The Guerrilla and the Journalist (Paperback)

Exploring the Murderous Legacy of Jonas Savimbi

Fred Bridgland

A profound moral challenge now faced me following this macabre encounter with Savimbi in the African forest. How was this former English council house boy going to save his friend from this guerrilla chieftain who had learned the arts of war from Mao, Che, Clausewitz, the CIA and the South African Defence Force?

As a young Reuters correspondent, Fred Bridgland revealed the secret invasion in 1975 of post-independence Angola by apartheid South Africa's armed forces in support of UNITA rebel leader Jonas Savimbi. At the time he befriended Tito Chingunji, a guerrilla officer before he became UNITA foreign secretary, who persuaded Bridgland to walk many hundreds of kilometres across Angola to watch UNITA's fighters go into combat.

Later Chingunji and Bridgland worked together on a sympathetic biography of the charismatic Savimbi, then the great hope of the 'free West'. However, after the book's publication, Chingunji told Bridgland how he and his family were under constant threat of death from Savimbi.

Bridgland started to uncover atrocities that reveald Savimbi not as the champion of his people, but as a murderous tyrant. Chingunji had risked his life to help Bridgland tell the true story of what was going on behind the scenes. When his friend went missing, Bridgland journeyed into the Angolan jungle to plead his friend's case and was himself put before a kangaroo court by an enraged Savimbi.

This is account of the bond that developed between a guerrilla fighter and a journalist and the terrifying challenges they faced as they revealed Savimbi's true face.

FRED BRIDGLAND is a veteran British foreign correspondent and author. He reported on the Angolan civil war and the Border War for Reuters as the agency's Central Africa correspondent in the 1970s and then from South Africa for the Sunday Telegraph and The Scotsman in the 1980s and 1990s.

Bridgland has written several books, including Cuito Cuanavale (2017) and Truth, Lies and Alibis:
A Winnie Mandela Story (2018).

Kuhn Vs Popper (eBook)

The Struggle for the Soul of Science

Steve Fuller

In 1965 Thomas Kuhn and Karl Popper met at the University of London to stage what became the most momentous philosphical debate of the century. At stake was the soul of science itself. Popper pinned the future of science on scientists having the freedom to test their theories to the point of being false. But this required an 'open society' that tolerate error, even in the established authorities. Kuhn, in contrast, reflected heads-down Cold War mentality that scientists should not question authority in their own fields or society at large – unless absolutely necessary. Those rare occasions count as proper 'scientific revolutions'. Kuhn painted as the young radical against Popper as the conservative, won the battle. His Structure of Scientific Revolutions sold a million copies. Steve Fuller argues forcefully, however, that these caricatures of Kuhn and Popper's positions are fundamentally flawed – and that the wrong man won. The first popular account of this landmark confrontation, Kuhn vs Popper retells the story of the clash, the background behind it, and its legacy to our understanding of science.

Steve Fuller has appeared on Radio 4's Today, Radio 3's Nightwaves and Channel 4's Trial of the 21st Century. He has written for the Independent, the New Scientist and the New York Times, among others. By day, Fuller is also Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick.

When One is Expecting (eBook)

A Posh Person's Guide to Pregnancy and Parenting

From the creator of @pippatips

From the creator of the smash hit Twitter feed, @pippatips

Does ‘nesting’ mean I have to live in a tree?
Is there any salad involved in a Caesarean section?
Is caviar suitable for puréeing?

Apart from deciding which hat to wear for Ascot, having a baby is the biggest challenge a person can face. With tips to take you from womb to silver spoon, When One is Expecting is the definitive guide to raising your little darling the aristocratic way.

From the brains behind @pippatips, the smash-hit twitter account with over 40,000 followers. The author has been featured in numerous publications, including the Huffington Post and the Evening Standard. While she doesn’t personally have a baby, she has seen lots.

The Far Land (Paperback)

200 Years of Murder, Mania and Mutiny in the South Pacific

Brandon Presser

The Far Land swells in the cause and effect of actions of passion. Brandon Presser's fascinating narrative of the relentless consequences of the Bounty mutineers asks: were they brave or damned? They lived so very troubled ever after. You can't make this stuff up!

Brandon Presser is a travel writer and 'rough-and-tough adventurer' (Entertainment Weekly). His writing has been featured in numerous publications including Bloomberg, Harper's Bazaar, Condé Nast Traveler and Lonely Planet.

The Alien Perspective (Paperback)

A New View of Humanity and the Cosmos

David Whitehouse

A journey through the evolving cosmos, considering how human survival will depend on otherworldly perspectives.

In David Whitehouse's most ambitious book to date he explores how human evolution has been intertwined with the workings of the cosmos from the very beginning, and what the far-distant future may hold, both for the universe and for ourselves.

Given enough time, Whitehouse contends, we must communicate with intelligent aliens whose divergent perspective will transform our understanding of the universe. First contact may even come sooner than we think. We have already transmitted signals towards promising exoplanets. If, say, Gliese 581d harbours life, the return signal could reach us in 2051.

Drawing the thread of human consciousness from the cave to the cosmos, the acclaimed author of Apollo 11: The Inside Story charts our future journey to the end of space and time, and considers whether something of humanity could remain at the end of it all.

David Whitehouse is a former BBC science correspondent and science editor, and the author of several books, including most recently Apollo 11: The Inside Story and Space 2069. He has a doctorate from the Jodrell Bank Radio Observatory and Asteroid 4036 is named after him. He is a regular broadcaster and contributor to newspapers and magazines.