‘THE BOOK EVERY VOTER MUST READ’ Mail on Sunday

‘Meticulous and highly readable … Funny and devastating’ Daily Telegraph

‘The most compelling in-depth study so far’ Guardian

A gripping expose of the man, his politics and what Corbyn in Downing Street could mean for Britain

After four unremarkable decades in politics, Jeremy Corbyn stands on the brink of power. Until his surprise election as leader of the Labour Party in 2015, this seemingly unelectable oddball had not been a major political player. Since then, Corbyn has survived coup attempts and accusations of incompetence that would have felled most politicians, including grave charges of anti-Semitism, bullying and not being the master of his brief. Despite these shortcomings, as the Conservatives rip themselves apart over Europe, he is likely soon to become Britain's prime minister.

Yet this hero of the far left has done his best to conceal much of his past and personal life from public scrutiny. In this book, best-selling investigative biographer Tom Bower reveals hidden truths about Corbyn's character, the causes and organisations he espouses, and Britain's likely fate under the Marxist-Trotskyist society he has championed since the early 1970s.

Based on eyewitness accounts from those who have known Corbyn throughout his life, the book asks whether a Labour government led by Corbyn would transform the country for the better. Has capitalism, as he argues, run its course, and would our lives be improved by socialism? If so, what is Corbyn's brand of socialism? The same as that experienced under successive Labour governments since 1945, or something more extreme? Will his advocacy of more debt, tax hikes and renationalisation reproduce the fate of Venezuela as championed by his own hero Hugo Chávez? Is he a reformer or a revolutionary? Will he deliver a glowing new era or catastrophe?

His supporters damn every opponent and critic, calling them 'traitors' or worse. Does this aggression, and the accusations that paint Corbyn as an entrenched anti-Semite and misogynist, override his image as an authentic 'good bloke'?

Many are excited by the prospect of Corbyn’s arrival in Downing Street. Others believe that Corbyn as prime minister will prove to be a dangerous hero.

The definitive account of Barack Obama's life before he became the 44th president of the United States - the formative years, confluence of forces, and influential figures who helped shaped an extraordinary leader and his rise - from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Bearing the Cross. Barack Obama's keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention instantly catapulted the little-known state senator from Illinois into the national spotlight. Three months later, Obama would win election to the U.S. Senate; four years later he would make history as America's first black president. Now, at the end of his second presidential term, David J. Garrow delivers the most compelling and comprehensive Obama biography - as epic in vision and rigorous in detail as Robert Caro's The Power Broker. Moving around the globe, from Hawaii to Indonesia to the American Northeast and Midwest, Rising Star meticulously unpacks Obama's life, from his tumultuous upbringing in Honolulu and Jakarta, to his formative time as a community organizer on Chicago's South Side, working in some of the roughest neighborhoods, to Cambridge, where he excelled at Harvard Law School, and finally back to Chicago, where he pursued his political destiny. In voluminous detail, drawn from more than 1,000 interviews and encyclopedic documentary research, Garrow reveals as never before the ambition, the dreams, and the all-too-human struggles of an iconic president in a sure to be news-making biography that will stand as the most authoritative account of Obama's pre-presidential life for decades to come.

What is the connection between crawling through a jungle and your `to do' list? What can ejecting out of a stealth bomber teach you about the importance of thinking the worst? What can surviving in extreme situations teach us about surviving everyday life? John Hudson, Chief Survival Instructor to the British Military, knows what it takes to survive. Combining first-hand experience with 20 years of studying the choices people have made under the most extreme pressure, How to Survive is a lifetime's worth of wisdom about how to apply the principles of survival to everyday life. The cornerstone of military survival (surviving anything) is understanding the relationship between effort, hope and goals - a mindset that can be transposed anytime, anywhere. In How to Survive you will learn how this template for survival can be applied to any situation in your everyday life. Through gripping first-hand accounts of near disaster and survival stories from across the extreme world you will learn that by following these principles you can develop the mindset that will allow you to make better decisions under pressure, which are as equally applicable to first dates and presentations as to climbing Everest and getting lost at sea.

Almost two centuries since his death, Napoleon Bonaparte remains the subject of vigorous debate. On one side are those with a romantic attachment to ideals of liberty and democracy, on the other are those who would rather see him as an ambitious warlord, bent on establishing a colonial empire in the heart of Europe. 30-Second Napoleon takes in both viewpoints, presenting an engrossing introduction to one of the most recognizable figures in history and one of extraordinary interest whichever point of view you take, romantic or pragmatic: one who did much to modernize Europe, and who stood for both a powerful state and for rational and efficient government, plus such principles as equality before the law and the career open to talent-achievements that explain his continued fascination for so many people.

As die Recces die dag in die bos in stap, slaan die luislange, die aasvoëls en selfs die leeus op die vlug. Wat jy kan vang, kan jy eet, sê dié manne.

Recce-Resepte: Vir Kos, Die Bos, Die Lewe is vol tong-in-die-kies resepte en stories oor die Recces se ervarings gedurende die Grensoorlogjare en tot 1997. Die boek plaas jou in die skoene van hierdie legendariese en geheimsinnige Spesiale Magte-operateurs. Ontdek wat dit verg om vir weke aaneen uit ’n rugsak te leef, hoe om te oorleef op dit wat die natuur verskaf en selfs hoe om ’n leeu kaalhand van ’n karkas te verjaag. Aasvoëlsop, enigiemand? Of wat van vlieënde vis vir voorgereg met gebraaide luislang vir hoofgereg?

Die stories oor hul waaghalsige operasies gedurende die eerste 25 jaar van die Spesiale Magte vat jou van Durban na Langebaan en deur Phalaborwa na die res van Afrika en selfs Rusland. Hulle verklap boonop hul unieke filosofie – bly in die oomblik, pas aan en doen jou ding!

Of staan opsy, want die Recces kom verby.

Die skrywer Erika Murray-Theron wou weet waar die vroue in haar familie vandaan kom. Wat kry ’n mens van wie? Waar kom alles wat jý is vandaan? Hoe is die vroue in haar familie se lewe geraak deur trauma en groot wêreldgebeurtenisse waaroor hulle geen beheer gehad het nie? Theron se ouma Issie is op 3 Mei 1885 gebore; 133 jaar gelede. In hierdie verhaalbiografie gaan soek Theron in ou kookboeke, aantekeninge, foto’s, herinneringe, albums, briewe en geslagsregisters na haar ouma Issie se storie. ’n Lewe ontvou wat geraak is deur die verlies van ouers, die Anglo-Boereoorlog, die Rebellie van 1914 en daarna die energie wat dit verg om ’n groot huisgesin te behartig. ’n Skerfie glas wys hoe die verlede, selfs die verre verlede, spore op latere geslagte laat.

Die weeklikse rubriek in Rapport, “Hanlie Retief gesels met” , is iets waarna baie lesers elke Sondag uitsien en heel eerste lees. Aanhangers weet haar onderhoude is pittig, op die man af en baie vermaaklik.

Hanlie Retief vra die vrae aan die nuusmakers wat almal brand om te vra. Sy is bekend daarvoor dat sy haar soos ’n verkleurmannetjie kan aanpas by die aard van die onderhoud. Met deernis skets sy misdaadslagoffers se stories en kuier ewe gemaklik saam met Karen Zoid. Hanlie Retief Gesels Met 2 bevat 50 van Hanlie se beste onderhoude wat sy tussen 2011 en 2018 gevoer het: dié waaroor mense lank gepraat het, dié wat mense kwaad gemaak het, laat lag of inspireer het.

Steve Hofmeyr, Rolene Strauss, Tim Noakes, Piet Byleveld en Thuli Mandosela is van die onderhoude wat opgeneem is in hierdie boek.

For fans of the New York Times bestsellers The Last Punisher and Lone Survivor, a heart-pounding military memoir from a former Army Ranger sniper and Special Operations weapon sergeant-turned-journalist about the incredible highs and devastating lows of his career. Growing up in small New York towns, Jack Murphy knew he wanted to lead a life far from the ordinary--a life of adventure and valor. After the 9/11 attacks, he immediately enlisted in the Army, knowing this was his chance to live the life he desired and fight for a cause he staunchly supported. After making it through the rigorous Ranger Indoctrination Program, he graduated sniper school and was promptly deployed to Afghanistan, where his experiences went from ordinary to extraordinary. In this gripping military memoir, Murphy recounts the multiple missions he underwent as a Ranger, a Special Forces weapons sergeant, and ultimately, a boots-on-the-ground journalist. From enemy ambushes, dodging explosives, crashing terrorists' weddings, and landing helicopters in the streets of Mosul, Jack provides a hard-hitting glimpse of what combat is like in some of the world's most dangerous, war-torn places. With tours of duty in two of the most decorated units of the armed forces, Murphy brings a unique perspective to the military genre as he reflects on his great triumphs and shattering failures both on and off the battlefield. Later, Murphy turned his attention to breaking news within the military. His stories have taken him from Iraq to Switzerland, from Syria to South Korea. From crossing Middle Eastern borders in the dead of night, to rolling into an IED-laden zone, Murphy's stories are always a thrill a minute. Murphy's Law tells a story of intense bravery and sacrifice--both on and off the battlefield.

`A litany of fresh heroes to make the embattled heart sing' Caitlin Moran `Newman is a brilliant writer' Observer A fresh, opinionated history of all the brilliant women you should have learned about in school but didn't. For hundreds of years we have heard about the great men of history, but what about herstory? In this freewheeling history of modern Britain, Cathy Newman writes about the pioneering women who defied the odds to make careers for themselves and alter the course of modern history; women who achieved what they achieved while dismantling hostile, entrenched views about their place in society. Their role in transforming Britain is fundamental, far greater than has generally been acknowledged, and not just in the arts or education but in fields like medicine, politics, law, engineering and the military. While a few of the women in this book are now household names, many have faded into oblivion, their personal and collective achievements mere footnotes in history. We know of Emmeline Pankhurst, Vera Brittain, Marie Stopes and Beatrice Webb. But who remembers engineer and motorbike racer Beatrice Shilling, whose ingenious device for the Spitfires' Rolls-Royce Merlin fixed an often-fatal flaw, allowing the RAF's planes to beat the German in the Battle of Britain? Or Dorothy Lawrence, the journalist who achieved her ambition to become a WW1 correspondent by pretending to be a man? And developmental biologist Anne McLaren, whose work in genetics paved the way for in vitro fertilisation? Blending meticulous research with information gleaned from memoirs, diaries, letters, novels and other secondary sources, Bloody Brilliant Women uses the stories of some extraordinary lives to tell the tale of 20th and 21st century Britain. It is a history for women and men. A history for our times.

Ash spewed into the sky. All eyes were on Vesuvius. Pliny the Elder sailed towards the phenomenon. A teenage Pliny the Younger waited. His uncle did not come back. In a dazzling new literary biography, Daisy Dunn introduces Pliny the Younger, the survivor who became a Roman lawyer, senator, poet, collector of villas, curator of drains, and representative of the Emperor. He was confidant and friend to the great and good, an unparalleled chronicler of the Vesuvius catastrophe, and eyewitness to the terror of Emperor Domitian. The younger Pliny was adopted by his uncle, admiral of the fleet and author of the Natural History, an extraordinary compendium of knowledge and the world's first full-length encyclopaedia. The younger Pliny inherited his uncle's notebooks and carried their pearls of wisdom with him down the years. Daisy Dunn breathes vivid life back into the Plinys. Reading from the Natural History and the Younger Pliny's Letters, she resurrects the relationship between the two men to expose their beliefs on life, death and the natural world in the first century. Interweaving their work, and positioning the Plinys in relation to the devastating eruption, Dunn's biography is a celebration of two outstanding minds of the Roman Empire, and their lasting influence on the world thereafter. .

Nobel Peace Prize winner and bestselling author Malala Yousafzai introduces some of the faces behind the statistics and news stories we read or hear every day about the millions of people displaced worldwide.

Malala's experiences visiting refugee camps caused her to reconsider her own displacement - first as an Internally Displaced Person when she was a young child in Pakistan, and then as an international activist who could travel anywhere in the world, except to the home she loved. In We Are Displaced, which is part memoir, part communal storytelling, Malala not only explores her own story of adjusting to a new life while longing for home, but she also shares the personal stories of some of the incredible girls she has met on her various journeys - girls who have lost their community, relatives, and often the only world they've ever known.

In a time of immigration crises, war and border conflicts, We Are Displaced is an important reminder from one of the world's most prominent young activists that every single one of the 68.5 million currently displaced is a person - often a young person - with hopes and dreams, and that everyone deserves universal human rights and a safe home.

Bantu Holomisa is one of South Africa’s most respected and popular political figures. Born in the Transkei in 1955, he attended an elite school for the sons of chiefs and headmen. While other men his age were joining Umkhonto weSizwe, Holomisa enrolled in the Transkeian Defence Force and rose rapidly through the ranks.

As head of the Transkeian Defence Force, Holomisa led successive coups against the homeland regimes and then became the head of its military government. He turned the Transkei into a ‘liberated space’, giving shelter to ANC and PAC activists, and declared his intention of holding a referendum on the reincorporation of the Transkei into South Africa. These actions brought him immense popularity and the military dictator became a liberation hero for many South Africans.

When the unbanned ANC held its first election for its national executive in 1994, Holomisa, who had by now joined the party, received the most votes, beating long-time veterans and party stalwarts. He and Mandela developed a close relationship, and Holomisa served in Mandela’s cabinet as deputy minister for environmental affairs and tourism. As this biography reveals, the relationship with both Mandela and the ANC broke down after Holomisa testified before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, among other issues, that Stella Sigcau and her cabinet colleagues had accepted a bribe from Sol Kerzner.

After being expelled from the ANC, Holomisa formed his own party, the United Democratic Movement, with Roelf Meyer. As leader of the UDM, Holomisa has played a prominent role in building coalitions among opposition parties and in leading important challenges to the dominant party.

This biography, written in collaboration with Holomisa, presents an engaging and revealing account of a man who has made his mark as a game changer in South African politics.

Advocate Thuli Madonsela has achieved in her seven years as Public Protector what few accomplish in a lifetime; her legacy and contribution cannot be over-stated. In her final days in office she compiled the explosive State Capture report and, before that, the report on President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla residence. Praised and vilified in equal measures, Madonsela has frequently found herself at centre stage in the increasingly fractious South African political scene. Yet, despite the intense media scrutiny, Madonsela remains something of an enigma. Who is this soft-spoken woman who stood up to state corruption? Where did she develop her views and resolve? This book attempts to answer these questions, and others, by exploring many aspects of Madonsela’s life: her childhood years and family, her involvement in student politics, her contribution to the constitution, her life in law. Madonsela once described her role as Public Protector as being akin to that of the Venda traditional spiritual female leader, the Makhadzi, who whispers truth to the ruler. When the sounds of the exchanges between the ruler and the Makhadzi grow loud, Madonsela said, that is when the whispering has failed. No Longer Whispering to Power is about Thuli Madonsela’s tenure as Public Protector, during which the whisper grew into a cry. It is the story of the South African people’s attempt to hold power to account through the Office of the Public Protector. More significantly, this important book stands as a record of the crucial work Madonsela has done, always acting without fear or favour.

In the tradition of `Agent Zigzag' comes a breathtaking biography of WWII's `Scarlet Pimpernel' as fast-paced and emotionally intuitive as the best spy thrillers. This celebrates unsung hero Robert de La Rochefoucauld, an aristocrat turned anti-Nazi saboteur, and his exploits as a British Special Operations Executive-trained resistant When the Nazis invaded France during the Second World War and imprisoned his father, Robert de La Rochefoucauld - a scion of one of the oldest aristocratic families in France - escaped to England and trained in the dark arts of anarchy and combat. Under the guidance of SOE spies, he learned to crack safes, plant bombs and kill enemies with his bare hands. Then, back in France, he organised Resistance cells, killed Nazi officers and interfered with German missions. He survived unbearable torture and escaped Nazi confinement on not one but two occasions, to live well into his eighties. The adventures of de La Rochefoucauld offer rare insight into a unique moment in history, revealing brand new information about a network of commandos who battled evil and bravely worked together to change the course of history.

The fascinating history of Christopher Columbus's illegitimate son Hernando, guardian of his father's flame, courtier, bibliophile and catalogue supreme, whose travels took him to the heart of 16th-century Europe' Honor Clerk, Spectator, Books of the Year This is the scarcely believable - and wholly true - story of Christopher Columbus' bastard son Hernando, who sought to equal and surpass his father's achievements by creating a universal library. His father sailed across the ocean to explore the known boundaries of the world for the glory of God, Spain and himself. His son Hernando sought instead to harness the vast powers of the new printing presses to assemble the world's knowledge in one place, his library in Seville. Hernando was one of the first and greatest visionaries of the print age, someone who saw how the scale of available information would entirely change the landscape of thought and society. His was an immensely eventual life. As a youth, he spent years travelling in the New World, and spent one living with his father in a shipwreck off Jamaica. He created a dictionary and a geographical encyclopaedia of Spain, helped to create the first modern maps of the world, spent time in almost every major European capital, and associated with many of the great people of his day, from Ferdinand and Isabel to Erasmus, Thomas More, and Durer. He wrote the first biography of his father, almost single-handedly creating the legend of Columbus that held sway for many hundreds of years, and was highly influential in crafting how Europe saw the world his father reached in 1492. He also amassed the largest collection of printed images and of printed music of the age, started what was perhaps Europe's first botanical garden, and created by far the greatest private library Europe had ever seen, dwarfing with its 15,000 books every other library of the day. Edward Wilson-Lee has written the first major modern biography of Hernando - and the first of any kind available in English. In a work of dazzling scholarship, The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books tells an enthralling tale of the age of print and exploration, a story with striking lessons for our own modern experiences of information revolution and Globalisation.

Henry II conquered the largest empire of any English medieval king. Yet it is the people around him we remember: his wife Eleanor, whom he seduced from the French king; his son Richard the Lionheart; Thomas Becket, murdered in his cathedral. Who was this great, yet tragic king? For fans of Dan Jones, George RR Martin and Bernard Cornwell. The only thing that could have stopped Henry was himself. Henry II had all the gifts of the gods. He was charismatic, clever, learned, empathetic, a brilliant tactician, with great physical strength and an astonishing self-belief. Henry was the creator of the Plantagenet dynasty of kings, who ruled through eight generations in command of vast lands in Britain and Europe. Virtually unbeaten in battle, and engaged in a ceaseless round of conquest and diplomacy, Henry forged an empire that matched Charlemagne's. It was not just on the battlefield that Henry excelled; he presided over a blossoming of culture and learning termed `the twelfth century Renaissance', pursued the tenets of reason over religious faith, and did more to advance the cause of justice and enforce the rule of law than any other English monarch before or since. Contemporaries lauded his greatness and described him as their `Alexander of the West'. And yet it is the people around him who are remembered: his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, whom he seduced away from the French king; his sons Richard the Lionheart and John; Thomas Becket, murdered in his cathedral. Henry - so famed during his lifetime - has slipped into the shadows of history. King of the North Wind offers a fresh evaluation of this great yet tragic ruler. Written as a historical tragedy, it tells how this most talented of kings came into conflict with those closest to him, to become the most haunted.

The explosive narrative of the life, captivity, and trial of Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier who was abducted by the Taliban and whose story has served as a symbol for America's foundering war in Afghanistan 'A riveting journalistic account of Bowe Bergdahl's disastrous - and weirdly poignant - choice to walk off his military base in Afghanistan ... A spectacularly good book about an incredibly painful and important topic' Sebastian Junger, author of Tribe and War Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl left his platoon's base in eastern Afghanistan in the early hours of June 30, 2009. Since that day, easy answers to the many questions surrounding his case--why did he leave his post? What kinds of efforts were made to recover him from the Taliban? And why, facing a court martial, did he plead guilty to the serious charges against him?--have proved elusive. Based on years of exclusive reporting drawing on dozens of sources throughout the military, government, and Bergdahl's family, friends, and fellow soldiers, American Cipher is at once a meticulous investigation of government dysfunction and political posturing, a blistering commentary on America's presence in Afghanistan, and a heartbreaking story of a naive young man who thought he could fix the world and wound up the tool of forces far beyond his understanding.

Born in 1926, the year of the General Strike, Margaret Ford grew up with her brother Bobby in the mill town of Blackburn where her father worked in his parents' pub. She was too young to understand her mother's unhappiness or that her father was gambling away any money he earned. Then, when she was ten, her father abandoned his family, leaving her mother struggling to survive. Margaret took the hard decision to leave school at thirteen and get a job in the dye works to help pay the rent. Later that year war broke out . . . Coming of age in the Second World War, Margaret learned to live for the moment. As the boys she grew up with were killed in action, and Blackburn was bombed, she snatched happiness where she could find it. By the time she was seventeen, she was a regular at the local dance halls where there were plenty of young men eager to court her. Her heart was torn between a dashing RAF bomber pilot and her childhood sweetheart, Raymond, who was many thousands of miles away serving on a submarine in the Far East. Would she see either man again? Poignant and compelling, A Daughter's Choice brilliantly evokes a lost world, seen through the eyes of a courageous and spirited young woman who never gave up on her dreams.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Tessa Dunlop made pains to select women from broad walks of life and succeeds in weaving a rich tapestry of experiences.'The Independent `A warm-hearted and engaging read, The Century Girls is replete with wonderful characters.' Sunday Express 'Dunlop has pulled off an impressive feat of oral history...creating a moving portrait of a world that is now lost forever.' Who Do You Think You Are? A celebration of the one-hundred years since British women got the vote, told, in their own voices, by six centenarians: Helena, Olive, Edna, Joyce, Ann and Phyllis - The Century Girls In 2018 Britain celebrates the centenary of some women getting the vote. The intervening ten decades have witnessed staggering change, and The Century Girls features six women born in 1918 or before who haven't just witnessed that change, they've lived it. Empire shrank, war came and went, and modern society demanded continual readjustment.... the Century Girls lasted the course, and this book weaves together their lifetime's adventures - what they were taught, how they were treated, who they loved, what they did and where they are now. With stories that are intimately knitted into the history of the British Isles, this is a time-travel epic featuring our oldest, most precious national treasures. Edna, 102, was a domestic servant born in Lincolnshire. Helena is 101 years old and the eldest of eight born into a Welsh farming family. Olive, 102, began life as a child of empire in British Guiana and was one of the first women to migrate to London after the war. There's Ann, a 103-year-London bohemian; 100-year-old Phyllis, daughter of the British Raj, who has called Edinburgh home for nearly eighty years; and finally `young' Joyce - a 99-year-old Cambridge classicist who's still at work. It is through the prism of these women's very long lives that The Century Girls provides a deeply personal account of British history over the past one hundred years. Their story is our story too. Further praise for The Century Girls 'It features among others my teacher and mate, 99 year old Joyce Reynolds, going super strong and still a stern and helpful critic.' Mary Beard 'A delightful book . . . all about women and women's lives.' Jane Garvey, Radio 4 Woman's Hour `A deeply personal and moving account of the last 100 years of British history.' The Bookseller 'It's a brilliant book... It's fantastic!' Chris Evans, Radio 2 Breakfast Show `What better way to mark the centenary of some British women getting the vote than to read about inspirational women who witness revolutionary changes? Six centenarians reminisce on their incredible century. A history lesson to savour.' The Lady `A warm-hearted and engaging read, The Century Girls is replete with wonderful characters.' Sunday Express `"The book offers a highly personal insight into British society over the past century...... The frank, probing style of Dunlop's interview technique allows us access to a series of revealing and enlightening stories which would otherwise have been lost...... Dunlop manages to capture these unique personalities in her book with a touching intimacy that never strays into sentimentality." - The Scotsman "Tessa Dunlop has found a uniquely personal touch... Dunlop has pulled of an impressive feat of oral history, weaving the women's memories of their long lives into a coherent narrative and setting it in the context of events at the time... They recount their memories in incredible details, creating a moving portrait of a world that is now lost forever. If you have older female relatives this book will inspire you to capture their stories" - Who Do You Think You Are? `This year is the centenary of women getting the vote in Britain....Tessa Dunlop has had one of those ideas that belong firmly in the `simple-but-brilliant' category: speaking to six women who've been alive for all those hundred years.... The result is a wonderful blend of British history with individual stories - and for any reader under about 90, an often startling reminder of how much things have changed.' Reader's Digest

Nelson Mandela is widely considered to be one of the most inspiring and iconic figures of our age. Now, after a lifetime of putting pen to paper to record thoughts and events, hardships and victories, he has bestowed his entire extant personal papers, which offer an unprecedented insight into his remarkable life.

A singular international publishing event, Conversations with Myself draws on Mandela’s personal archive of never-before-seen materials to offer unique access to the private world of an incomparable world leader. Journals kept on the run during the anti-apartheid struggle of the early 1960s; diaries and draft letters written on Robben Island and in other South African prisons during his twenty-seven years of incarceration; notebooks from the post-apartheid transition; private recorded conversations; speeches and correspondence written during his presidency – a historic collection of documents archived at the Nelson Mandela Foundation is brought together into a sweeping narrative of great immediacy and stunning power.

The moving story of one young man's struggle to find peace during war, and the power of music to bring hope to a desperate nation. BBC Radio 4 'Book of the Week' __________ A man, a piano, a Syrian street under siege . . . One morning on the outskirts of war-torn Damascus, a starving man stumbles through a once familiar street - now just piles of rubble. Everything he once knew has been destroyed by famine and war. In despair he turns to his only comfort and joy, music, and pushes his piano into the street and begins to play. He plays of love and hope, he plays for his family and for his fellow Syrians. He plays even though he knows he could be killed for doing so. As word of his act of defiance spreads around the world, he becomes a beacon of hope and even resistance. Yet he fears for his wife and children, his elderly parents. And he is right to be scared, because the more he plays, the more he and his family are drawn into danger. Finally he is forced to make a terrible choice - between staying and waiting to die, or saving himself, but this would mean abandoning his family . . . Aeham Ahmad's spellbinding and uplifting true story tells of the triumph of love and hope, of the incredible bonds of family, and the healing power of music in even the very darkest of places.