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The Last Vote: The Threats to Western Democracy
Par Philip Coggan. 2013
The Last Vote is a wake-up call showing why we cannot afford to take democracy for granted, from Philip Coggan,…
award-winning author of Paper Promises and The Money MachineCan we afford to take democracy for granted? It's now so much a part of our lives that we could be forgiven for thinking it mainly takes care of itself. Almost half the world's population now lives in a democratic state, while some Western democracies have now had universal suffrage for almost a century and have endured through even the most severe of global upheavals. In The Last Vote, Philip Coggan shows how democracy today faces threats that we ignore at our own risk. Amid the turmoil of the financial crisis, high debt levels, and an ever-growing gap between the richest and the rest, it is easy to forget that the ultimate victim could be our democracy itself. Tracing democracy's history and development, from the classical world through the revolution of the Enlightenment and on to its astounding success in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Coggan revisits the assumptions on which it is founded. What exactly is democracy? Why should we value it? What are its flaws? And could we do any better?The Last Vote is a wake-up call, and an illuminating defence of a system, which, in Churchill's words, is the worst possible form of government, except for all the others that have been tried. Reasoned, lucid and balanced, Coggan's argument parrots neither the agenda of left nor right, but calls for us all to work together to ensure we don't end up in an even greater mess than we're in today. Finally, he proposes ideas for change and improvement to the system itself so the next vote we cast will not be the last.Praise for Paper Promises:'This book stands way above anything written on the present economic crisis' Nassim Taleb, author of The Black Swan'Bold and confident... This book should be taken very seriously' John Authers, Financial Times'The most illuminating account of the financial crisis to appear to date ... written with a lucidity that conveys deep insights without a trace of jargon' John Gray, New StatesmanPhilip Coggan was a Financial Times journalist for over twenty years, and is now the Buttonwood columnist for the Economist. In 2009 he was named Senior Financial Journalist in the Harold Wincott awards and was voted Best Communicator at the Business Journalist of the Year Awards. He is the author of The Money Machine, and Paper Promises, winner of the Spears Business Book of the Year Award and longlisted for the Financial Times Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award.Management Worldwide: Distinctive Styles Among Globalization
Par David J. Hickson, Derek S. Pugh. 2001
Businesses today need employees who can operate on a global stage, whether as international managers, technical specialists, expatriates or 'parachutists'…
who make occasional troubleshooting trips abroad. Yet cultural misunderstandings in the workplace can complicate even the simplest tasks. Something that sounds like a 'Yes' to a foreigner may actually be a polite way of saying 'No'. Fully updated and expanded for this second edition, Management Worldwide is essential for managers, students ofmanagement and organizations who want to know how managers operate and business is conducted in different societies. It is essential reading in a global economy where cultural differences can still mean make or break.The Last Days of the Ottoman Empire
Par Ryan Gingeras. 2022
'A tour de force of accessible scholarship' The Guardian'Impressive ... It is a complicated story that still reverberates, and Gingeras…
narrates it with lucid authority' New StatesmanThe Ottoman Empire had been one of the major facts in European history since the Middle Ages. Stretching from the Adriatic to the Indian Ocean, the Empire was both a great political entity and a religious one, with the Sultan ruling over the Holy Sites and, as Caliph, the successor to Mohammed.Yet the Empire's fateful decision to support Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1914 doomed it to disaster, breaking it up into a series of European colonies and what emerged as an independent Saudi Arabia.Ryan Gingeras's superb new book explains how these epochal events came about and shows how much we still live in the shadow of decisions taken so long ago. Would all of the Empire fall to marauding Allied armies, or could something be saved? In such an ethnically and religiously entangled region, what would be the price paid to create a cohesive and independent new state? The story of the creation of modern Turkey is an extraordinary, bitter epic, brilliantly told here.The Master Strategist: Power, Purpose and Principle in Action
Par Ketan J Patel. 2005
Since the turn of the century, we have seen hopes of a new era of peace shattered by the 9/11…
attack on the US. We have witnessed the US become embroiled in a divisive and seemingly unwinnable war in Iraq.. We have looked on as new nuclear rivalries have sprung up with Iran and North Korea. We have also seen Europe struggle to define its place in the New World Order. And we have observed the balance of world focus shift towards China and India as they have continued their unprecedented economic rise.What is the significance of all of this? Are these random events or is there an underlying pattern? What is required of leaders and individuals to propel the world in a more positive direction? The Master Strategist provides the means to decipher these changes, offering unique insights into the issues and patterns that are defining the future, and pointing the way to strategies for a freer and more peaceful and prosperous world.Man, Interrupted: Welcome to the Bizarre World of OCD, Where Once More is Never Enough
Par James Bailey. 2006
James Bailey's form of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) was as bizarre as it was unbearable. He was obsessed by a fear…
of drugs and their effects, believing himself to be in constant danger of becoming insanely high through people spiking his food, or even by just touching a photograph of a marijuana leaf.The treatment programme he went through at a specialist American clinic was challenging, to say the least. He was asked to shake hands and mingle with the local junkies, fighting his anxieties and the urge to go and wash for as long as possible in order to 'expose' himself to his fears.Man, Interrupted gives us a glimpse into the tortured world of a man suffering from what is an increasingly common disorder. But far from being a doom-laden account of mental illness, the result is uniquely revealing, hilariously entertaining and wonderfully rewarding.Making Terrorism History
Par Gabrielle Rifkind, Scilla Elworthy. 2006
Ever since 9/11 it's been clear we need a new approach to terrorism. In this timely and important book the…
authors show:* The root causes of terrorism* The links between trauma and fundamentalism* Why people become suicide bombers* Why peace processes collapse* Whether non-violence is a useful response* What can be doneClear, radical and extremely persuasive, Making Terrorism History shows why political violence is now such a major force in our world. At the same time it gives a range of practical actions that can be taken to combat it, not only by our governments but also on the ground in Iraq, Israel and Palestine, and more widely. In addition there are many simple but effective steps that we, too, can take within our local communities to make peace - not war - on terror.Making A Killing: The Explosive Story of a Hired Gun in Iraq
Par James Ashcroft. 2006
In September 2003, James 'Ash' Ashcroft, a former British Infantry Captain, arrived in Iraq as a 'gun for hire'. It…
was the beginning of an 18-month journey into blood and chaos.In this action-packed page-turner, Ashcroft reveals the dangers of his adrenalin-fuelled life as a security contractor in Baghdad, where private soldiers outnumber non-US Coalition forces in a war that is slowly being privatised. From blow-by-blow accounts of days under mortar bombardment to revelations about life operating deep within the Iraqi community, Ashcroft shares the real, unsanitised story of the war in Iraq - and its aftermath - direct from the front line.Just Law
Par Helena Kennedy. 2004
Acute, questioning, humane and passionately concerned for justice, Helena Kennedy is one of the most powerful voices in legal circles…
in Britain today. Here she roundly challenges the record of modern governments over the fundamental values of equality, fairness and respect for human dignity. She argues that in the last twenty years we have seen a steady erosion of civil liberties, culminating today in extraordinary legislation, which undermines long established freedoms. Are these moves a crude political response to demands for law and order? Or is the relationship between citizens and the state being covertly reframed and redefined?The Jewish State (Penguin Great Ideas)
Par Theodor Herzl. 2010
'We shall live at last as free men on our own soil, and die peacefully in our own homes'Theodor Herzl's…
passionate advocacy of the founding of a Jewish state grew out of his conviction that Jews would never be assimilated into the populations in which they lived. Herzl concluded that the only solution for the majority of Jews would be organised emigration to a state of their own.Herzl's political and social plea was the result of centuries of restrictions, hostility and pogroms against the Jews of Europe. His revolutionary proposal for the solution to anti-Semitism was a Jewish state, where Jews could live in peace, free from persecution - and this hugely influential essay led directly to the creation of Israel.GREAT IDEAS. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.Jawaharlal Nehru;a Biography Volume 1 1889-1947
Par Dr Sarvepalli Gopal. 1975
Among the few great statesmen to emerge in Asia, Jawaharal Nehru achieved a national metamorphosis in some ways even more…
astonishing than that of another towering patriarch, Mao Tse-tung. Not only did he wrest from the British their most prized and dearly loved Imperial possession and give his people independence, he brought his culturally rich yet economically improvised nation into the twentieth century as a force to be reasoned with. The first volume of Sarvepalli Gopal’s remarkable biographic, covering Nehru’s youth and ending with Independence in 1947, is written from first-hand knowledge of the man who served for ten years in the Ministry for External Affairs and from the unlimited access granted him by the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to her father’s private papers.A Ladybird Book About Donald Trump (Ladybirds for Grown-Ups)
Par Jason Hazeley, Joel Morris. 2019
As we prepare to wave the President out of the White House, commemorate the past four years with this charming…
introduction to his very important life and his many, many friends - the perfect stocking filler this Christmas._________'When Donald won the election, he did not believe it."This election was a bad, unfair election," said Donald, about the election that he won.One day, Donald might lose an election. He will not like that election at all.And when Donald is told it is time to stop being the President, who knows what exciting things will happen next?'_________'Anyone can grow up to become the President.Or they can become President first and think about growing up later.'_________This delightful book is the latest in the series of Ladybird books which have been specially planned to help grown-ups with the world about them.Something the President himself could do with.The large clear script, the careful choice of words, the frequent repetition and the thoughtful matching of text with pictures all enable grown-ups to think they have taught themselves to cope.Featuring original Ladybird artwork alongside brilliantly funny, brand new text.Praise for The Story of Brexit:'Hilarious' Stylist'One of the Best Comedy Books of 2018' The List'The latest offering in the hilarious Ladybird for Grown Ups series is a funny mickey-take of the Brexit debate (and boy, do we need some fun)' Sunday PostImperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism (Penguin Great Ideas)
Par Vladimir Lenin. 2010
Vladimir Lenin created this hugely significant Marxist text to explain fully the inevitable flaws and destructive power of Capitalism: that…
it would lead unavoidably to imperialism, monopolies and colonialism. He prophesied that those third world countries used merely as capitalist labour would have no choice but to join the Communist revolution in Russia. GREAT IDEAS. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.Imperial Spain 1469-1716
Par J. H Elliott. 2002
The story of Spain's rise to greatness from its humble beginnings as one of the poorest and most marginal of…
European countries is a remarkable and dramatic one. With the marriage of Ferdinand & Isabella, the final expulsion of the Moslems and the discovery of America, Spain took on a seemingly unstoppable dynamism that made it into the world's first global power. This amazing success however created many powerful enemies and Elliott's famous book charts the dramatic fall of Habsburg Spain with the same elan as it charts the rise.The Killing Of The Countryside
Par Graham Harvey. 1997
Over then past fifty years the British countryside has changed out of all recognition. A wide range of wildlife species…
are disappearing - victims of modern intensive farming, of pesticides and fertilisers and the sheer relentless pressure to maximise output from every hedge bank and field corner. It need not have happened. The loss of our wildlife and countryside has come about through a deliberate and sustained national policy, one that costs the British people 8 billion a year. The Killing of the Countryside is a devastating attack on modern British agricultural policy and practice and a plea for a return to natural cycles, an end to subsidies and the domination of agribusiness, and for a safe, sustainable farming system.Winner of the 1997 BP Natural World Book Award.THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER - NOW UPDATED WITH FOUR NEW CHAPTERS'This swashbuckling book is a furious attack on the…
Russian president. Killer in the Kremlin traces Putin's bloody career... a life littered with corpses.' - THE TIMESA gripping and explosive account of Vladimir Putin's tyranny, charting his rise from spy to tsar, exposing the events that led to his invasion of Ukraine and his assault on Europe.In Killer in the Kremlin, award-winning journalist John Sweeney takes readers from the heart of Putin's Russia to the killing fields of Chechnya, to the embattled cities of an invaded Ukraine.In a disturbing exposé of Putin's sinister ambition, Sweeney draws on thirty years of his own reporting - from the Moscow apartment bombings to the atrocities committed by the Russian Army in Chechnya, to the annexation of Crimea and a confrontation with Putin over the shooting down of flight MH17 - to understand the true extent of Putin's long war.Drawing on eyewitness accounts and compelling testimony from those who have suffered at Putin's hand, we see the heroism of the Russian opposition, the bravery of the Ukrainian resistance, and the brutality with which the Kremlin responds to such acts of defiance, assassinating or locking away its critics, and stopping at nothing to achieve its imperialist aims.In the midst of one of the darkest acts of aggression in modern history - Russia's invasion of Ukraine - this book shines a light on Putin's rule and poses urgent questions about how the world must respond.'An extraordinarily prescient and fascinating book.' - NIHAL ARTHANAYAKEInstant Sunday Times bestseller, March 2023The Kidnapping: A hostage, a desperate manhunt and a bloody rescue that shocked Ireland
Par Tommy Conlon, Ronan McGreevy. 2023
‘Riveting . . . a triumph . . . intertwining personal narratives with wider themes of remembrance, loss, courage and…
blame’ Gary Murphy, Irish ExaminerNovember 1983. Early morning in suburban south Dublin. Businessman Don Tidey is snatched from his car and the IRA has its latest kidnap victim. Weeks later he is tracked down to an isolated Leitrim wood, but in saving Tidey’s life a recruit garda and a soldier lose theirs.The Kidnapping is a brilliantly reported account of this landmark event by two accomplished journalists and Leitrim natives. Delving deep, they provide a chilling account of the lead-up to Tidey’s abduction, the massive manhunt that followed, his bloody rescue, the botched attempts to capture his abductors and the devastating fall-out – personal and national – that followed.At the heart of The Kidnapping revealing interviews with Don Tidey – speaking about his experience in detail for the first time – and with the families of Garda Gary Sheehan and Private Patrick Kelly, provide a startling and moving testimony of the lasting impact of these traumatic events. It is both a gripping read and one that raises profound questions for today’s Ireland.‘Vividly written, deeply insightful, extremely timely’ Business Post ‘A fascinating read . . . beyond that, it’s an important document’ Mick Clifford, The Mick Clifford Podcast‘A harrowing story . . . [but] an enjoyable book’ Irish Mail on Sunday‘An important reminder of our imperfect, contentious past’ Tommy Gorman, Irish Times‘Vivid . . . [shows] a deep understanding . . . insightful and emotional’ Sunday Independent‘A major page-turner . . . fascinating’ Nicola Tallant, Crime World podcastIf You’d Just Let Me Finish
Par Jeremy Clarkson. 2018
Clarkson is back with a brand new book of hilarious stories and observations about our gone-wrong world. ___________In November 2016…
we woke up to the news that the forthright presenter of a popular television programme had become the most powerful man on the planet. His name, sadly, was not Jeremy Clarkson, but we might not have been any more surprised if it had been.Because the world seems to have taken a decidedly odd turn since Jeremy last reflected on the state of things between the covers of a book. But who better than JC to help us navigate our way through the mess?And while he's being trying to make sense of it all he's discovered one or two things along the way, including- The disabling effects of being vegan- How Blackpool might be improved by drilling a hole through it- The problem with meditation- A perfect location for rebuilding Palmyra- Why Tom Cruise can worship lizards if he wants toIt's all been a bit unsettling.But don't worry. If You'd Just Let Me Finish is Clarkson at his best. He may be as bemused, exasperated, amused and surprised as the rest of us, but in a world gone crazy, thank God someone has still got his head screwed on ...Praise for Clarkson:'Brilliant...laugh-out-loud' - Daily Telegraph'Outrageously funny...will have you in stiches' - Time Out'Very funny...I cracked up laughing on the tube' - Evening StandardIf Only They Didn't Speak English: Notes From Trump's America
Par Jon Sopel. 2018
'You see, if only they didn’t speak English in America, then we’d treat it as a foreign country – and…
probably understand it a lot better’‘the sanest man in America’ – Bill Bryson‘Jon Sopel nails it’ – Emily Maitlis**With a brand new chapter, charting Trump's first year in power**As the BBC’s North America Editor, Jon Sopel has had a pretty busy time of it lately. In the time it’s taken for a reality star to go from laughing stock to leader of the free world, Jon has travelled the length and breadth of the United States, experiencing it from a perspective that most of us could only dream of: he has flown aboard Air Force One, interviewed President Obama and has even been described as ‘a beauty’ by none other than Donald Trump.Through music, film, literature, TV and even through the food we eat and the clothes that we wear we all have a highly developed sense of what America is and through our shared, tangled history we claim a special relationship. But America today feels about as alien a country as you could imagine. It is fearful, angry and impatient for change.In this fascinating, insightful portrait of American life and politics, Jon Sopel sets out to answer our questions about a country that once stood for the grandest of dreams, but which is now mired in a storm of political extremism, racial division and increasingly perverse beliefs.If I Should Die Before I Wake
Par Eileen Munro. 2011
In her bestselling memoir As I Lay Me Down to Sleep, Eileen Munro vividly documented the abuse she experienced at…
the hands of her adoptive parents and, later, within the care system. The birth of Eileen's son, Craig, and her escape from the authorities' clutches should have seen her turn a corner, but she remains haunted by the spectre of her past.In If I Should Die Before I Wake, Eileen chronicles her search for her real parents and her battle for an education for both Craig and herself. She faces exploitation, suffers further sexual and physical abuse, and endures periods of homelessness and bad health. Still she perseveres, clinging to her hopes for the future, until she eventually finds the sense of belonging that has previously eluded her.In this harrowing but ultimately inspirational second volume of memoir, Eileen Munro proves that, against all the odds, happiness does sometimes come to those who never give up hope.India: the road ahead
Par Mark Tully. 2011
Since the Indian economy was liberated from bureaucratic, socialist controls in 1991, it has developed rapidly. A country once renowned…
for the backwardness of its industries, its commerce and its financial market is now viewed as potentially one of the major world economies of the twenty-first century. But there are many questions which need to be asked about the sustainability of this rapid economic growth and its effect on the stability of the country. Have the changes had any impact on the poor and marginalised? Can India's democracy contain the mounting resentment of those left out of the new economic order? Can a high growth rate be sustained with India's notoriously corrupt and inefficient governance? Can the development of its creaking infrastructure be speeded up? How is India going to feed itself unless agriculture is reformed?This timely book will answer these questions through interviews with industrialists and cricketers, God men and farmers, plutocrats and former untouchables. Full of fascinating stories of real people at a time of great change, it will be of interest to economists, business people, diplomats, politicians, as well as to those who love to travel and who take an interest in the rapid growth of one of the world's largest countries, and what this means to us in the West.