Showing titles in Politics & Social Sciences

True Crime South Africa covers solved and unsolved South African true crime cases.

Is HRT unsafe? Should you avoid giving peanut butter to small children? Blind Spots uncovers how inaccurate research drives medical myths which can spark public health crises. Modern medicine shines when it draws on good scientific studies. But when medicine is led by dogmatic groupthink, it's everyday people who fall victim. Blind Spots examines the latest research to reveal the truths essential to our health.

Twenty years undercover - one man's true story of life as an undercover cop. A must-listen for fans of Donnie Brasco. For over 20 years, Joe Carter has worked for the police as an undercover cop. He travelled the globe on different passports. He fraternised with thieves and international drugs and arms dealers. He worked alongside the most dangerous criminals. Always fearing that this life would come crashing down around him at any point.

Examining sixty of the most significant and notorious dictators from the 4th century BC to the present day reveals that there are common signs and conditions that enable dictators to seize power. Through the spectrum of a wide variety of dictators in different parts of the world and throughout history, themes and patterns inevitably emerge. Iain Dale has brought together 64 different authors - a mix of historians, academics, journalists and politicians - to write about 67 different dictators.

Christina Pazsitzky and Tom Segura are comedians who are also married. They are the Mommies and they welcome you to join them. Dental updates! Dudes! Stories! Wiping!

Just days after Raynor learns that Moth, her husband of 32 years, is terminally ill, the couple lose their home and their livelihood. With nothing left and little time, they make the brave and impulsive decision to walk the 630 miles of the sea-swept South West Coast Path, from Somerset to Dorset via Devon and Cornwall. They have almost no money for food or shelter and must carry only the essentials for survival on their backs as they live wild in the ancient, weathered landscape of cliffs, sea and sky.

The author describes the experience of being in bombed-out, dangerous, post-war Nuremberg, where she lived for two years while working on the trial. This landmark trial resulted in the establishment of the Nuremberg Code, which sets the guidelines for medical research involving human beings. Doctors from Hell is a significant addition to the literature on World War II and the Holocaust, medical ethics, human rights, and the barbaric depths to which human beings can descend.

Christmas is the world's biggest festival, yet we barely understand how we got here. Somewhere between Jesus, Dickens and Coke, Christmas became the beloved chaotic present-fest that it currently is. If it's a turkey, we should really stop stuffing it. So let's unwrap it instead....

Having done field work in New Guinea for more than 30 years, Jared Diamond presents the geographical and ecological factors that have shaped the modern world. From the viewpoint of an evolutionary biologist, he highlights the broadest movements both literal and conceptual on every continent since the Ice Age, and examines societal advances such as writing, religion, government, and technology.

Hardly a day goes by that we don’t hear about someone committing a violent, reprehensible, even evil, act. And each time it happens, before we know anything about the circumstances, we are already sure of one thing: We are nothing like that perpetrator. But how can we be so sure? After all, we are all human. In Understanding the Dark Side of Human Nature, Professor Daniel Breyer takes us on a fascinating philosophical journey into many of the deepest and darkest questions that have engaged humanity for millennia.

Meghan was 11 when she first advocated for women’s rights; a teenager when she worked in a soup kitchen feeding the homeless; a popular actress when she campaigned for clean water in Africa and passionately championed gender equality in a speech to a United Nations Women’s Conference. Even before she met Prince Harry, hers was an extraordinarily accomplished life. Meghan’s wedding to Harry was a joyful occasion, marking happiness at last for the Queen’s grandson who had captured our hearts 20 years earlier when he bravely walked behind his mother Diana’s coffin.

Without even realizing it, we all use the fruits of political philosophy. From liberty to democracy to community, the terms and concepts originated by political philosophers are ingrained in our global consciousness. Yet many of us have an incomplete picture of how these ideas developed and, quite possibly, a skewed perception of their intentions and implications. This highly relevant course sheds light on the labyrinth of Western political and social theory, as well as its influence on modern history.

The stuff of conspiracy theories makes for great, entertaining stories in movies, books, and television. And there is no shortage of subjects: from who really killed JFK to the truth behind 9/11. And then, there are subjects from alien invasions to the Moon landing was simulated - theories that are truly out of this world, which according to some, is flat. Many of these crazy concepts have jumped off the pages or screens to become so pervasive in our culture that thousands - even millions - subscribe to them as reality.

Our man in America, BBC North America Editor Jon Sopel, presents a diary of an election like we've never quite seen before. Experience life as a White House reporter on the campaign trail, as the election heats up and a global pandemic slowly sweeps in, challenging the very institutions of American politics and the Trump presidency. As American lives are lost at a devastating rate, the election becomes a battle for the very soul of the nation.

If you've ever wondered why Putin is so obsessed with Crimea, why the USA was destined to become a global superpower or why China's power base continues to expand ever outwards, the answers are all here. In 10 chapters, using essays and occasionally the personal experiences of the widely travelled author, Prisoners of Geography looks at the past, present and future to offer an essential insight into one of the major factors that determines world history.

The Ideological Brain is essential in today’s polarized and polarizing world. To foster a more informed, resilient and freer society, we need to zoom into the processes happening inside each of us and learn to spot rigid thinking in ourselves and others. We need to learn to avoid black-and-white thinking and embrace ambiguity. We need to recognize our ability to resist irrational rules and authority. Regardless of your political stance, this book will challenge you to reassess your convictions – and what they are doing to your brain.

On the 8th August 1963 a gang of 15 men stopped a mail train in Buckinghamshire and proceeded to steal sacks of money worth £2.6 million. It was the biggest heist ever carried out in the UK and frontpage news around the world. The mastermind behind this most audacious crime of the twentieth century was Bruce Reynolds. Perhaps the last of the 'gentlemen villains'; Reynolds epitomised that particular breed of sharply dressed post-war criminals who mixed with royalty and movie stars, and never carried a gun. They thrived on adventure and glamour, and the Great Train Robbery was their last ride.

Since the original publication of Nudge more than a decade ago, the title has entered the vocabulary of businesspeople, policy makers, engaged citizens, and consumers everywhere. The book has given rise to more than 200 "nudge units" in governments around the world and countless groups of behavioral scientists in every part of the economy. It has taught us how to use thoughtful "choice architecture" - a concept the authors invented - to help us make better decisions for ourselves, our families, and our society.

British politics is broken. Anyone sitting down to watch the news will get a firm sense that something has gone terribly wrong. The MPs we get are of the lowest imaginable quality. The voting system doesn't actually count the votes. The government is in charge of scrutinising itself and takes a predictably light-touch approach to doing so. Ministers are misleading and self-serving. The legislation is sloppy, ineffective and broadly worded. Expertise is denigrated. Lies are rewarded. And deep-seated, long-lasting national problems go permanently unresolved.

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother has been called the 'most successful queen since Cleopatra'. Her personality was so captivating that even her arch-enemy, Wallis Simpson, wrote about 'her legendary charm'. Portrayed as a selfless partner to the king in the Oscar-winning movie The King's Speech, The Queen Mother is most often remembered from her later years as the smiling granny with the pastel hats. When she died in 2002, just short of her 102nd birthday, she was praised for a long life well lived. But there was another side to her story.