'The most lovable figure in modern politics' was how A.J.P Taylor described the Christian pacifist, George Lansbury. At 73 he took over the helm of the Labour Party of only 46 MPs in the Depression years of the 1930s. Throughout a remarkable life, Lansbury remained an extraordinary politician of the people, associated with a multitude of crusades for social justice. He resigned from Parliament to support 'Votes for Women', and for the next ten years edited the fiery Daily Herald. In 1921 Lansbur...
"Growing Up With The Party" follows life through various events such as school, college, looking for work and looking for love, and is set in the context of some of the most dramatic political events in Irelands's history. A down to earth, intriguing look at life in Irish politics for the ordinary person, it examines how politics has shaped the person Fallon is and has influenced the course of his life. It deals with situations that he encountered along the way such as leaving home, the Dublin/C...
From June 1963 to October 1964, ten antiapartheid activists were tried at South Africa's Pretoria Supreme Court. Standing among the accused with Nelson Mandela, Ahmed Kathrada, and Walter Sisulu was Denis Goldberg. Charged under the Sabotage and Suppression of Communism Acts for "campaigning to overthrow the government by violent revolution," Goldberg was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. The only white man convicted during the infamous Rivonia trial, he played a historic role in...
Zebulon B. Vance, governor of North Carolina during the devastating years of the Civil War, has long sparked controversy and spirited political comment among scholars. He has been portrayed as a loyal Confederate, viciously characterized as one of the principal causes of the Confederate defeat, and called ""the Lincoln of the South."" Joe A. Mobley clarifies the nature of Vance's leadership, focusing on the young governor's commitment to Southern independence, military and administrative decisio...
Biographical Directory of American Colonial and Revolutionary Governors, 1607-1789
by John Raimo
The Colombian activist Juan Gregorio Palechor (1923-1992) dedicated his life to championing indigenous rights in Cauca, a department in the southwest of Colombia, where he helped found the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca. Recounting his life story in collaboration with the Colombian anthropologist Myriam Jimeno, Palechor traces his political awakening, his experiences in national politics, the disillusionment that resulted, and his turn to a more radical activism aimed at confronting ethnic...
Archibald Wavell was born a few years before Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee and died shortly after the end of the Second World War (1883-1950). During that time the country in which he was born and brought up in changed beyond recognition, undergoing a fundamental revision in the attitudes, expectations, prejudices and hopes of the British people. His life epitomises that of a generation of famous men whose education and upbringing equipped them for a future that was to prove an illusion.At sev...
The husband: charming cad and powerful Congressman, with hopes of becoming the next President; The wife: beautiful society hostess, 20 years old, of Italian descent; The lover: the most handsome widower in Washington. This is the starting point of American Scoundrel, a true story every bit as colourful as a novel. The shooting and trial are described with all Thomas Keneally's powers of dash and drama, against a backdrop of double-dealing, intrigue and 'the slavery question'. Having - through hi...
Our world as it once was In August 2014, Farida was, like any ordinary teenager, enjoying the last days of summer before her final year at school. However, her peaceful mountain village in northern Iraq was an ISIS target as their genocide against the Yazidi people began. The catastropheISIS murdered the men and boys in the village, including Farida's father and brother, and took the women hostage. Farida was one of them. She was held in a slave camp, in the homes of ISIS members and finally in...
The Other American the Life of Michael Harrington
by William R Kenan Jr Professor of History Maurice Isserman
The astonishing true story of a young woman's adventures, and misadventures, in the dangerous world of Nazi-occupied France.'A most strange and compelling book driven by the writer's unsparing search for truth: now an optimistic hunt for a family heroine, now a study in female wiles of survival, now a portrait of one very ordinary person's frailty in the face of terrible odds.' John le Carré When Nicholas Shakespeare stumbled across a box of documents belonging to his late aunt he was completely...
In this remarkably gripping memoir, one of the most dynamic and controversial leaders of modern times gives us a firsthand account of his years in office and beyond. Here, for the first time, Tony Blair recounts his role in shaping our recent history, from the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death to the war on terror. With rare honesty and courage, he recounts the belief in ethical intervention that led to his decision to go to war in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, and, most controversially o...
One of the last major untold stories of the war, this is the first-hand account of a conscientious objector born into a famous artistic family who, after the death of his brother on active service, decides to fight the Nazis and joins SOE. Barely 28 years of age he ends up as a leader of French resistance, set up by Jean Moulin, whose horrific death features in the story, and heads a massive underground movement of some 20,000 men.The book has been compiled by Ray Jenkins, a distinguished TV, fi...
One small East African country embodies the battered history of the continent: patronised by colonialists, riven by civil war, confused by Cold War manoeuvring, proud, colorful, with Africa's best espresso and worst rail service. Michela Wrong brilliantly reveals the contradictions and comedy, past and present, of Eritrea. Just as the beat of a butterfly's wings is said to cause hurricanes on the other side of the world, so the affairs of tiny Eritrea have reached onto the agenda of superpower...