The Special Air Service – the SAS – are known to be the greatest elite fighting force in the world. This book focuses on the most famous operations undertaken by the SAS from its inception during the Second World War to the present day, describing in dramatic detail the unit’s most daring and memorable missions in trouble spots across the world.

Revelatory and gripping, the author weaves together the extraordinary true stories of this brave fighting force, wherever they are in action. From missions on home shores to Iraq, Sierra Leone, the Falkland Islands, Europe, Libya, Malaya, Afghanistan and more, SAS Battle Ready brings together both the history of the unit and some of its most powerful moments.

From hostage rescues to ambushes, from sabotage to jungle warfare and from pitched battles to reconnaissance, it hasn’t always gone according to plan but the courage and devotion to duty revealed within show just what it takes to be an SAS soldier.

Successful societies can only be built on a realistic understanding of people and their world. The call for African solutions to the continent’s problems demands an innovative pool of knowledgeable and skilled social researchers. With this vision in mind, the sixth edition of Fundamentals of Social Research Methods: An African Perspective has been transformed to include a far broader set of research skills, compared to previous editions.

This edition covers qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods research, and includes an extensive new section on the analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data. The new edition therefore offers a solid and comprehensive foundation for the practice of social research. Fundamentals of Social Research Methods: An African Perspective draws examples from a broad spectrum of fields including agriculture, public health, social welfare, community development and regional planning.

The material is compatible with social science research methodology courses in anthropology, public health, sociology, economics, political science, psychology and education. The textbook is suitable for students and non-professional researchers who are interested in conducting social research, whether they are practitioners, community activists, government administrators, policymakers or businesspeople. The fifth edition of this textbook is developed for a modern audience. As authors we believe the world is a different place. Knowledge is available to almost everyone, and competitive social media is accessible to even people in remote areas. The book is still focused upon a wide range of professions such as social work, psychology, sociology, criminology, nursing, business studies and other social contexts such as community development and governments. The book is still intended to be a practical book, for novice researchers, as well as for more experienced researchers.  

The authors recognise the growing role of generative artificial intelligence, large language models and machine learning that increasingly play a disruptive role in people’s ways of negotiating the world. Within this unstable and dynamic social world context, we still believe in solid textbooks that teach the fundamentals of social research in a practical and applied manner. Africa, like the rest of the world is no exception. With increased internet accessibility and the opening of learning abilities for all, the world has become a smaller place, and most people now have the potential to tap into the vast resources and tools for social science researchers. We trust that this text remains a fundamentally essential text for Africa, for general social researchers, and those who aspire to master the skills of research.

The present revision not only updates the material but also introduces substantial additions. We follow a simple, narrative and illustrative manner of describing highly abstract concepts, with real-world examples and case studies to assist us in transferring the essentials of social science research methodologies. In this sense, this is a local work and an indigenous way of knowledge transfer. The chapters end with questions and tasks to be answered by the reader, intended to reinforce learning. Many of the questions can be used for assessment purposes, all to increase the excitement of learning about social research. The authors are passionate about research and eager to make available and unlock the complexities of the philosophy of research. We trust the reader will enjoy this text and gain from the many examples, case studies and situations that pose challenges to everyday researchers.

Being Black In The World, one of N. Chabani Manganyi’s first publications, was written in 1973 at a time of global socio-political change and renewed resistance to the brutality of apartheid rule and the emergence of Black Consciousness in the mid-1960s.

Manganyi is one of South Africa’s most eminent intellectuals and an astute social and political observer. He has written widely on subjects relating to ethno-psychiatry, autobiography, black artists and race. In 2018 Manganyi’s memoir, Apartheid and the Making of a Black Psychologist was awarded the prestigious ASSAf (The Academy of Science of South Africa) Humanities Book Award. Publication of Being-Black-in-the-World was delayed until the young Manganyi had left the country to study at Yale University. His publishers feared that the apartheid censorship board and security forces would prohibit him from leaving the country, and perhaps even incarcerate him, for being a ‘radical revolutionary’. The book found a limited public circulation in South Africa due to this censorship and original copies were hard to come by.

This new edition is an invitation to a younger generation of citizens to engage with early decolonialising thought by an eminent South African intellectual. While the essays in this book are clearly situated in the material and social conditions of that time, they also have a timelessness that speaks to our contemporary concerns regarding black subjectivity, affectivity and corporeality, the persistence of a racial (and racist) order and the possibilities of a renewed de-colonial project. Each of these short essays can be read as self-contained reflections on what it meant to be black during the apartheid years. Manganyi is a master of understatement, and yet this does not stop him from making incisive political criticisms of black subjugation under apartheid. The essays will reward close study for anyone trying to make sense of black subjectivity and the persistence of white insensitivity to black suffering.

Ahead of its time, the ideas in this book are an exemplary demonstration of what a thoroughgoing and rigorous de-colonial critique should entail. The re-publication of this classic text is enriched by the inclusion of a foreword and annotation by respected scholars Garth Stevens and Grahame Hayes respectively, and an afterword by public intellectual Njabulo S. Ndebele.

About 50km outside of Cape Town lies the beautiful town of Stellenbosch, nestled against vineyards and blue mountains that stretch to the sky. Here reside some of South Africa’s wealthiest individuals: all male, all Afrikaans – and all stinking rich. Johann Rupert, Jannie Mouton, Markus Jooste and Christo Weise, to name a few.

Julius Malema refers to them scathingly as ‘The Stellenbosch Mafia’, the very worst example of white monopoly capital. But who really are these mega-wealthy individuals, and what influence do they exert not only on Stellenbosch but more broadly on South African society?

Author Pieter du Toit begins by exploring the roots of Stellenbosch, one of the wealthiest towns in South Africa and arguably the cradle of Afrikanerdom. This is the birthplace of apartheid leaders, intellectuals, newspaper empires and more. He then closely examines this ‘club’ of billionaires. Who are they and, crucially, how are they connected? What network of boardroom membership, alliances and family connections exist? Who are the ‘old guard’ and who are the ‘inkommers’, and what about the youngsters desperate to make their mark? He looks at the collapse of Steinhoff: what went wrong, and whether there are other companies at risk of a similar fate. He examines the control these men have over cultural life, including pulling the strings in South Africa rugby.

Biological and Environmental Hazards, Risks, and Disasters, Second Edition provides an integrated look at major impacts to the Earth’s biosphere caused by diseases, algal blooms, insects, animals, species extinction, deforestation, land degradation, and comet and asteroid strikes, with important implications for humans. This second edition from Elsevier’s Hazards and Disasters Series incorporates perspectives from the natural and social sciences to offer in-depth coverage of threats from microscopic organisms to celestial objects and their potential impacts. Contributions from expert biological, health, ecological, environmental, wildlife, physical, and health scientists, readers will gain valuable insights on damages, causality, economic impacts, preparedness, and mitigation.

Informed by the Biopsychosocial Model, this Encyclopedia of Child and Adolescent Health examines multiple aspects of child and adolescent development and physical and mental health. According to the Biopsychosocial Model, health is determined by the reciprocal interactions between biological (e.g., genetics, physical development, family health history), psychological (e.g., mental health, identity developmental, attitudes), and social (e.g., family, peers, school, social supports) factors. This theory posits that each one of these factors alone is not sufficient to understand health; instead, it is important to understand how these interactive components ultimately influence health outcomes. In addition to the Biopsychosocial Model, this Encyclopedia of Child and Adolescent Health has a translational approach. Each section and all applicable entries include a discussion of prevention or intervention efforts that can inform health and health promotion, and prevent health risks.

Encyclopedia of Sleep and Circadian Rhythms, Second Edition, Six Volume Set is the most comprehensive work on sleep and circadian rhythms. This completely revised new edition, comprised of contributions from 450 renowned authorities in the field, covers what is new and known in the field. In addition to thorough coverage of the basics (physiology, sleep disorders etc.), this new edition includes a thorough examination of circadian rhythms that manage the sleep-wake cycle. Although this area is highly intertwined with sleep, it is a scientific discipline in and of itself, and will broaden the appeal of this work to health care providers and scientists. Other sections of interest explore consumer wearable devices to track sleep and circadian rhythms, artificial intelligence algorithms to detect sleep and abnormal sleep-related conditions, and new technology to treat sleep and circadian rhythm disorders. This book will be an ideal and primary reference resource for students, trainees, technologists, basic/clinical scientists, physicians, advanced practice providers, psychologists, nurses, and other medical and research personnel who want to explore any topic within the sleep and circadian rhythm field.

Every now and then a book comes along that is both timely and remarkable, that integrates all aspects of life; from recognising one’s roots, developing a moral grounding, building from strong family foundations to follow a chosen path to reach one’s goals, and remaining humble when it all comes to pass.

Time and Chance is an account, in a variety of contrasting images, voices and experiences gained from travelling the world in pursuit of business, where LAZARUS ZIM, industrious Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) enthusiast, recounts his journey to become one of South Africa’s business leaders, with several firsts, while navigating the political minefield – disclosing descriptions of behind-the-scenes intrigue and conspiracy – and his interactions with Heads of State in South Africa and around the globe.

The recounting of Zim’s extraordinary rise to success oscillates between hope, faith, ethics, and diligence as he lays bare his successes and failures, and the organic wisdom, knowledge, and wit that have framed his business acumen and moral grounding.

It is a poignant reminder of a black child’s quest to fulfil his purpose in which the writer dares everyone to dream, even in the face of hopelessness.

International Encyclopedia of Education, Fourth Edition updates readers on emerging interests and developments in the field. The book presents comprehensive reviews of research in various areas, but also includes illustrations/examples from regions, nations, locations--situated and contrastive (i.e., rather than exemplars serving transferability rather than generalizability avoiding standardization and homogenizations). In so doing, this encyclopedia can serve topic-specific purposes as well as be enlisted in a fashion which binds together separate entries. Sections provide comprehensive reviews and the state of research, theory and practice in a fashion that is both historic and developmental.

Amidst a backdrop of political unrest and voter disillusionment, South Africa finds itself at a crossroads, challenging its resiliency like never before. Bruce Whitfield, leveraging his deep connection with the nation's most innovative minds, presents The One Thing: Small Ideas, Big Outcomes, A Brighter Future for South Africa. This book is a clarion call for focused action, inspired by the wisdom that when everything is a priority, nothing truly is.

Through exclusive insights from business leaders to pioneers in various fields, Whitfield orchestrates a compelling narrative on the transformative power of single, impactful ideas.

'The One Thing' is not just a book; it's a blueprint for individual and collective commitment to propelling South Africa towards a brighter, more potent future.

Mindcraft: The Theory and Practice of Persuasive Communication provides a comprehensive overview of the various theories of persuasion.

The text covers the roles and functions of persuasion in practice in the areas of political, developmental, health, and environmental communication as well as its use in traditional media, new media and visual communication. It includes the ethics of persuasion and persuasion as a profession.

Key Features:

• The only South African title of this nature on the market
• A broader overview of various aspects of persuasive communication
• Engaging visual elements
• Current and relevant examples and case studies

Mathematics for Young Learners, A Guide for South African Educators is designed to be used by students in training and by teachers in service in early childhood education and Grade R. It was developed in line with the requirements set out by the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS), which sets out the curriculum for Foundation Phase mathematics. To the student, this text introduces the excitement and extensiveness of mathematics experiences in programmes for young children. For teachers in the field, it presents an organised, sequential approach to creating a developmentally appropriate mathematics curriculum for preschool and primary school children.

Introduction to Clinical Aspects of the Autonomic Nervous System: Sixth edition, Volume Two is an all-encompassing reference to the autonomic nervous system's function, dysfunction and pathology. This updated volume describes the role of the autonomic nervous system in circadian rhythms, sleep and wakefulness, aging, exercise, and its role in pain perception. Additional chapters focus on disorders causing autonomic dysfunction, including spinal cord injuries, autonomic neuropathies, trophic disorders, progressive autonomic failure, autonomic adaptations in space and hypoxia, and autonomic testing in the laboratory. This book will help readers become well-equipped to care for patients with autonomic disorders and guide research endeavors.

'I do not hate boys, I hate men.'

This provocative statement sets the stage for a searing exploration of the complex relationship South African society holds with its Black and Coloured men and boys. Dr Mzamo Masito's urgent new book, This Country hates Our Boys, confronts the pervasive 'cold and hot love' that often translates into collective male guilt. When a child goes missing, a collective sigh of relief by men is heard when the blame points to maternal filicide, such as headlines like 'South African woman guilty of kidnapping and trafficking daughter aged 6' (BBC).

The widely accepted phrase 'amadoda zizinja' – men are dogs – is more than a colloquialism; it's a symptom of a society where positive masculine role models are scarce. This linguistic shortcut flattens the nuanced reality of masculinity into a single, simplistic concept of patriarchy, obscuring the complex, chaotic social issues at play.

Through the vital work of African Men Care, a non-profit organisation, Dr Masito unpacks the interlocking crises facing Black boys and men: educational disparities, mental health struggles, pervasive violence, and fractured relationships. More crucially, the book illuminates a clear path forward.

'Every man is every boy' is not merely an observation but a powerful call to action. The struggles of adult men today are often rooted in the unaddressed needs and unrealised potential of the boys they once were. The lament 'awekho amadoda' (there are no men) serves as a stark warning: without decisive intervention, we risk losing entire generations. This book reveals how individual trauma metastasises into a collective crisis. When boys lack robust interior lives and positive identity models, the repercussions echo through families, schools, and communities. Hurt boys mature into hurting men, perpetuating cycles that impact everyone, including the girls and women in their lives.

¬This Country Hates Our Boys is essential reading for men, educators, policymakers, community leaders, parents, and anyone committed to breaking cycles of hurt and forging futures where all young people can thrive. The ultimate goal is revolutionary in its simplicity: to empower both girls and boys, ensuring no child is left behind.

Through exclusive interviews with zama zamas, syndicate insiders, intelligence operatives, and law enforcement officials, Zama Zama sheds light on the hidden mechanics of this shadow economy.

The book delves into the violent and treacherous underworld where gang wars, brutal enforcement tactics, and corruption are rampant. It reveals how illicit gold is smuggled and laundered through a labyrinth of private refineries and fraudulent mining permits, leveraging loopholes in South Africa's regulatory framework to facilitate an intricate VAT scam that reintroduces 'dirty gold' into the legitimate global market.

Beyond the borders of South Africa, the book explores how the illicit gold trade fuels international money laundering operations, linking underground mining to organized crime syndicates, terrorism financing, and global corruption networks.

Investigation: A Comprehensive Guide to the Basic Principles, Procedures and Forensic Processes equips prospective investigators with the principles that they must know and apply to successfully carry out their duties.

The aim of this book is not to train prospective investigators in investigating crime, but to make them aware of the principles of criminal investigation that will enable them to bring an investigation to a successful conclusion.

For any investigating officer to be successful in pursuing the objectives of criminal investigation, he or she must take cognisance of the five questions rule:

• What evidence and information do I have?
• What evidence and information do I need?
• Where am I going to find the evidence and information?
• How am I going to obtain the evidence and information?
• What am I going to do with it?

South Asia is home to more than a billion Hindus and half a billion Muslims. But the region is also home to substantial Christian communities, some dating almost to the earliest days of the faith. The stories of South Asia's Christians are vital for understanding the shifting contours of World Christianity, precisely because of their history of interaction with members of these other religious traditions. In this broad, accessible overview of South Asian Christianity, Chandra Mallampalli shows how the faith has been shaped by Christians' location between Hindus and Muslims. Mallampalli begins with a discussion of South India's ancient Thomas Christian tradition, which interacted with West Asia's Persian Christians and thrived for centuries alongside their Hindu and Muslim neighbours. He then underscores efforts of Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries to understand South Asian societies for purposes of conversion. The publication of books and tracts about other religions, interreligious debates, and aggressive preaching were central to these endeavours, but rarely succeeded at yielding converts. Instead, they played an important role in producing a climate of religious competition, which ultimately marginalized Christians in Hindu-, Muslim-, and Buddhist-majority countries of post-colonial South Asia. Ironically, the greatest response to Christianity came from poor and oppressed Dalit (formerly "untouchable") and tribal communities who were largely indifferent to missionary rhetoric. Their mass conversions, poetry, theology, and embrace of Pentecostalism are essential for understanding South Asian Christianity and its place within World Christianity today.

Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict, Third Edition, Four Volume Set provides timely and useful information about antagonism and reconciliation in all contexts of public and personal life, from the interpersonal to the global. Building on the highly-regarded 1st and 2nd editions (1999, 2008), and publishing at a time of increasing conflict and violent behavior the world over, this book is an essential reference for students and scholars working in the social scientific study of peace and conflict, criminology, public policy and international relations, as well as for those seeking to explore alternatives to violence and share visions and strategies for social justice and change. Covering topics as diverse as Sexual Assault, Terrorism, Arms Control, Nonviolent Movements, Child Abuse, Folklore, and Political Assassinations, the Encyclopedia comprehensively addresses an extensive information area in over 250 transdisciplinary, cross-referenced and authoritatively authored articles.

The ethics of changemaking and peacebuilding may appear straightforward: advance dignity, promote well-being, minimize suffering. Sounds simple, right? Actually acting ethically when it really matters is rarely straightforward. If someone engaged in change-oriented work sets out to "do good," how should we prioritize and evaluate whose good counts? And, how ought we act once we have decided whose good counts? Practitioners frequently confront dilemmas where dire situations may demand some form of response, but each of the options may have undesirable consequences of one form or another. Dilemmas are not merely ordinary problems, they are wicked problems: that is to say, they are defined by circumstances that only allow for suboptimal outcomes and are based on profound and sometimes troubling trade-offs. Wicked Problems argues that the field of peacebuilding and conflict transformation needs a stronger and more practical sense of its ethical obligations. For example, it argues against posing false binaries between domestic and international issues and against viewing violence and conflict as equivalents. It holds strategic nonviolence up to critical scrutiny and shows that "do no harm" approaches may in fact do harm. The contributors include scholars, scholar practitioners in the field, and activists on the streets, and the chapters cover the role of violence in conflict; conflict and violence prevention and resolution; humanitarianism; community organizing and racial justice; social movements; human rights advocacy; transitional justice; political reconciliation; and peace education and pedagogy, among other topics. Drawing on the lived experiences and expertise of activists, educators, and researchers, Wicked Problems equips readers to ask-and answer-difficult questions about social change work.

In a world where loneliness, burnout, and disconnection have reached crisis levels, Jennifer Breheny Wallace offers a transformative solution: mattering. Through vivid storytelling and groundbreaking research, Mattering: The Secret to Building a Life of Deep Purpose and Connection reveals how feeling seen, needed, and valued isn't just a nice-to-have―it's essential for our wellbeing and society's future.

Filled with stories of individuals who have discovered the power of mattering, from the story of a fire chief who re-energized his emotionally exhausted team by helping them see their long-term impact, to a woman who transformed her grief into a movement helping thousands rebuild their lives, Wallace shows how mattering can be cultivated in every sphere of life. She demonstrates that when people feel they truly matter―that their presence and contributions are noticed, needed, and missed when they aren’t there―everything changes. Productivity soars, relationships deepen, and communities strengthen.

Drawing on compelling research and intimate portraits of people who've discovered the power of mattering, Wallace provides a practical blueprint for creating lives of deeper meaning and connection. She reveals:

• How small acts of recognition can transform workplace culture and prevent burnout
• Why helping others often energizes us rather than depletes us
• How to build "mattering spaces" that foster genuine connection in our communities
• Practical strategies for navigating life transitions while maintaining our sense of purpose

Behavioral Neuroscience is a relatively recent discipline which unifies different fields encompassing Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Science, Clinical Neurology, Neuroanatomy, and Neurophysiology. Encyclopedia of Behavioral Neuroscience, Three Volume Set is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary work written by the best experts in the field, addressing the relationship between the neurological and biological basis of behavior and models of cognition, spanning from perception to memory and covering phenomena that occur in human and other animals. Published in 2010, it comprised 212 articles and was a unique and essential resource for students and professionals in several fields including neuroscience, psychology, neurology, psychiatry, and cognitive science. It was by far the most comprehensive reference work available addressing the advances in all the field of behavioral neuroscience. It does however, now need revising with the latest science. The new edition will again cover the relationship between brain and behavior, both in humans and other animals, as well as mental and brain disorders. This new edition spans accross three volumes, 250 chapters and approximately 2000 pages. It will build on the foundations of the first edition by thoroughly updating all current articles with the latest research that has developed in the last decade. In addition, 40 brand new articles on the hottest topics within behavioral neuroscience will be added, covering areas such as advances in behavioral genetics and epigenetics, cognitive ageing, neuroepidemiology, social neuroscience, as well as the upsurge of new technologies like diffusion tensor imaging or transcranial direct current stimulation. The result will be an all-encompassing one-stop interdisciplinary major reference work on how the brain and its disorders influence behavior, perfect for neuroscience students, clinicians and scientists interested in knowing more about behavior from a biological perspective.

Property in Housing unpacks the right of access to adequate housing (section 26 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996) from a property perspective. The purpose of the volume is to reassess how and to what extent property plays a role in the protection, promotion and fulfilment of this right.

The characteristics of access to ‘adequate’ housing – as articulated by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its General Comment 4 – serve as an organising framework for the volume. It is within this framework that we explore how property law can be used and aligned to implement the right of access to adequate housing as a vehicle for large-scale transformative aims.

Themes that are used to explore the vigorous relationship between property and housing include the centrality of the home in housing versus proprietary conflicts; the extent to which property narrates the conception of adequate housing, absent dedicated legislative reform; and the instrumentality of property as a vehicle for transforming the housing sphere.

The property paradox in the context of the housing clause is threefold: the property institution must be curtailed to make way for housing interests; it must be utilised (with legislative measures and sometimes without) to do some of the section 26(1) heavy lifting – for instance, to provide secure tenure or ensure access to services; and it must foster a culture of regulation by way of the constitutional property clause (section 25), to provide the required access to the spaces that we envision adequate, at the costs that we consider reasonable.

The monograph first introduces the authors’ approach, methodologically and theoretically, with reference to the history of property in housing in South Africa, the limited juridical development of our understanding of ‘adequate’ housing in the constitutional dispensation, the way in which housing relates to other constitutional rights, and the characteristics of having adequate housing. The remainder explores each of the internationally recognised characteristics by drawing on property law – security of tenure, services, accessibility, habitability, affordability, location and cultural adequacy – as components of the organising framework to interpret the progressive realisation of the South African housing mandate and respecting its anti-eviction measures. The development of the normative and substantive content of the right of access to adequate housing lies in the space left incomplete by property law. As such, this monograph is a call to action for this development to be achieved in order to foster a democratic South Africa for all who live in it.

Property in Housing will be a valuable resource for subject specialists, researchers, advanced students, practitioners and the judiciary alike.