Brahana Selassie is a product of the African-Caribbean Diaspora from Grenada. As a young man of twenty in 1975, he discovered and then became a convert to the unique ancient multi-layered world of Ethiopia's ancient Nile Valley civilisation. He then immersed himself in studying its origins and continuity into the 20th century. Two out of an unbroken chain of precious pearls he discovered from his studies are: * Ethiopia's possession of the cradle for the scientific study of the origins of the human race in its section of Africa's Great Rift Valley in the Afar Triangle. * Its rich biblical faith and life heritage, associated with the sacred ancestral family unit of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar that gave birth to three of the major living religions of the world: Judaism, Christianity, Islam. Receiving the Ethiopian Orthodox Priesthood in 1980, Brahana Selassie has matured into a multi-skilled communicator involved with various dialogue partners, in which he has shared chosen topical subject areas of Ethiopia's wealthy galaxy of precious and unique mystical treasures, as it relates to Africa's people on the continent, in its diaspora, and with the international community of scholars.

His father, an Irishman, was on the run from the "Brits". He took refuge in Jersey C.I. where Desmond was born. The family left the island when he was four, but retained strong ties and family to this very day. After the tragic deaths of his two young brothers at 17 and 27 he was reminded that you only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. From humble beginnings as a butcher in Birmingham, he made himself into a relatively small but successful businessman, with a chain of shops and houses to rent. He took life by the scruff of the neck and lived a playboy life of booze, women and fast cars. He has dived the oceans of the world, travelled to all the places he ever wanted to see and ticked all his boxes. Retiring from business at 49, he turned to a new life of songwriting, TV plays and a successful trilogy of Jack Reec novels. Once asked, "Is there anything you haven't done?" Thoughtfully he replied, "Well if there is, it's because I didn't want to do it". Share the ride with him, on an exciting journey to far flung exotic locations in this hugely readable and amusingly written autobiography.

The extraordinary story of how the Endurance, Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship, was found in the most hostile sea on Earth in 2022 On 21 November 1915, Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship, Endurance, finally succumbed to the crushing ice. Its crew watched in silence as the stern rose twenty feet in the air and then, it was gone. The miraculous escape and survival of all 28 men on board have entered legend. And yet, the iconic ship that bore them to the brink of the Antarctic was considered forever lost. A century later, an audacious plan to locate the ship was hatched. The Ship Beneath the Ice gives a blow-by-blow account of the two epic expeditions to find the Endurance. As with Shackleton's own story, the voyages were filled with intense drama and teamwork under pressure. In March 2022, the Endurance was finally found to headlines all over the world. Written by Mensun Bound, the Director of Exploration on both expeditions, this captivating narrative includes countless fascinating stories of Shackleton and his legendary ship. Complete with a selection of Frank Hurley's photos from Shackleton's original voyage in 1914-17, as well as from the expeditions in 2019 and 2022, The Ship Beneath the Ice is the perfect tribute to this monumental discovery.

In the early sixteenth century, a young English sugar trader spent a night at what is now the port of Agadir in Morocco, watching from the tenuous safety of the Portuguese fort as the local tribesmen attacked the 'Moors'. Having recently departed the familiar environs of London and the Essex marshes, this was to be the first of several encounters Roger Barlow was to have with unfamiliar worlds. Barlow's family were linked to networks where the exchange of goods and ideas merged, and his contacts in Seville brought him into contact with the navigator, Sebastian Cabot. Merchants and Explorers follows Barlow and Cabot across the Atlantic to South America and back to Spain and Reformation England. Heather Dalton uses their lives as an effective narrative thread to explore the entangled Atlantic world during the first half of the sixteenth century. In doing so, she makes a critical contribution to the fields of both Atlantic and global history. Although it is generally accepted that the English were not significantly attracted to the Americas until the second half of the sixteenth century, Dalton demonstrates that Barlow, Cabot, and their cohorts had a knowledge of the world and its opportunities that was extraordinary for this period. She reveals how shared knowledge as well as the accumulation of capital in international trading networks prior to 1560 influenced emerging ideas of trade, 'discovery', settlement, and race in Britain. In doing so, Dalton not only provides a substantial new body of facts about trade and exploration, she explores the changing character of English commerce and society in the first half of the sixteenth century.

The universe of militant groups in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP), near the Afghan border, is far more complex and diverse than is commonly understood. While these groups share many ideological and historical characteristics, the militants have very different backgrounds, tribal affiliations, and strategic concepts that are key to understanding the dynamics of this dangerous, war-torn region- the main safe haven of al-Qaeda and the gateway to fighting in Afghanistan. This volume of essays, edited by Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann and produced in connection with the New America Foundation, explores the history and current state of the lawless frontier of "Talibanistan," from the groups that occupy its various sub-regions to the effects of counterinsurgency and military intervention (including drone strikes) and the possibility of reconciliation. Contributors include MIT's Sameer Lalwani, NYU's Paul Cruickshank, Afghan journalist Anand Gopal, and Brian Fishman of the New America Foundation.