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Sam and Chester: How a Mischievous Pig Transformed the Life of My Autistic Son
By Jo Bailey-Merritt. 2016
When Sam Bailey-Merritt was just two years old, almost overnight he lost the ability to communicate or function. His mother,…
Jo, was at a loss as to what to do as she saw her son grow increasingly isolated and begin to suffer from uncontrollable meltdowns. Eventually, Sam was diagnosed with autism.Sam's condition continued to worsen and, just when Jo had all but given up hope of being able to help him, the family went on a day trip to a nearby miniature pig farm. Sam immediately bonded with a tiny ginger piglet called Chester, who stood sad and alone, apart from the rest of the litter. The connection between the boy and the animal was immediate and their unusual friendship blossomed from the moment the family brought Chester home. The tiny pig refused to leave Sam's side - it was as if he knew that Sam needed a friend. And, for the first time in five years, Jo saw her son really laugh.While Sam's confidence grew, Chester grew in a different way: the micro pig that was supposed to become the size of a Cocker Spaniel in fact ballooned to three times that size - with hilarious consequences for the family! Chester has turned Sam's life around. He now has the ability to communicate his feelings, make friends and is caring and kind towards others.Sam and Chester is the heart-warming story of how a teacup-sized ginger pig helped to transform the life of a boy with autism. It is the emotional story of a mother's fight to win back her son.Most Secret War (Penguin World War II Collection)
By R. V. Jones. 1978
Reginald Jones was nothing less than a genius. And his appointment to the Intelligence Section of Britain's Air Ministry in…
1939 led to some of the most astonishing scientific and technological breakthroughs of the Second World War.In Most Secret War he details how Britain stealthily stole the war from under the Germans' noses by outsmarting their intelligence at every turn. He tells of the 'battle of the beams'; detecting and defeating flying bombs; using chaff to confuse radar; and many other ingenious ideas and devices.Jones was the man with the plan to save Britain and his story makes for riveting reading.A Great Place to Have a War: America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA
By Joshua Kurlantzick. 2017
The untold story of how America&’s secret war in Laos in the 1960s transformed the CIA from a loose collection…
of spies into a military operation and a key player in American foreign policy.January, 1961: Laos, a tiny nation few Americans have heard of, is at risk of falling to communism and triggering a domino effect throughout Southeast Asia. This is what President Eisenhower believed when he approved the CIA&’s Operation Momentum, creating an army of ethnic Hmong to fight communist forces there. Largely hidden from the American public—and most of Congress—Momentum became the largest CIA paramilitary operation in the history of the United States. The brutal war lasted more than a decade, left the ground littered with thousands of unexploded bombs, and changed the nature of the CIA forever.With &“revelatory reporting&” and &“lucid prose&” (The Economist), Kurlantzick provides the definitive account of the Laos war, focusing on the four key people who led the operation: the CIA operative whose idea it was, the Hmong general who led the proxy army in the field, the paramilitary specialist who trained the Hmong forces, and the State Department careerist who took control over the war as it grew.Using recently declassified records and extensive interviews, Kurlantzick shows for the first time how the CIA&’s clandestine adventures in one small, Southeast Asian country became the template for how the United States has conducted war ever since—all the way to today&’s war on terrorism.How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq
By Matthew Alexander, John R. Bruning. 2008
Finding Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, had long been the U.S. military's top priority…
-- trumping even the search for Osama bin Laden. No brutality was spared in trying to squeeze intelligence from Zarqawi's suspected associates. But these "force on force" techniques yielded exactly nothing, and, in the wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal, the military rushed a new breed of interrogator to Iraq. Matthew Alexander, a former criminal investigator and head of a handpicked interrogation team, gives us the first inside look at the U.S. military's attempt at more civilized interrogation techniques -- and their astounding success. The intelligence coup that enabled the June 7, 2006, air strike onZarqawi's rural safe house was the result of several keenly strategized interrogations, none of which involved torture or even "control" tactics. Matthew and his team decided instead to get to know their opponents. Who were these monsters? Who were they working for? What were they trying to protect? Every day the "'gators" matched wits with a rogues' gallery of suspects brought in by Special Forces ("door kickers"): egomaniacs, bloodthirsty adolescents, opportunistic stereo repairmen, Sunni clerics horrified by the sectarian bloodbath, Al Qaeda fanatics, and good people in the wrong place at the wrong time. With most prisoners, negotiation was possible and psychological manipulation stunningly effective. But Matthew's commitment to cracking the case with these methods sometimes isolated his superiors and put his own career at risk. This account is an unputdownable thriller -- more of a psychological suspense story than a war memoir. And indeed, the story reaches far past the current conflict in Iraq with a reminder that we don't have to become our enemy to defeat him. Matthew Alexander and his ilk, subtle enough and flexible enough to adapt to the challenges of modern, asymmetrical warfare, have proved to be our best weapons against terrorists all over the world.From the disability rights advocate and creator of the #DisabledAndCute viral campaign, a thoughtful, inspiring, and charming collection of essays…
exploring what it means to be black and disabled in a mostly able-bodied white America. Keah Brown loves herself, but that hadn&’t always been the case. Born with cerebral palsy, her greatest desire used to be normalcy and refuge from the steady stream of self-hate society strengthened inside her. But after years of introspection and reaching out to others in her community, she has reclaimed herself and changed her perspective.In The Pretty One, Brown gives a contemporary and relatable voice to the disabled—so often portrayed as mute, weak, or isolated. With clear, fresh, and light-hearted prose, these essays explore everything from her relationship with her able-bodied identical twin (called &“the pretty one&” by friends) to navigating romance; her deep affinity for all things pop culture—and her disappointment with the media&’s distorted view of disability; and her declaration of self-love with the viral hashtag #DisabledAndCute.By &“smashing stigmas, empowering her community, and celebrating herself&” (Teen Vogue), Brown and The Pretty One aims to expand the conversation about disability and inspire self-love for people of all backgrounds.We Got Him!: A Memoir of the Hunt and Capture of Saddam Hussein
By Steve Russell. 2011
From retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Steve Russell comes a compelling firsthand account of the blow-by-blow plays of the actual…
raids that led to the capture of Saddam Hussein in 2003.When U.S. forces exterminated Osama bin Laden in Pakistan on May 1, 2011, the world witnessed a brilliantly fruitful example of history repeating itself; less than a decade earlier, the capture of Saddam Hussein, a triumph of military strategy in and of itself, opened the door for the more recent and essential victory in the War on Terror. At the center of the six-month manhunt were Lt. Col. Steve Russell and his men of the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. With his extensive journal notes, combat reports, and painstaking research, Russell has preserved the story as only someone who lived the experience can do. His narrative chronicles the daily successes and dead ends, and describes, blow-by-blow, the actual raids that netted Saddam, culminating in the electrifying quote heard around the globe, &“We Got Him!&”No-Nonsense Guide to Global Surveillance (No-Nonsense Guides #10)
By Robin Tudge. 2011
Spying, once solely the domain of the KGB, CIA, CSIS, and MI5, has become part of everyday life. Governments routinely…
trawl our emails, closed-circuit security cameras follow us in malls, office buildings, and on street corners, while databases of our DNA and other personal details become larger all the time. This No-Nonsense Guide provides a well-researched look into the history of surveillance and how the process is carried out today with the aid of technology and often, lack of express consent.Beryl: The Making of a Disability Activist
By Dustin Galer. 2023
Beryl Potter was a reserved working-class mother of three living a decent life, or so it seemed, when a harmless…
slip and fall marked the unravelling of everything that she had known about herself and the world around her. Over the course of six years, she endured unimaginable pain. As doctors raced to save her life, her limbs and eyesight were taken from her one by one. In the span of a few years, she lost nearly half her body, her financial security, her home, her husband, and any semblance of a recognizable future. A survivor of more than one hundred surgeries, a dangerous opioid addiction, and multiple suicide attempts, Beryl Potter devoted herself to bettering the lives of other people with disabilities and made a tremendous contribution to disability awareness from the 1970s to 1990s. In this unparalleled biography, Dustin Galer demonstrates how Beryl Potter seemed to crack the code of the social system that oppressed her. By wading into the weeds of her complicated life before and after her accident, Galer leaves readers with a complex portrait of a woman who defied and challenged gender and disability norms of her time, paving the way for disability justice.Beryl: The Making of a Disability Activist
By Dustin Galer. 2023
The story of a mid-century working-class housewife whose extraordinary physical transformation empowered her to become a dynamic social activist who…
fueled a movement to create a more inclusive future for people with disabilities.Origins of Terrorism: The Rise of the World’s Most Formidable Terrorist Groups
By Godfrey Garner, Maeghin Alarid-Hughes. 2021
Origins of Terrorism: The Rise of the World’s Most Formidable Terrorist Groups examines the roots of Islamic terrorism, it’s history,…
and some of the foundational figures in prominent terrorist organizations. Throughout, the book also addresses the use of terrorism, the "hows" and "whys" of terrorists’ goals, and their modus operandi.Historically, insurgency operations have formed the basis of a number of terrorist groups—resistance to western powers, particularly the United States, and what is viewed as their unwanted interference in regional affairs. Sections are devoted to individual terror organizations, including some of the most well-known and resilient global movements—Al Qaeda, ISIS, the Taliban, and Boko Haram, among others. Coverage details where and how they originated, who the principal organizers were, how these individuals worked—or didn’t work—together. In this, the authors look at the circumstances that allowed for these leaders, and their groups’, development and success. In this, the authors expose interesting, little-known stories and facts about the specific upbringing, family life, and personal narrative around these organizations’ founders, as well as ties to other terrorist founders and organizations. For example, the relationship between individuals such as Osama bin Laden and Musab al Zarkawi (aka Ahmad al-Khalayleh)—the founder of ‘Al Qaeda in Iraq’ (AQI), which became ISIS—is examined in detail, providing readers with some of the "stories behind the stories" to understand the prominent figures and underpinnings of major terrorist organizations’ philosophies, formation, and elements that have led to their staying power.Origins of Terrorism will be a valuable resource for security and intelligence professionals, terrorism researchers, and students, providing a unique perspective to understand terrorism and terror movements in considering counterterror efforts.How to Stop a Hijacking: Critical Thinking in Civil Aviation Security
By Clay W. Biles. 2023
Hijackings and bombings have plagued civil aviation since 1930 and air rage incidents are on the rise. While there is…
aircraft and inflight training available for air marshals, other first responders receive minimal training on inflight security awareness and protocols. There are no other resources currently available to flight crews or armed first responders that specifically address inflight security and how to address threats of disturbances on airplanes.How to Stop a Hijacking provides readers with fundamental principles on how to think more critically about onboard security threats. The aircraft cabin poses unique environment and security challenges, and first responders can apply security awareness and critical thinking skills to establish a safer environment in the cabin and airport for everyone onboard. The lessons in this book are driven with the central objective of teaching the reader how to counter inflight aggression and maintain tactical control of the cabin. Written by a former federal air marshal instructor, this book looks at the recent rash of air rage incidents and violence on airplanes, in addition to the real and ever-present threat of hijack or potential explosive device.How to Stop a Hijacking is a practical guide that offers methodological and tactically proven strategies for stopping violent acts onboard an aircraft inflight.State Department Counterintelligence: Leaks, Spies, and Lies
By Robert David Booth. 2014
A veteran counterintelligence agent presents a revealing chronicle of his State Department investigations into intelligence leaks and spying on US…
soil. On October 7th, 1974, Robert D. Booth swore an oath to support and uphold the United States Constitution as a special agent of the State Department&’s Office of Security. As a member of the Special Investigations Branch, he investigated numerous information leaks, losses of classified documents, and instances of espionage. Now, in State Department Counterintelligence, Booth reveals some of the most egregious leaks, spies, and lies that have adversely affected national security over his decades-long career. Booth tells the story of his pivotal role in three major counterespionage assignments as well as numerous investigations into unauthorized disclosures—including the unmasking of Fidel Castro&’s most damaging US citizen spy. With the narrative style of a political thriller, Booth brings readers inside the real world of counterintelligence.The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power
By David E. Sanger. 2009
Readers of The New York Times know David Sanger as one of the most trusted correspondents in Washington, one to…
whom presidents, secretaries of state, and foreign leaders talk with unusual candor. Now, with a historian’s sweep and an insider’s eye for telling detail, Sanger delivers an urgent intelligence briefing on the world America faces. In a riveting narrative, The Inheritance describes the huge costs of distraction and lost opportunities at home and abroad as Iraq soaked up manpower, money, and intelligence capabilities. The 2008 market collapse further undermined American leadership, leaving the new president with a set of challenges unparalleled since Franklin D. Roosevelt entered the Oval Office.Sanger takes readers into the White House Situation Room to reveal how Washington penetrated Tehran’s nuclear secrets, leading President Bush, in his last year, to secretly step up covert actions in a desperate effort to delay an Iranian bomb. Meanwhile, his intelligence chiefs made repeated secret missions to Pakistan as they tried to stem a growing insurgency and cope with an ally who was also aiding the enemy–while receiving billions in American military aid. Now the new president faces critical choices: Is it better to learn to live with a nuclear Iran or risk overt or covert confrontation? Is it worth sending U.S. forces deep into Pakistani territory at the risk of undermining an unstable Pakistani government sitting on a nuclear arsenal? It is a race against time and against a new effort by Islamic extremists–never before disclosed–to quietly infiltrate Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program. “Bush wrote a lot of checks,” one senior intelligence official told Sanger, “that the next president is going to have to cash.”The Inheritance takes readers to Afghanistan, where Bush never delivered on his promises for a Marshall Plan to rebuild the country, paving the way for the Taliban’s return. It examines the chilling calculus of North Korea’s Kim Jong-Il, who built actual weapons of mass destruction in the same months that the Bush administration pursued phantoms in Iraq, then sold his nuclear technology in the Middle East in an operation the American intelligence apparatus missed. And it explores how China became one of the real winners of the Iraq war, using the past eight years to expand its influence in Asia, and lock up oil supplies in Africa while Washington was bogged down in the Middle East. Yet Sanger, a former foreign correspondent in Asia, sees enormous potential for the next administration to forge a partnership with Beijing on energy and the environment. At once a secret history of our foreign policy misadventures and a lucid explanation of the opportunities they create, The Inheritance is vital reading for anyone trying to understand the extraordinary challenges that lie ahead.Normal: A Mother and Her Beautiful Son
By Magdalena Newman. 2019
A moving and “inspiring” memoir from the mother of a child with Treacher Collins syndrome, with a foreword by R.J.…
Palacio, author of Wonder (Publishers Weekly, starred review).For Magda Newman, normal was a goal—she wanted her son Nathaniel to be able to play on the playground, swim at the beach, enjoy the moments of childhood that are often taken for granted. But Nathaniel’s severe Treacher Collins syndrome—a craniofacial condition—meant that other concerns came first. Could he eat without the aid of a gastrointestinal tube? Could he hear? Would he ever be able to breathe effortlessly? In this moving memoir, Newman, with the help of her son, tells the story of raising Nathaniel, from the shock she and her husband faced when he was born, to the inspiration of Nathaniel’s own strength and quirky humor. All this while also facing both non-Hodgkins and Hodgkins lymphoma diagnoses of her own. This uplifting story of a family tackling complex and terrifying circumstances with love and resilience is a true testament to Magda and her family, and to families everywhere who quietly but courageously persist.Luck of the Devil: The Story of Operation Valkyrie
By Ian Kershaw. 2009
'It is now time that something was done. But the man who has the courage to do something must do…
it in the knowledge that he will go down in German history as a traitor. If he does not, however, he will be a traitor to his own conscience' Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, July 1944The July 1944 Plot to kill Adolf Hitler was a desperate attempt by a group of senior officers to redeem Germany's honour and end the Second World War. They were heroic because they knew their chances of success were slight and that the result of their failure would undoubtedly be a terrible death. They wanted to leave a message for later generations: that there were Germans who understood the evils of Nazism and were willing to act against it. This extraordinary story is the basis for Bryan Singer's major new film Valkyrie, due to be released in February 2009. Published for the first time as a separate book, Luck of the Devil is taken from Ian Kershaw's bestselling Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis and is a brilliant account of just what happened in those fateful days at Hitler's Wolf's Lair headquarters, when his opponents came so astonishingly close to assassinating what is one of the modern era's most terrible figures.How to Survive a Crisis: Lessons in Resilience and Avoiding Disaster
By David Omand. 2023
From the former Director of GCHQ comes an invaluable guide to surviving crises - how to spot them early and…
lessen their devastating consequences - using the latest intelligence strategies'David Omand is exactly the man you need in a crisis' RORY STEWARTWe never know when a crisis might explode. Some 'sudden impact' events, such as terrorist attacks or natural disasters, blow up out of a clear blue sky. Other 'slow burn' crises smoulder away for years, often with warning signs ignored along the way until, as if from nowhere, the troops storm the palace.In How to Survive a Crisis, Professor Sir David Omand draws on his experience in defence, security and intelligence, including as Director of GCHQ and UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator, to show how you can detect a looming crisis and extinguish it (or at least survive it with minimum loss).Using gripping real-world examples from Omand's storied career, and drawing lessons from historic catastrophes such as Chernobyl, 9/11, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the WannaCry ransomware cyberattack, this empowering book is filled with practical advice on how to survive the multiplying crises of the future. Not every crisis need tip into disaster - if we have invested in personal, business and national resilience.This is an essential toolkit for our turbulent twenty-first century, as well as an exhilarating read for anyone interested in the state of our world - and how we might improve it.'This book is the instruction manual we all need' SIR ALEX YOUNGER, CHIEF OF MI6How Spies Think: Ten Lessons in Intelligence
By David Omand. 2021
From the former director of GCHQ, learn the methodology used by British intelligence agencies to reach judgements, establish the right…
level of confidence and act decisively.Full of revealing examples from a storied career, including key briefings with Prime Ministers and strategies used in conflicts from the Cold War to the present, in How Spies Think Professor Sir David Omand arms us with the tools to sort fact from fiction.And shows us how to use real intelligence every day.*****'One of the best books ever written about intelligence analysis and its long-term lessons' Christopher Andrew, The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5'An invaluable guide to avoiding self-deception and fake news' Melanie Phillips, The TimesWINNER OF THE NEAVE BOOK PRIZE 2022LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING 2021Go the Way Your Blood Beats
By Emmett De Monterey. 2023
AN EXTRAORDINARILY MOVING AND ORIGINAL MEMOIR OF GROWING UP GAY AND DISABLED IN 1980s LONDONSHORTLISTED FOR THE SLIGHTLY FOXED BEST…
BIOGRAPHY PRIZE 2023 When Emmett de Monterey is eighteen months old, a doctor diagnoses him with cerebral palsy. Words too heavy for his twenty-five-year-old artist parents and their happy, smiling baby.Growing up in south-east London in the 1980s, Emmett is spat at on the street and prayed over at church. At his mainstream school, teachers refuse to schedule his classes on the ground floor, and he loses a stone from the effort of getting up the stairs. At his sixth form college for disabled students, he's told he will be expelled if the rumours are true, if he's gay.And then Emmett is chosen for a first-of-its-kind surgery in America which he hopes will 'cure' him, enable him to walk unaided. He hopes for a miracle: to walk, to dance, to be able to leave the house when it rains. To have a body that's everyday beautiful, to hold hands in the street. To not be gay, which feels like another word for loneliness. But the 'miracle' doesn't occur, and Emmett must reckon with a world which views disabled people as invisible, unworthy of desire. He must fight to be seen.'Vivid, engaging... this insightful memoir sheds light on the author's life as a disabled gay man who is often rendered invisible' Andrew McMillan, Guardian Book of the Day'A frank and intimate memoir written with an incredible clear-eyed intensity' Claire FullerForgotten Voices of the Secret War: An Inside History of Special Operations in the Second World War
By Roderick Bailey. 2008
'The Gestapo kept me three days in this interrogation house. They especially wanted to know what I did after my…
escape, and precise things on the organisation of the SOE. And just for fun I suspect, because I had really not much to tell them, they pulled one of my toenails out...' - Robert Sheppard, SOE agentThe Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British organisation created early in World War 2 to encourage resistance and carry out sabotage behind enemy lines: in Winston Churchill's famous phrase, to 'set Europe ablaze'. Drawing on the vast resources of the Imperial War Museum Sound Archive and featuring a mass of previously unpublished personal testimonies, Forgotten Voices of the Secret War tells the stories of SOE agents, HQ staff, diplomats, aircrew and naval personnel in their own words. As the war unfolds, we learn of parachute drops into enemy territory, torture by the Gestapo and nerve-wracking sabotage missions in far-flung climes.Forgotten Voices of the Secret War is both an incredible account of espionage during World War 2 and a fitting testament to the efforts and sacrifices of a dedicated group of courageous men and women.Espionage: Spies and Secrets
By Richard Bennett. 2003
The need to defend against terrorist outrages has drawn unprecedented public attention to modern-day global espionage, from the US government's…
involvement in the politics of the Middle East, Europe and Africa, to the surveillance of their own citizens by governments throughout the western world. This compelling reference resource contains over 500 entries covering every aspect of modern-day intelligence-gathering and counter-terrorism, along with a comprehensive overview of its history. Global in scope, Espionage focuses in particular on developments in the field of intelligence since the end of the Cold War:-Governmental failure to foresee recent terrorist attacks against western targets-Counter-Terrorism, including the growth in commercial terrorism-Electronic and communications surveillance-Illegal activities by the intelligence services from around the world, including assassination, smuggling and torture-Terminology and equipment explainedWith entries on individual spies, politicians and diplomats, from the players to the patsies, and profiles of the key historical events and scandals from the history of spying, Espionage is the ultimate guide for journalists, researchers and anyone with an interest in this highly topical, controversial and chilling subject.