For more than a century successive US and UK governments have sought to thwart nationalist, socialist and pro-democracy movements in the Middle East. Through the Cold War, the ‘War on Terror’ and the present era defined by the Islamic State, the Western powers have repeatedly manipulated the region’s most powerful actors to ensure the security of their own interests and, in doing so, have given rise to religious politics, sectarian war, bloody counter-revolutions and now one of the most brutal incarnations of Islamic extremism ever seen. This is the utterly compelling, systematic dissection of Western interference in the Middle East. Christopher Davidson exposes the dark side of our foreign policy – dragging many disturbing facts out into the light for the first time. Most shocking for us today is his assertion that US intelligence agencies continue to regard the Islamic State, like al-Qaeda before it, as a strategic but volatile asset to be wielded against their enemies. Provocative, alarming and unrelenting, Shadow Wars demands to be read – now.
An inside analysis of modern cultural and political upheavals in China by a fluent Beijing correspondent describes the power struggles currently taking place between the party elite and supporters of democracy, the outcome of which the author predicts will significantly affect China's rise to a world super-power. 125,000 first printing.
A stunning, powerful debut novel set against the backdrop of the Cambodian War, perfect for fans of Chris Cleave and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie For seven-year-old Raami, the shattering end of childhood begins with the footsteps of her father returning home in the early dawn hours bringing details of the civil war that has overwhelmed the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. Soon the family's world of carefully guarded royal privilege is swept up in the chaos of revolution and forced exodus. Over the next four years, as she endures the deaths of family members, starvation, and brutal forced labour, Raami clings to the only remaining vestige of childhood - the mythical legends and poems told to her by her father. In a climate of systematic violence where memory is sickness and justification for execution, Raami fights for her improbable survival. Displaying the author's extraordinary gift for language, In the Shadow of the Banyanis testament to the transcendent power of narrative and a brilliantly wrought tale of human resilience. 'In the Shadow of the Banyanis one of the most extraordinary and beautiful acts of storytelling I have ever encountered' Chris Cleave, author of The Other Hand 'Ratner is a fearless writer, and the novel explores important themes such as power, the relationship between love and guilt, and class. Most remarkably, it depicts the lives of characters forced to live in extreme circumstances, and investigates how that changes them. To read In the Shadow of the Banyan is to be left with a profound sense of being witness to a tragedy of history' Guardian 'This is an extraordinary debut … as beautiful as it is heartbreaking' Mail on Sunday
The sparrow, like the spotted owl of the Pacific Northwest, was the victim—the innocent bystander—of an intense human struggle between those who advocate growth and jobs at any cost and those who insist that each life form that is endangered be protected. This is the story of how the Endangered Species Act failed a small songbird, the dusky seaside sparrow. The sparrow's only habitat lay in the path of the Kennedy Space Center, not far from Disney World. Mark Walters' moving narrative describes how the social and political forces of an era forced irrevocable and profound changes in the environment of Brevard County, Florida, and brought about the extinction of a small bird. Walters begins his story in the late 1950s, before Cape Canaveral was renamed the Kennedy Space Center. Against the backdrop of Merritt Island and the marshlands along the Indian, Banana, and St. Johns rivers—the only places on the planet where the sparrow thrived—he chronicles the struggles of many different personalities, strong-minded individuals whose lives and personal fates become inextricably entwined with those of the dusky. The cast of characters includes the head of Brevard County Mosquito Control, bureaucrats and rangers with U.S. Fish & Wildlife, NASA administrators, real estate developers, ranchers, highway engineers, egg collectors, conservationists, and finally, Disney World itself, home of the last duskies and their hybrid offspring. The sparrow, like the spotted owl of the Pacific Northwest, was the victim—the innocent bystander—of an intense human struggle between those who advocate growth and jobs at any cost and those who insist that each life form that is endangered be protected at any cost, and few, if any, winners in the end.
The extraordinary story of one couple’s determination to free themselves and their children from slavery and make a new life in Canada Prior to abolition in 1865, as many as 40,000 men, women, and children made the perilous trip north from enslavement in the United States to freedom in Canada. Many were aided by networks that came to be known as the Underground Railroad. And the stories that emerge from the past about these journeys are truly remarkable. In A Shadow on the Household, Bryan Prince, a descendant of slaves, brings to life the heart-wrenching story of the Weems family and their struggle to liberate themselves from slavery. John Weems, a man who purchased his own freedom, paid the owner of his enslaved wife and eight children an annual fee to keep them together at one plantation. But when that owner died, the Weemses were cruelly separated and scattered throughout the South. Heartbroken and desperate, John resolved to raise the money to buy his family’s freedom and reunite them. Mining newspapers, private letters, diaries, estate records, marriage registries, and abolitionist papers for details of a story cloaked in secrecy, Bryan Prince has rescued the Weems family and their plight from historical oblivion. An unforgettable story of love and persistence, played out in four countries (the United States, Canada, Jamaica, and the United Kingdom) against the backdrop of the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a growing abolitionist movement, and the heroic efforts of the Underground Railroad, the Weems family saga must be read to be believed.
On March 7, 1965, voting rights demonstrators were brutally beaten as they crossed the Edmund Petis bridge in Selma, Alabama. One of the most-publicized incidents of the civil rights campaign, images from that day have been seared into the nation's consciousness. Yet little has been written about the civil rights events in the surrounding counties, the vast sections of the rural south. Cynthia Griggs Fleming addresses this gap by bringing to light the struggle for equality of the citizens of Wilcox County, Alabama. Although right next door to Selma, their story has been largely ignored. Through the eyes of the residents of the county, Fleming relates a struggle punctuated by cowardice and courage, audacity and timidity, fear and foolishness. And, in the end, the entrenched power structure refused to yield and the county remains segregated to this day. Personal and compelling, In the Shadow of Selma is essential reading for everyone interested in the continuing struggle for civil rights in the United States.
Because American troops are in far off places in this world, fighting for causes that sometimes cost them their lives, and because our veterans from World War II are a dying breed, it is entirely fitting that we save the stories of our veterans so that their experiences and their voices will never be forgotten and so that current generations might learn about the horrors of war and how the impact of battle never really goes away.One such story is about aMaine man who spent World War II as a member of the Texan 36th Infantry Division. In the Shadow of a Mountain tells the life story of one of Maine's Medal of Honor recipients, Edward C. Dahlgren. It is a timely manuscript in that it details Dahlgren's struggles with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, a condition affecting many of our military veterans returning from war zones today. It is a book that will help readers to know about the devastation of war and how we must always provide care and comfort for our returning veterans. When Lieutenant Edward C. Dahlgren stepped off the train that brought him home from a combat experience that should have killed him but didn't, he wore a chest full of medals, carried a heart full of sorrow for his men who never came home, and was faced with the daunting task of finding a way to live a life worthy of his survival. In November 1945 the guns of World War II were silenced but the battles continued for Lieutenant Dahlgren and many other soldiers who were haunted by the gruesome events of their war. He had lost 40 pounds from his slight frame and suffered from jaundice. He stammered when he tried to talk and his hands shook so badly that he couldn't hold a cup of coffee without spilling most of it on the counter or in his lap. He suffered night terrors in which German soldiers came back from the dead and pointed their rifles at him. For decades, he suffered in silence until another war erupted and a name was given to his troubles: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Once described as "Maine's very own Sergeant York", a reference to the movie about World War I Medal of Honor recipient Alvin York, Edward Dahlgren received his own Congressional Medal of Honor from President Harry Truman at a White House ceremony in the East Room in August of 1945. Following the ceremony, Dahlgren returned home to Maine's northern most county to live a life of quiet dignity and amass a legacy of public service. Because of his service to his country in the time of war and his subsequent service to his community and his state in a time of peace, the flags of our country flew at half staff on the day of his funeral and when his passing was announced, The Bangor Daily News honored him with front page coverage. The book, In the Shadow of a Mountain, is the story of this unassuming hero who grew up without a father in the Swedish colony of Northern Maine, who went to war shortly after his mother's untimely death, who returned home so poor that he wore his army uniform pants until they wore out, who raised a family of four on a paycheck that sometimes didn't stretch quite far enough, who instilled a passion for fairness, honesty, hard work, and a love for learning in his children, who gave generously of his time to help establish a veteran's clinic and nursing home in Northern Maine, and who all the while suffered with PTSD. In the end, the way he lived his life was most definitely worthy of his having survived the horrors of his war. And, the way he lived his life provides lessons for all of us on how to live well even while struggling to do so.
A sweeping history of the years after Martin Luther King’s assassination—and the struggle to keep the civil rights movement alive and realize King’s vision of an equal society “The previously untold story of continuing struggle and posthumous inspiration that dominates this compelling and groundbreaking book will forever change the way civil rights historians view this era.”—Raymond Arsenault, author of Freedom Riders In this arresting and groundbreaking account, David L. Chappell reveals that, far from coming to an abrupt end with King’s murder, the civil rights movement entered a new phase. It both grew and splintered. These were years when decisive, historic victories were no longer within reach—the movement’s achievements were instead hard-won, and their meanings unsettled. From the fight to pass the Fair Housing Act in 1968, to debates over unity and leadership at the National Black Political Conventions, to the campaign for full-employment legislation, to the surprising enactment of the Martin Luther King holiday, to Jesse Jackson’s quixotic presidential campaigns, veterans of the movement struggled to rally around common goals. Waking from the Dream documents this struggle, including moments when the movement seemed on the verge of dissolution, and the monumental efforts of its members to persevere. For this watershed study of a much-neglected period, Chappell spent ten years sifting through a voluminous public record: congressional hearings and government documents; the archives of pro– and anti–civil rights activists, oral and written remembrances of King’s successors and rivals, documentary film footage, and long-forgotten coverage of events from African American newspapers and journals. The result is a story rich with period detail, as Chappell chronicles the difficulties the movement encountered while working to build coalitions, pass legislation, and mobilize citizens in the absence of King’s galvanizing leadership. Could the civil rights coalition stay together as its focus shifted from public protests to congressional politics? Did the movement need a single, charismatic leader to succeed King, and who would that be? As the movement’s leaders pushed forward, they continually looked back, struggling to define King’s legacy and harness his symbolic power. Waking from the Dream is a revealing and resonant look at civil rights after King as well as King’s place in American memory. It illuminates a time, explores a cause, and explains how a movement labored to overcome the loss of its leader.
Inglourious Basterds meets Stranger Things in this dark and thrilling tale of power, shadow, and revenge set during World War II. World War II is raging, and five teens are looking to make a mark. Daniel and Rebeka seek revenge against the Nazis who slaughtered their family; Simone is determined to fight back against the oppressors who ruined her life and corrupted her girlfriend; Phillip aims to prove that he's better than his worst mistakes; and Liam is searching for a way to control the portal to the shadow world he's uncovered, and the monsters that live within it--before the Nazi regime can do the same. When the five meet, and begrudgingly team up, in the forests of Germany, none of them knows what their future might hold. As they race against time, war, and enemies from both this world and another, Liam, Daniel, Rebeka, Phillip, and Simone know that all they can count on is their own determination and will to survive. With their world turned upside down, and the shadow realm looming ominously large--and threateningly close--the course of history and the very fate of humanity rest in their hands. Still, the most important question remains: Will they be able to save it? Praise for The Shadow War: "Nonstop action, consistent worldbuilding, and a large cast of sympathetic characters, all of them marginalized in some way, create an engaging story." --Kirkus Reviews "An action-packed historical novel with a science fiction twist, Smith has crafted a novel where Stranger Things meets Nazi hunting. A solid purchase for YA shelves and any reader who wants to fight Nazis." --School Library Journal
