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Books > Fiction > True stories > Discovery / historical / scientific
Big Brother - Big Banker reveals how a few of the world's richest
men conceived and formulated a plan to absorb and control the
wealth and resources of the world - including everyone and
everything in it. These men made a pact to secretly pool their
money and resources to influence all nations on the planet,
establishing what they have termed a New World Order. 'They' are
deadly serious, implementing covert plans that will ultimately
control the entire human race.
While childbirth is a normal part of most women's lives and a
process which usually proceeds without any real risk, for the
world's poorest women this is often not the case. Poverty,
malnutrition, female genital mutilation, child marriage and AIDS
put these women in a high risk bracket from Day 1 of their
pregnancies. To make matters worse, when things go wrong they often
have no easy access to healthcare, when they get to a clinic or
hospital skilled staff may not be available or, if they are, the
drugs and equipment they need may well not be at their disposal.
War, natural disasters and a lack of infrastructure, not to mention
corruption and entrenched cultural attitudes which are not
sympathetic towards the challenges women face present yet more
problems. In this book the author, an obstetrician gynaecologist
with extensive experience of working in developing countries,
provides an insight into these and other problems by telling
individual women's stories. Each account highlights a different
problem. For this special study edition university lecturer and
teacher Sylvie Donna has written questions to go with each account
to help facilitate reflection and discussion; the questions can
either be used for personal study or by tutors in seminars; the
book's index will help students complete assignments, think through
issues and develop potential solutions. Work which is already being
carried out to help vulnerable populations is also outlined by the
author, Dr Jean Chamberlain Froese, who founded the Canadian
charity Save the Mothers, and by her husband, freelance journalist
Thomas Froese. Where relevant, statistics are also provided so as
to give readers a clearer picture of the real situation facing
women and healthcare providers in some of the world's poorest
countries.
In August of 1838, in the middle of a devastating civil war, a
grotesque figure arrived with the mail coach at Santiago de
Compostela, the ancient pilgrimage town in the North-West of Spain.
He was a former Swiss mercenary, who thirty years previously had
heard a rumour about a massive hoard of church plate buried by the
soldiers of Marshal Ney. A fantasy? A daydream? Just one of the
many hollow legends of hidden gold that abound in Spain? Perhaps
so. But, astonishingly, the Swiss vagrant did not come on his own
errand. He came sponsored by Spain's savvy Minister of Finance, Don
Alejandro Mon, who for some shadowy reason of his own lent credence
to the tale. Like an historical Sherlock Holmes, Peter Missler
traces the true tale of Benedict Mol, the treasure hunter, through
the mists of time and a smoke-screen of cover-stories. It is a
fascinating saga which takes us into Portugal with the looting
French invaders, into the wildest mountains of Northern Spain with
the brilliant polyglot George Borrow, and - by the hand of Mol -
into the darkest nooks and corners of a hospital for syphilitics.
No treasure was ever found, either in the first attempt, which
toppled the government, or in the second one, which ended with the
murder of two innocent peasants. Therefore, quite possibly, Ney's
treasure still lies waiting elsewhere in a Santiago park...
LONGLISTED FOR THE ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION 'One of the
mysteries I've long been fascinated by, and I am so grateful that
Ravi Somaiya has cracked it open so brilliantly' David Grann,
author of Killers of the Flower Moon A PLANE CRASH IN THE JUNGLE. A
LEGENDARY STATESMAN DEAD. A TRAGIC ACCIDENT... OR THE ULTIMATE
CONSPIRACY? In 1961, a Douglas DC-6B aeroplane transporting the
Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjoeld,
disappeared over the Congolese jungle at the height of the Cold
War. Soon afterward, Hammarskjoeld was discovered in the smoking
wreckage, an Ace of Spades playing card placed on his body. He had
been heralded as the Congo's best hope for peace and independence.
Now he was dead. The circumstances of that night have remained one
of the Cold War's most tightly guarded secrets for decades. Now,
with exclusive evidence, investigative journalist Ravi Somaiya
finally uncovers the truth, with dark implications for governments
and corporations alike.
The epic, page-turning history of how a group of physicists toppled
the Newtonian universe in the early decades of the twentieth
century. Marie Curie, Max Planck, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg,
Erwin Schroedinger, and Albert Einstein didn't only revolutionise
physics; they redefined our world and the reality we live in. In
The Age of Uncertainty, Tobias Hurter brings to life the golden age
of physics and its dazzling, flawed, and unforgettable heroes and
heroines. The work of the twentieth century's most important
physicists produced scientific breakthroughs that led to an
entirely new view of physics - and a view of the universe that is
still not fully understood today, even as evidence for its accuracy
is all around us. The men and women who made these discoveries were
intellectual adventurers, renegades, dandies, and nerds, some bound
together by deep friendship; others, by bitter enmity. But the age
of relativity theory and quantum mechanics was also the age of wars
and revolutions. The discovery of radioactivity transformed
science, but also led to the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Throughout The Age of Uncertainty, Hurter reminds us about the
entanglement of science and world events, for we cannot observe the
world without changing it.
The inspiration behind the powerful new film starring Gugu
Mbatha-Raw, Tom Wilkinson and Emily Watson, this is the story of
Dido Belle, whose adoption by an aristocratic family challenged the
conventions of 18th century England. In one of the most famous
portraits in the world, a pretty girl walks through the grounds of
Kenwood House, a vision of aristocratic refinement. But the eye is
drawn to the beautiful woman on her right. Pointing at her own
cheek, she playfully acknowledges her remarkable position in
eighteenth-century society. For Dido Belle was the illegitimate,
mixed-race daughter of a Royal Navy captain and a slave woman,
adopted by the Earl of Mansfield. As Lord Chief Justice of England
he would preside over the notorious Zong case - the drowning of 142
slaves by an unscrupulous shipping company. His ruling provided the
legal underpinning to the abolition of slavery in Britain. From the
privileged yet unequal lives of Dido and her cousin Elizabeth, to
the horrific treatment of African slaves, Paula Byrne - the
bestselling author of 'The Real Jane Austen' - vividly narrates the
story of a family that defied convention, the legal trial that
exposed the cruelties of slavery and the woman who challenged
notions of race at the highest rank.
In the summer of 1876, Berlin anxiously awaited the arrival of what
was billed as "the most gigantic ape known to zoology." Described
by European explorers only a few decades earlier, gorillas had
rarely been seen outside of Africa, and emerging theories of
evolution only increased the public's desire to see this "monster
with human features." However, when he arrived, the so-called
monster turned out to be a juvenile male less than thirty-two
inches tall. Known as M'Pungu (Master Pongo), or simply Pongo, the
gorilla was put on display in the Unter den Linden Aquarium in the
center of Berlin. Expecting the horrid creature described by the
news outlets of the time, the crowds who flocked to see Pongo were
at first surprised and then charmed by the little ape. He quickly
became one of the largest attractions in the city, and his handlers
exploited him for financial gain and allowed doctors and scientists
to study him closely. Throughout his time in Europe, Pongo was
treated like a person in many respects. He drank beer, ate meat,
slept at the home of the head of the aquarium, and "visited" London
and Hamburg. But this new lifestyle and foreign environment weren't
healthy for the little gorilla. Pongo fell ill frequently and died
of "consumption" in November 1877, less than a year and a half
after being brought to Europe. An irresistible read, illustrated
with contemporaneous drawings, this critical retelling of the
expedition that brought Pongo to Berlin and of his short life in
Europe sheds important light on human-animal interactions and
science at a time in Western society when the theory of evolution
was first gaining ground.
Spring 1958: a mysterious individual believed to be high up in the
Polish secret service began passing Soviet secrets to the West. His
name was Michal Goleniewski and he remains one of the most
important, yet least known and most misunderstood spies of the Cold
War. Even his death is shrouded in mystery and he has been written
out of the history of Cold War espionage - until now. Tim Tate
draws on a wealth of previously-unpublished primary source
documents to tell the dramatic true story of the best spy the west
ever lost - of how Goleniewski exposed hundreds of KGB agents
operating undercover in the West; from George Blake and the
'Portland Spy Ring', to a senior Swedish Air Force and NATO officer
and a traitor inside the Israeli government. The information he
produced devastated intelligence services on both sides of the Iron
Curtain. Bringing together love and loyalty, courage and treachery,
betrayal, greed and, ultimately, insanity, here is the
extraordinary true story of one of the most significant but little
known spies of the Cold War. Acclaim for The Spy Who Was Left Out
in the Cold: 'Totally gripping . . . a masterpiece. Tate lifts the
lid on one of the most important and complex spies of the Cold War,
who passed secrets to the West and finally unmasked traitor George
Blake.' HELEN FRY, author of MI9: A History of the Secret Service
for Escape and Evasion in World War Two 'A wonderful and at times
mind-boggling account of a bizarre and almost forgotten spy - right
up to the time when he's living undercover in Queens, New York and
claiming to be the last of the Romanoffs.' SIMON KUPER, author of
The Happy Traitor 'A highly readable and thoroughly researched
account of one of the Cold War's most intriguing and tragic spy
stories.' OWEN MATTHEWS, author of An Impeccable Spy
*THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER* A GUARDIAN AND SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF
THE YEAR 'An astonishing book' James O'Brien 'A gripping,
devastating read' Sunday Times The inside story of the UK's
response to the pandemic from the Insight investigations unit at
The Sunday Times Failures of State recounts the extraordinary
political decisions taken at the heart of Boris Johnson's
government during the global pandemic. Fully updated and
corroborated by hundreds of sources, this is the insider's account
of how the government sleepwalked into disaster and tried to cover
up its role in the tragedy. Thrillingly told, it exposes one of the
most scandalous failures of political leadership in British
history. 'A damning indictment' Alan Johnson, Observer 'A
devastating piece of journalism' Andrew Marr 'This is a scandal'
Piers Morgan
October 2, 2002. A bullet pierced the window of a crafts store in
Maryland, just missing the cashier. But other bullets hit their
targets. In Pursuit follows the hunt for the Beltway snipers during
the twenty-three-day shooting spree that terrorized Maryland,
Virginia, and the District of Columbia. David Reichenbaugh, the
criminal intelligence operations commander for the Maryland State
Police, and commanding officer at the scene during the snipers'
capture in Myersville, Maryland, played a major role in the
investigation from the first day of the killing spree through its
final act, as the snipers were cornered in a rest area in western
Maryland. He is one of a very few who know the complete details of
the investigation and capture of the snipers. Working against the
clock with few clues and little evidence, hundreds of investigators
from federal, state, county, and city law enforcement agencies
struggled to find answers to the questions: Who were the killers?
Was their choice of victims random? And most of all, Why did they
kill? When the killers began leaving notes to taunt the police,
investigators were finally able to begin assembling a picture,
piercing the fog of uncertainty and terror that filled the region.
In Pursuit is a step-by-step procedural that offers an inside look
at how investigators made sense of the dizzying array of facts,
conjectures, motives, and opportunities and brought to heel two of
the most diabolical killers in the nation's history.
Set children on the tracks of Bern's ghosts and monsters with this
active guide through the old city. Five stories lead through the
narrow alleys to a haunted house, a child eater, naughty gargoyles,
buried treasure and much more. Engaging maps point out interesting
facts about the old city. With this book, Bern's streets turn into
a guaranteed fun adventure! By Bern Munster Tower caretaker
Marie-Therese Lauper.
In his quest to define 'sporting greatness', double Olympic
champion Alistair Brownlee has spent nearly 4 years interviewing
and training with some of the greatest minds in sport to discover
what it takes to become - and remain - a champion. Featuring: Ian
Botham * Mark Cavendish * Alastair Cook * Alex Danson * Richard
Dunwoody * Donna Fraser * Chris Froome * Anna Hemmings * Denis
Irwin * Michael Johnson * Kilian Jornet * Stuart Lancaster * AP
McCoy * Ronnie O'Sullivan * Michael Owen * Adam Peaty * Ian Poulter
* Paula Radcliffe * Ian Thorpe * Mark Webber * Shane Williams From
an early age Alistair Brownlee has been obsessed with being the
very best, and not just improving his sporting performance across
his three specialist triathlon disciplines of swimming, cycling and
running, but also understanding how a winner becomes a dominant
champion. Winning gold in consecutive Olympic Games has only
strengthened this need and desire. Over the last 4 years Alistair
has been on a journey to learn from the best, talking to elite
figures across multiple sports as well as leading thinkers and
scientists, to understand what enabled these remarkable individuals
to rise to the very top, and to push the limits of human capability
in their relentless pursuit of perfection. Alistair uses these
fascinating interviews, along with extensive research, to explore a
range of sports and environments - athletics, cycling, football,
rugby, horseracing, hockey, cricket, golf, motor racing, snooker,
swimming and ultra-running - to reveal how talent alone is never
enough and how hard work, pain, pressure, stress, risk, focus,
sacrifice, innovation, reinvention, passion, ruthlessness, luck,
failure and even a lockdown can all play a crucial part in honing a
winning mentality and achieving sustained success.
'One of the non-fiction books of the year.' Andrew O' Hagan A
powerful, evocative and deeply personal journey into the world of
missing people When Francisco Garcia was just seven years old, his
father, Christobal, left his family. Unemployed, addicted to drink
and drugs, and adrift in life, Christobal decided he would rather
disappear altogether than carry on dealing with the problems in
front of him. So that's what he did, leaving his young wife and
child in the dead of night. He has been missing ever since. Twenty
years on, Francisco is ready to take up the search for answers. Why
did this happen and how could it be possible? Where might his
father have gone? And is there any reason to hope for a happy
reunion? During his journey, which takes him all across Britain and
back to his father's homeland of Spain, Francisco tells the stories
of those he meets along the way: the police investigators; the
charity employees and volunteers; the once missing and those
perilously at risk around us; the families, friends and all those
left behind. If You Were There is the moving and affecting story of
one man's search for his lost family, an urgent document of where
we are now and a powerful, timeless reminder of our responsibility
to others.
LONGLISTED FOR THE ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION 'One of the
mysteries I've long been fascinated by, and I am so grateful that
Ravi Somaiya has cracked it open so brilliantly' David Grann,
author of Killers of the Flower Moon A PLANE CRASH IN THE JUNGLE. A
LEGENDARY STATESMAN DEAD. A TRAGIC ACCIDENT... OR THE ULTIMATE
CONSPIRACY? For nearly sixty years, the circumstances surrounding
the death of renowned diplomat Dag Hammarskjoeld have remained one
of the Cold War's most tightly guarded secrets. Now, with exclusive
evidence, investigative journalist Ravi Somaiya finally uncovers
the truth. In 1961 the Congo was in crisis, fragmented and at war
with itself. The streets of Leopoldville, the capital, were
crawling with CIA operatives, MI6 agents and Soviet infiltrators.
Belgian colonialists, Rhodesian white supremacists and corporate
mercenaries massed in the south of the country. The chaos conspired
to make it one of the most dangerous places on earth. UN Secretary
General Dag Hammarskjoeld, the man John F. Kennedy called 'the
greatest statesman of our century' flew into the maelstrom. He was
an idealist. The Congo's best hope for peace and independence. But
en route to a diplomatic summit to reunite the country,
Hammarskjoeld's plane mysteriously disappeared. Soon afterward he
was discovered dead in the smoking wreckage, an Ace of Spades
playing card placed on his body. A riveting work of investigative
journalism based on new evidence, recently revealed first-hand
accounts, and groundbreaking interviews, Operation Morthor reveals
the plot behind one of the longest-standing murder mysteries of the
Cold War, with dark implications for governments and corporations
alike.
A heart-warming story of a woman who devoted her life to helping
others. This is the memoir of Joan, who started nursing in the
1940s and whose experiences took her into the Yorkshire mining pits
and through the tumult of the 1984-85 miners' strike. Joan Hart
always knew what she wanted to do with her life. Born in South
Yorkshire in 1932, she started her nursing training when she was
16, the youngest age girls could do so at the time. She continued
working after she married and her work took her to London and
Doncaster, caring for children and miners. When she took a job as a
pit nurse in Doncaster in 1974, she found that in order to be
accepted by the men under her care, she would have to become one of
them. Most of the time rejecting a traditional nurse's uniform and
donning a baggy miner's suit, pit boots, a hardhat and a headlamp,
Joan resolved always to go down to injured miners and bring them
out of the pit herself. Over 15 years Joan grew to know the miners
not only as a nurse, but as a confidante and friend. She tended to
injured miners underground, rescued men trapped in the pits, and
provided support for them and their families during the bitter
miners' strike which stretched from March 1984 to 1985. Moving and
uplifting, this is a story of one woman's life, marriage and work;
it is guaranteed to make readers laugh, cry, and smile.
On 26th July 1986 a train derailed after striking a van at an open
level crossing in a remote East Yorkshire village. The resulting
carnage killed nine people, injured 42 and left dozens of survivors
and families reeling from the shock for the rest of their lives.
Now for the first time the full story of that tragedy can be told
by the people who were there. The horror of the survivors, the
bravery of the rescuers and the heartache for the people left
behind. From one disaster came a campaign to have open crossings
banned and to make sure a disaster like Lockington will never
happen again. Richard M Jones is a researcher who has made it his
life's ambition to record forgotten disasters and events lost to
history. His achievements include writing the first book about the
Great Gale of 1871 and placing a memorial for the Lockington
victims. A serving member of the Royal Navy, he lives in
Bridlington.
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