History/Politics > politics

Purple Dandelion is the true story of Farida Sultana, an extraordinary Muslim woman and single mother. The book is a reflection of her personal journey as an unconventional child who struggled through her adulthood and married life. Being a survivor of violence and abuse, Farida emerged as a strong advocate against all forms of violence and cultural and religious oppression against women.
The book chronicles her remarkable life. It begins in Bangladesh when as a young girl, she found herself in conflict with her traditional f... read more

The Most Dangerous Man in the World is the definitive account of WikiLeaks and the man who is as secretive as the organisations he targets. Through interviews with Julian Assange, his inner circle and those who fell out with him, Andrew Fowler tells the story of how a man with a turbulent childhood and brilliance for computers created a phenomenon that has become a game-changer in journalism and global politics. In this international thriller, Fowler gives a ringside seat on the biggest leak in history. He charts the pursuit of Ass... read more

Widely considered to be the most important biography of Nelson Mandela, Antony Sampson's remarkable book has now been updated by acclaimed South African journalist, John Battersby. Over a decade after his presidency of South Africa, Nelson Mandela remains an inspirational figure to millions of people -- both in his homeland and far beyond her borders. He is, without doubt, one of the most important figures in global history. Mandela's opposition to apartheid and his 27 year incarceration at the hands of South Africa's all-white r... read more

Discover what it was that prompted luminaries such as Tariq Ali, Noam Chomsky, Daniel Ellsberg, Kenzaburo Oe, Michael Pollan, Albie Sachs, Oliver Stone, Elizabeth Warren and Howard Zinn to become indefatigable voices fighting for social equity.

Analysing two centuries of warfare involving Western nations, this book systematically demolishes every argument that is put forward to justify going to war. By looking at the victors and the vanquished at the end of a major war and then a generation later, Ian Bickerton finds that the rewards of victory in war never last long. He finds that, objectively, it is impossible to tell who was the winner and who was the loser a mere twenty-five years after a war has ended. Leaders have always convinced their nations that fighting a war i... read more

The third edition of this dynamic book has been fully revised and updated to provide a comprehensive introduction to contemporary politics in the Middle East. This is a perfect introduction for undergraduates, covering key political, economic and social debates and providing updates and guidance for further reading.

In 9-11, published in November 2001 and arguably the single most influential post-9/11 book, internationally renowned thinker Noam Chomsky bridged the information gap around the World Trade Center attacks, cutting through the tangle of political opportunism, expedient patriotism, and general conformity that choked off American discourse in the months immediately following. Chomsky placed the attacks in context, marshalling his deep and nuanced knowledge of American foreign policy to trace the history of American political aggressio... read more

The United States is a country founded on the ideals of democracy and freedom, yet throughout the last century it has used secret and lawless methods to destroy its enemies. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the most powerful of these forces. This title presents the history of the FBI as a secret intelligence service.

The gripping inside story of the last unknown realm of the British secret service: GCHQ (Government Communication Headquarters). GCHQ is the successor to the famous Bletchley Park wartime code-breaking organisation and is the largest and most secretive intelligence organisation in the country. During the war, it commanded more staff than MI5 and MI6 combined and has produced a number of intelligence triumphs, as well as some notable failures. Since the end of the Cold War, it has played a pivotal role in shaping Britain's secret s... read more

Lisa arrives in Sudan full of determination to use her skills as a nurse to do something to ease the plight of the hundreds of thousands of people caught up in the civil war raging through Darfur. She is working with Medecins Sans Frontieres, the international organisation that sends health workers to the most desperate places in the world. The six months she spends on the mission will be the toughest of her life but will teach her some fundamental truths about what people are capable of, both good and bad, and about herself. Lisa ... read more

"Decision Points" is the extraordinary memoir of America's 43rd president. Shattering the conventions of political autobiography, George W. Bush offers a strikingly candid journey through the defining decisions of his life. In gripping, never-before-heard detail, President Bush brings readers inside the Texas Governor's Mansion on the night of the hotly contested 2000 election; aboard Air Force One on 9/11, in the hours after America's most devastating attack since Pearl Harbour; at the head of the table in the Situation Room in th... read more

From cave painting to photography to the internet, pornography has always been at the cutting edge in adopting and exploiting new developments in mass communication. And in so doing, it has helped to promote and propel those developments in ways that are rarely acknowledged. Without pornography, the internet would not have grown so quickly. The e-commerce payment systems that are now commonplace would be at a far more primitive stage in security and usability. Without video streaming software developed for pornography sites, CNN wo... read more

One of the most persistent and startling news stories of the past year has been the global crisis in the world's food supply. Reduced stockpiles have led to panic buying and hoarding, a sharp rise in prices, food riots, the virtual collapse of portions of the food industry, and dire warnings about food and water shortages. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has forecast prices to remain high for the foreseeable future, and the World Bank has predicted that this rise will push an additional 100 million people into poverty around the... read more

Pope Benedict XVI is coming to the UK on a state visit in September. David Yallop, author of "In God's Name", looks at the current news stories concerning widespread child abuse by priests and shows how the Vatican is not telling the full story. Praise for "In God's Name": 'A thriller without an ending...Yallop has surely proved there is a case to answer' - "Guardian". 'An astonishing book...a story of corruption, lies and disinformation' - "Daily Mail". 'Excellently done ...An engrossing and disturbing book' - "Economist".

A REMARKABLY GRIPPING ACCOUNT OF AMERICA'S BAY OF PIGS CRISIS, DRAWING ON LONG-HIDDEN CIA DOCUMENTS AND DELIVERING, AS NEVER BEFORE, THE VIVID TRUTH--AND CONSEQUENCES--OF FIVE PIVOTAL DAYS IN APRIL 1961 The U.S.-backed military invasion of Cuba in 1961 remains one of the most ill-fated blunders in American history, with echoes of the event reverberating even today. Despite the Kennedy administration's initial public insistence that the United States had nothing to do with the invasion, it soon became clear that the complex operatio... read more

The Sunday Times bestselling biography of one of the towering figures in British history who became Prime Minister at the age of twenty-four, written by the youngest-ever leader of the Tory Party. The younger William Pitt -- known as the 'schoolboy' -- began his days as Prime Minister in 1783 deeply underestimated and completely beleaguered. Yet he annihilated his opponents in the General Election the following year and dominated the governing of Britain for twenty-two years, nearly nineteen of them as Prime Minister. No British po... read more

Modern India is the world's largest democracy, a sprawling, polyglot nation containing one-sixth of all humankind. Makers of Modern India collects for the first time the writings of nineteen of India's foremost thinker-activists, ranging from legends like Gandhi and Nehru to pioneering subaltern and feminist thinkers.

In 1877, the NZ Supreme Court decided the case of Wi Parata vs. Bishop of Wellington, centred on the ownership and use of the Whitireia Block near Porirua, which had been granted by Ngati Toa to the Anglican Church for a school that was never built. Refusing jurisdiction over the case, the Court also denied the legal relevance of the Treaty of Waitangi in NZ law. The judges wrote: “So far indeed as that instrument purported to cede the sovereignty - a matter with which we are not directly concerned - it must be regarded as a ... read more

Each time history repeats itself, the cost goes up. The twentieth century

To read of Elizabeth I addressing her troops before the Spanish Armada, or Martin Luther- King urging the American population for racial equality is to understand the tremendous power of language to inspire, to comfort, to move, or to enthuse an audience. It is inspiring to hear the words of people whose gift was to know what to say, when to say it, and how to phrase it, often in language so powerful, so eloquent and so beautiful that we remember their words centuries after they were first spoken. Here is an enjoyable collection ... read more