Milner (Paperback)

Last of the Empire Builders

Richard Steyn

'Engagingly written, as unputdownable as a biography gets' Financial Mail

'A rich and beautifully nuanced portrait of Milner … a great feat, given all the paradoxical complexities of the man's life and character.' Duncan Campbell-Smith, former Financial Times and Economist journalist

From the acclaimed biographer of Jan Smuts, a revealing new account of Empire-builder and First World War Cabinet minister Lord Alfred Milner.

Alfred Milner was one of Britain's most famous empire builders who both contributed to the Allied victory in the First World War and left an indelible imprint on the history of South Africa. Yet his legacy is contested and little understood.

Largely responsible for the Boer War – a conflict marking the beginning of the end of the British Empire – afterwards Milner helped to unify South Africa, but brewed resentment among Afrikaners. In Britain, from 1916, Milner was part of Lloyd George's five-man War Cabinet, and the driving force behind the Imperial War Cabinet which increased the status of Britain's Dominions.

In this comprehensively researched, first full-length biography by a South African, Richard Steyn argues that Milner's reputation should not be solely defined by his eight years' service in South Africa. If he was the wrong man to send to that country, he was the right person in a far greater international conflict.

RICHARD STEYN is the author of several bestselling biographies, including Jan Smuts: Unafraid of Greatness (2015) and Louis Botha: A Man Apart (2018). He practised as a lawyer before switching to journalism. Steyn edited the Natal Witness in Pietermaritzburg from 1975-1990, was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 1985-1986 and editor-in-chief of The Star from 1990-1995. He served as Standard Bank's Director of Corporate Affairs from 1996-2001 before returning to writing.

A Very British Cult (Hardback)

Rogue Priests and the Abode of Love

Stuart Flinders

A secluded country house. A rogue Anglican priest. Ceremonial sex and mislaid fortunes.

This is the almost-forgotten story of Victorian Britain's strangest religious sect and its wealthy, mostly female, followers who believed they could ascend directly to heaven. Henry James Prince was a rogue Anglican priest with a flare for the dramatic, and the founder of the Agapemone, or 'Abode of Love'. He also claimed to be the immortal conduit of the Holy Spirit and purportedly engaged in free love and ceremonial sex with his female followers. But Prince's eventual death didn't mark the end of this strange sect… he was promptly replaced by another: John Hugh Smyth-Pigott – otherwise known as the Clapton Messiah.

The Abode transformed a sleepy, rural corner of Somerset into one of England's most notorious locations. While the followers shut themselves away and waited patiently for the end of the world, outrage grew – the word 'Agapemone' became a byword for licentiousness or idleness, used by Charles Dickens and Ford Madox Ford. The reclusive Clapton Messiah became a fixture in the nation's papers, with frenzied efforts to discredit the organisation and undermine its leader. And still the cult grew.

Expertly drawing on primary sources to tell the story of the Agapemonites in detail for the first time, Stuart Flinders shines a light on the people drawn to the cult – the forced marriages; the swindled fortunes; the women condemned to asylums; and those who managed to escape from the Abode. It is also the story of two extraordinary men, whose claims of divinity were at the heart of this very British cult.

Stuart Flinders has been a journalist for nearly four decades, with his work involving BBC News, fronting Radio 4's You and Yours for many years, and presenting live concerts on Radio 3. He also writes, and is the author of Cult of a Dark Hero: Nicholson of Delhi.

Traitor's Odyssey (Hardback)

The Untold Story of Martha Dodd and a Strange Saga of Soviet Espionage

Brendan McNally

'A delicious, gossipy and thoroughly engaging romp … heartily recommended.' Tim Tate, author of Hitler's British Traitors and The Spy Who Was Left Out in the Cold

'A captivating page-turner …' Helen Fry, author of Women in Intelligence

Ambassador's daughter, Nazi love interest, Soviet spy, FBI most wanted.

Accompanying her parents to Berlin in the 1930s, Martha Dodd knew almost nothing about Adolf Hitler or the Nazis. Yet almost overnight, she stepped into the spotlight, and found herself at the over-heated centre of Hitler's 'New Germany', befriending and dating several high-ranking Nazis, including the head of the Gestapo.

An affair with a dashing Russian diplomat saw her recruited as a spy, and so began a long and tumultuous career in both Berlin and America, including attempts to infiltrate First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt's inner circle and playing a key role in Henry Wallace's disastrous 1948 presidential campaign.

Betrayed by a Hollywood-hustler-turned-double-agent, Martha spent years under deep FBI surveillance – escaping twice – and went to ground in Cold War Prague, sad, lonely, rich and bored, living out her final decades in a Communist Sunset Boulevard.

Largely forgotten, Martha Dodd began to emerge as an iconic historical figure in the early 2000s. While her scandalous behaviour and pro-Soviet leanings were never much in dispute, the actual matter of her guilt remained unresolved. Now, using recently released KGB archived information and FBI files, author and journalist Brendan McNally sets the record straight in Traitor's Odyssey, telling the full epic tale of Martha Dodd's life for the first time, casting her in a new and bright light.

Brendan McNally is a journalist who has covered defence, security and intelligence issues since the late 1980s. He cut his teeth covering the Pentagon and Capitol Hill for industry newsletters. Following the 1991 Gulf War, Brendan moved to Prague where he reported for Defense News and The Prague Post. He divides his time between Dallas and the Czech Republic.

A Practical Guide to CBT (Paperback)

How to Change

Elaine Iljon Foreman

Change can often seem like an impossible task, but this practical book will help you put it into perspective. With guidance from two experts, you'll recognise the behaviours and thoughts that hold you back, and will develop skills to think more positively, act more calmly and feel better about yourself.

A new and updated edition, this book is full of activities and experiments to explore and challenge, stories and exercises to provide perspective, and a clear framework to encourage and guide you, using the same tools employed by CBT practitioners. The authors' friendly and supportive approach will help you learn to manage recurrences of negative thinking and behaviours, and to develop strong coping strategies.

CBT incorporates the latest therapies and research, including ACT and mindfulness, and explicitly addresses problem areas like insomnia and depression. This edition includes a new chapter focusing on practical advice about making changes and the principles of T.E.A.M-CBT.

Elaine Iljon Foreman and Clair Pollard are Chartered Clinical Psychologists with expertise in cognitive behavioural therapies. Elaine's focus is in clinical research into anxiety, while Clair works with the NHS and The Back-Up Trust.

Doctored (Hardback)

Fraud, Arrogance and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimers

Charles Piller

For readers of Empire of Pain and Dopesick, an arresting deep dive into how Alzheimer's disease treatment has been set back by corrupt researchers, negligent regulators, and the profit motives of Big Pharma.

Nearly seven million Americans live with Alzheimer's disease, a tragedy that is already projected to grow into a $1 trillion crisis by 2050. While families suffer and promises of pharmaceutical breakthroughs keep coming up short, investigative journalist Charles Piller's Doctored shows that we've quite likely been walking the wrong path to finding a cure all along – led astray by a cabal of self-interested researchers, government accomplices, and corporate greed.

Piller begins with a whistleblower – Vanderbilt professor Matthew Schrag – whose work exposed a massive scandal. Schrag found that a University of Minnesota lab led by a precocious young scientist and a renowned director delivered apparently falsified data at the heart of the leading hypothesis about the disease. Piller's revelations of Schrag's findings stunned the field and the public.

From there, based on years of investigative reporting, Doctored exposes a vast network of deceit and its players, all the way up to the FDA. Piller uncovers evidence that hundreds of important Alzheimer's research papers are based on false data. In the process, he reveals how even against a flood of money and influence, a determined cadre of scientific renegades have fought back to challenge the field's institutional powers in service to science and the tens of thousands of patients who have been drawn into trials to test dubious drugs. It is a shocking tale with huge ramifications not only for Alzheimer's disease, but for scientific research, funding, and oversight at large.

Charles Piller is an investigative journalist for Science magazine and his work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Sacramento Bee, and more. Piller has been honoured with many national journalism awards, and is the author of Gene Wars and The Fail-Safe Society. He has reported on public health, biological warfare, infectious disease outbreaks, and other topics from the United States, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Central America. Follow him on X @CPiller.

Hiding Mengele (Paperback)

How a Nazi Network Harbored the Angel of Death

Betina Anton

Read the international sensation already translated into 10 languages!

Unearthing the network that hid the 'Angel of Death', the infamous Nazi doctor who escaped justice for more than three decades.

In 1985, Betina Anton watched Brazilian authorities apprehend her kindergarten teacher for allegedly using false documents to bury in secrecy the remains of Josef Mengele, known worldwide for cruel human experiments and for sending thousands to the Auschwitz gas chambers. Decades later, as an experienced journalist disturbed by the mysteries surrounding the departure of Austrian expat Liselotte Bossert, Anton set out to find her and see if the rumors were true. She could not imagine how deeply into Mengele's life-on-the-run her investigation would take her.

Josef Mengele was a fugitive in South America for 34 years after World War II, sought by Israeli secret service and Nazi hunters. Hidden for half that time in Brazil, thanks to a small circle of expatriate Europeans, Mengele created his own paradise where he could speak German with new friends, maintain his beliefs, stay one step ahead of the global manhunt, and avoid answering for his crimes.

Translated from the Brazilian Tropical Bavaria edition and based on extensive research, including revelatory interviews and never-before-seen letters and photos, Hiding Mengele is a suspenseful narrative haunted not only by the doctor's horrific actions, but also by the motivations driving a community to protect an evil man.

Betina Anton was born in São Paulo, graduated in journalism from the School of Communications and Arts of the University of São Paulo (ECA/USP), and holds a master's degree in international history from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She has more than twenty years of experience as a journalist. As an international news editor at Globo TV, the largest channel in Latin America, she has participated in major news coverage, such as the wars in Ukraine and Syria, and all the American elections since 2008. In 2019, she won the Vladimir Herzog Award, the most prestigious journalism prize in Brazil.

The Next One Is for You (Hardback)

A True Story of Guns, Country and the IRA’s Secret American Army

Ali Marie Watkins

Northern Ireland, 1975. Violence has erupted on the streets of Belfast. After years as a sleepy guerilla army, the IRA is clashing with Loyalist gangs and heavily armed British soldiers. But the Troubles have spilled beyond the small island: An ocean away, in the heart of Philadelphia's Irish enclave, a teenage girl finds a letter in her mailbox. Inside is a bullet, and the message is clear: The next one is for you.

From New York Times reporter and Pulitzer finalist Ali Watkins, this true-crime saga is the long-buried story of how a group of Philadelphia gunrunners armed the IRA at the height of the Troubles. A ragtag band of carpenters, family men and fugitives, the Philadelphia Five, as they came to be known, banded together, bolstering the fight for a united Ireland but fuelling the Troubles at an untold cost.

This small group of Irish nationalists smuggled hundreds of rifles, rocket launchers, explosives and armour-piercing bullets across the Atlantic Ocean and into Northern Ireland. Whether they were skimming money from innocuous-seeming charities, coolly slipping weapons into hidden compartments of vans and houses, or scouring local graveyards for the names of dead Irishmen to use on firearm forms, the gunrunners approached their mission – to unite Ireland under one flag, by any means necessary – with ruthless poise, even as investigators closed in, members of their own movement began to turn on them, and bodies stacked up on all sides.

A gripping tale of crime, rebellion and the hazy line between them, The Next One Is for You is the definitive account of America's hand in the Troubles – a conflict whose resonance is still felt on both sides of the Atlantic today.

Ali Watkins is a journalist for The New York Times on the London bureau, previously covering crime and law enforcement. She was a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in national reporting for coverage of the Senate's report on the C.I.A.'s post-9/11 torture program. She now lives between Northern Ireland and Galway.

Everyday Jews (Paperback)

Why The Jewish People Are Not Who You Think They Are

Keith Kahn-Harris

Can Jews be allowed to become boring?

With Israel and antisemitism constantly in the news, it seems as though the Jewish people – a fraction of a percentage of the world's population – have become synonymous with controversy, drama and anxiety. But what if there was another side to this persistently interesting people; one that non-Jews often don't know about and Jews rarely talk about? This is the stuff of 'everyday' Jewishness; the capacity to be ordinary, mundane and sometimes just plain dull.

Keith Kahn-Harris lifts the lid on this surprising world in a book for Jews and non-Jews alike. Arguing that his people's extraordinary public visibility today is harming their ability to live everyday Jewish lives, he celebrates the mundanity and mediocrity of a people before it vanishes completely.

DR KEITH KAHN-HARRIS is a sociologist and author, based in London. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Jewish Policy Research and a Senior Lecturer at Leo Baeck College. He also makes time for pursuing other interests outside the community, including extreme metal music and the warning messages in Kinder Surprise Eggs.
The author of nine books, his most recent publications are Strange Hate: Antisemitism, Racism and the Limits of Diversity, The Babel Message: A Love Letter to Language (Icon) and (co-authored with Rob Stothard) What Does A Jew Look Like? Find out more at kahn-harris.org.