Before Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. troops in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, the shadowy leader of al-Qaeda had all but disappeared from public consciousness. Largely depicted as a historical figure, he was viewed by the media, government, and public as the mastermind behind 9/11, but no longer relevant to the world it created. Yet to view the man through this lens, Michael Scheuer argues, only contributes to a widespread denial of his ultimate significance and power. In this newly updated paperback edition, Scheuer, the first head of the CIA's bin Laden Unit, draws from a wealth of interviews, speeches, and previously un-translated documents to challenge the complacency of the West's perception of Osama bin Laden. Exploring bin Laden's evolution from a peaceful Saudi dissident to America's Most Wanted and shedding light on his development as a theologian, media manipulator, and military commander, Scheuer produces a closely reasoned, authoritative portrait of America's most determined enemy. Discrediting prevailing claims that depict bin Laden as irrelevant or unimportant, Scheuer's much-needed corrective shows a figure of remarkable leadership skills, strategic genius, and considerable rhetorical abilities who was significantly underestimated by the West. In light of the success of the U.S. Special Forces mission that brought down bin Laden in Pakistan, Scheuer expands his argument to consider the political landscape that bin Laden left behind and the dark legacy that survives him. Despite the reactions of the media and American public to bin Laden's death and the renewed depictions of him as a simplistic, one-dimensional foe, Scheuer argues that the jihadist leader was truly a complex and formidable enemy of the West, and that his influence and ideology take on a heightened relevance in the wake of his death. "Steeped in detailed knowledge of the Saudi jihadist. It is a needed corrective to most of the airy generalizations about bin Laden and his followers." -The Financial Times "A highly readable and jargon-free book...a serious and non-ideological treatment and analysis of bin Laden's thinking.... One of the most detailed biographical sketches of bin Laden available in the West." -Library Journal "Scheuer was long the dean of U.S. government analysts of Osama bin Laden.... In this volume he has distilled his decade and half of thinkingto produce a portrait of bin Laden that is authoritative." -Peter Bergen, author of The Longest War and Holy War, Inc.

'An extraordinary book: deeply moving, darkly funny and hugely powerful' Robert Macfarlane Heavy Light is the story of a breakdown: a journey through mania, psychosis and treatment in a psychiatric hospital, and onwards to release, recovery and healing. After a lifetime of ups and downs, Horatio Clare was committed to hospital under Section 2 of the Mental Health Act. From hypomania in the Alps, to a complete breakdown and a locked ward in Wakefield, this is a gripping account of how the mind loses touch with reality, how we fall apart and how we can be healed - or not - by treatment. A story of the wonder and intensity of the manic experience, as well as its peril and strangeness, it is shot through with the love, kindness, humour and care of those who deal with someone who becomes dangerously ill. Partly a tribute to those who looked after Horatio, from family and friends to strangers and professionals, and partly an investigation into how we understand and treat acute crises of mental health, Heavy Light's beauty, power and compassion illuminate a fundamental part of human experience. It asks urgent questions about mental health that affect each and every one of us. 'One of the most brilliant travel writers of our day takes us us now to that most challenging country, severe mental illness; and does so with such wit, warmth, and humanity, that, better acquainted with its terrors, we may better face our own' Reverend Richard Coles 'A record of the bravest, most perilous, most intrepid journey that any human being can ever make. It is stricken, moving, urgent, crucial . . . A luminous, beautiful achievement' Niall Griffiths

A passionate advocate for preserving wilderness and fighting the bureaucratic and business forces that would destroy it, Edward Abbey (1927-1989) wrote fierce, polemical books such as Desert Solitaire and The Monkey Wrench Gang that continue to inspire environmental activists. In this eloquent memoir, his friend and fellow desert rat Charles Bowden reflects on Abbey the man and the writer, offering up thought-provoking, contrarian views of the writing life, literary reputations, and the perverse need of critics to sum up "what he really meant and whether any of it was truly up to snuff." The Red Caddy is the first literary biography of Abbey in a generation. Refusing to turn him into a desert guru, Bowden instead recalls the wild man in a red Cadillac convertible for whom liberty was life. He describes how Desert Solitaire paradoxically "launched thousands of maniacs into the empty ground" that Abbey wanted to protect, while sealing his literary reputation and overshadowing the novels that Abbey considered his best books. Bowden also skewers the cottage industry that has grown up around Abbey's writing, smoothing off its rougher (racist, sexist) edges while seeking "anecdotes, little intimacies . . . pieces of the True Beer Can or True Old Pickup Truck." Asserting that the real essence of Abbey will always remain unknown and unknowable, The Red Caddy still catches gleams of "the fire that from time to time causes a life to become a conflagration."

Hierdie verhalende nie-fiktiewe werk vertel die storie van Beryl Botman wat aan Russel Botman onthul hoe sy sy skielike afsterwe ervaar en hanteer. “Hoe moet sy leer leef en hul liefde vir mekaar herken in hierdie nuwe dimensies van bestaan?” is die sentrale vraagstuk van die eenrigtinggesprek.

Die gebeure speel af vanaf die oomblikke voordat sy besef dat Russel gesterf het tot die op die dag van die eerste herdenking van sy afsterwe – die verloop van een jaar. Dis vir haar die jaar waarin sy haar op haar diepste sterkpunte beroep; haar troebelste swakhede in die gesig staar en op haar hele wording staatmaak om selfs een tree te gee.

Die vertelling vind in drie dele plaas en begin met ‘n dag-vir-dag weergawe van die eerste twee weke van ervaringe en gewaarwordinge. Die daaropvolgende twee dele is weeklikse en daarna maandlikse onthullings. Haar spirituele en reële blootlegging volg ‘n reis vanaf Stellenbosch tot Wynberg en sommige ander plekke in die wêreld.

Beryl hanteer lewensveranderende besluite en optredes in haar wêreld met die gemak en liefdevolle ondersteuning van familie en vriende, en terselfdertyd die vyandigheid van ander familie en die afsydigheid en verwerping van vriende en kennisse.

Eric de Jong and his wife, Jenny plunged into parenthood when they adopted three siblings from the children's dying mother. The new family set about living happily ever after in their rambling farmhouse outside Harare. But ever after proved short lived as Zimbabwe's small window of stability closed in on them quickly when Robert Mugabe unleashed a war on white farmers and opposition party members, launching an era of economic, social and political turmoil which eventually saw the family fleeing the country for fear of being killed.

Eric well knew the cost of conflict, but his fierce love of his country and his principles saw him immersing himself in the dangerous opposition politics of the day where elections were rigged and fellow party members were tortured and murdered.

Eric de Jong's irrepressible sense of humour bubbles throughout this absorbing, honest and deeply personal account of a growing family, of love, entrepreneurial success and failure, mental illness, political exile, and the distressing and often absurd collapse of a beautiful African country and stoicism of its people.

Millones de personas han leído libros y escuchado sermones de Timothy Keller. Pero, ¿qué personas y qué eventos dieron forma a su propio pensamiento y crecimiento espiritual? Con acceso y sin restricciones a las notas personales y sermones de Keller, así como a entrevistas exclusivas con familiares y amigos de toda la vida, Collin Hansen expone de una manera sin precedentes sobre uno de los líderes de la iglesia más influyentes del siglo 21.

A través de esta biografía, aprenderás lo que está leía, lo que aprendió y lo que vió a lo largo de su vida. La historia de Timothy Keller es la historia de influencias espirituales e intelectuales, desde la mujer que le enseñó a leer la Biblia hasta el profesor que le enseñó a predicar a Jesús; desde cada texto hasta el filósofo que le enseñó a ver bajo la superficie de la sociedad.

Por primera vez, Hansen le presenta al lector los primeros años de Keller: el hogar donde aprendió a contar historias desde los árboles, la iglesia donde aprendió a cuidar de las almas y la ciudad que lo elevó a la fama internacional que nunca quiso.