and roll".' - The Sunday Times'As funny and preposterous as this mighty music deserve' - John HiggsThe history of heavy metal brings brings us extraordinary stories of larger-than-life characters living to excess, from the household names of Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Bruce Dickinson and Metallica (SIT DOWN, LARS!), to the brutal notoriety of the underground Norwegian black metal scene and the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. It is the story of a worldwide network of rabid fans escaping everyday mundanity through music, of cut-throat corporate arseholes ripping off those fans and the bands they worship to line their pockets. The expansive pantheon of heavy metal musicians includes junkies, Satanists and murderers, born-again Christians and teetotallers, stadium-touring billionaires and toilet-circuit journeymen. Award-winning comedian and life-long heavy metal obsessive Andrew O'Neill has performed his History of Heavy Metal comedy show to a huge range of audiences, from the teenage metalheads of Download festival to the broadsheet-reading theatre-goers of the Edinburgh Fringe. Now, in his first book, he takes us on his own very personal and hilarious journey through the history of the music, the subculture, and the characters who shaped this most misunderstood genre of music.
£12.99
Little, Brown Book Group The Buy Side: A Wall Street Trader's Tale of Spectacular Excess
The Buy Side is Turney Duff's high-adrenaline journey through the trading underworld, as well as a searing look at an after-hours Wall Street culture where sex and drugs are the quid pro quo and a billion isn't enough. In the mid-2000's, Turney Duff was, to all appearances, the very picture of American success. One of Wall Street's hottest traders, he was a rising star with Raj Rajaratnam's legendary Galleon Group before forging his own path. What few knew was that the key to Turney's remarkable success wasn't a super-genius IQ or family connections but rather a winning personality - because the real money wasn't made on the trading floor or behind a computer screen, but in whispered deals in the city's most exclusive nightspots, surrounded by the best drugs and hottest women. For Turney, this created a perilously seductive cycle: the harder he partied, the more connected and successful he became, which meant he could party even harder. In time, he became a walking paradox, an addictive mess after hours, and King of the Street from nine to five. Along the way, he learned some important lessons about himself, and the too-wild-to-believe world of Wall Street trading. In The Buy Side, the money is plentiful and the after-hours indulgence even more so, which has proved to be a bestselling and box office winning combination, as the success of The Wolf of Wall Street attests. Fans of Martin Scorsese's film and Michael Lewis's Liar's Poker and The Big Short will want to take a walk on The Buy Side.
£10.99
Pen & Sword Books Ltd The Real Gladiator: The True Story of Maximus Decimus Meridius
Are you not entertained? shouts Russell Crowe, playing the part of General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the Oscar winning 2000 film Gladiator. The crowd, having witnessed Maximus defeating several gladiators, cheer in response. Film goers too were indeed entertained with the film grossing nearly half a billion dollars. This book covers the historical events that film was based on. From the Germanic wars on the northern frontier to the gladiatorial arena in Rome. From the philosopher emperor, Marcus Aurelius to the palace intrigues during the reign of his son. We will discover how Commodus really died and which of the characters actually fought in the arena. Readers will meet two generals, Pompeianus and Maximianus, who most resemble our hero General Maximus. Also Lucilla, the sister of Commodus, who in reality married her General, but detested him. The book also focuses on warfare, weapons and contemporary battles. It will compare the battle and fight scenes in the film with reality from contemporary sources and modern tests and reenactments. The reader will discover that fact is not only stranger than fiction, it is often more entertaining. The real history was certainly as much, if not more, treacherous, bloodthirsty, murderous and dramatic than anything the film industry has created. Anyone who answered yes! to the question posed by Russell Crowe's character in the film, will indeed be entertained by this book.
£20.00