|
A Home from Home: from Immigrant Boy to English Man by George Alagiah |
Sri Lankan Journalist and Broadcaster George Alagiah spent his early years in Ghana. Age 11 he was sent to Boarding School in England; where (with no family support system) he remained even during the holidays. Partly autobiography - he uses the culture shock of finding himself in an alien environment to explore issues such as identity and immigration. Fascinating, absorbing and thought provoking on many levels.
(bwl 94 Autumn 2019) |
|
|
A House in the Mountains: The Women who liberated Italy from Fascism by Caroline Moorhead |
When Mussolini fell from power Italy changed sides and joined the Allies making Germany [who then reinstated Mussolini] now its enemy and its occupier. Women became the back bone of the Italian Resistance and their submissive role (homemakers and child bearers) became their cover as they carried messages and weapons, organised safe houses etc. There were still many Italians who remained Fascists and supported Hitler so it was hard to know who to trust. Superbly written, complex, uplifting and horrifying. It will live on in your memory.
(bwl 104 Spring 2022) |
|
|
A Wild Herb Soup by Emile Carles |
An autobiography that shows how much can be achieved by the man/women in the street even against the most powerful when their cause is just and they passionately believe in it. Emile Carles, brought up in a remote mountain valley where life was subsistence farming had to fight hard to become a teacher. When she was In her 70's she took on the bureaucracy in Paris when they proposed building a motorway which would have destroyed the community, the way of life and the environment. However this is more than the fight it is the portrayal of a way of life [1900 - 1970's] which has gone. The valley was saved.
(bwl 96 Spring 2020) |
|
|
All of these People by Fergal Keane |
A brave and powerful book. His life as a war correspondent in some of the most dangerous parts of the world combined with his own journey through life. He has the ability to take you to the heart of the issue whether it is genocide, bravery, alcoholism, love or the hidden heart of each of us - you are with him as witness. A book and a man you will never forget.
(bwl 96 Spring 2020) |
|
|
Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart by Tim Butcher |
In 2004 Butcher set out alone with a rucksack and with dollars hidden in his shoe to retrace H M Stanley's travels along the Congo basin. Warned before and during his journey of warring factions, cannibalism, lack of roads, transport, infrastructure etc., he was constantly afraid and frequently at risk. A brilliant examination of the troubled history and exploitation of the country by a brave, compassionate journalist who knows how to listen. Couldn't put it down - you feel as though you are there with him.
(bwl 92 Spring 2019) |
|
|
Bury the Chains: The British Struggle to Abolish Slavery by Adam Hochschild |
In 1787 twelve men met in a printing shop in London and set in motion a grass roots movement that changed the world. Slavery and serfdom were the norm for the greater portion of humanity. However despite it being against the interests [the financial loss being huge] of the most powerful in the land it took just 50 years to abolish slavery from the British Empire. Hochschild's in-depth research brings the past alive with quotes and meticulous detail - impossible to put down or to forget.
(bwl 90 Autumn 2018) |
|
|
Cry of the Kalahari by Delia and Mark Owen |
In 1974 the Owens sold their few possessions [6,000 dollars] and spent the next seven years [sleeping in a tent] studying the rapidly declining wildlife in the uninhabited Kalahari desert. No water for thousands of miles and infrequent visits to the nearest community for basic supplies, it was a primitive, isolated and dangerous life [poachers as well as predators] but their research and campaigning will have saved many animals' lives. I couldn't put it down - life on the edge in every sense.
(bwl 98 Autumn 2020) |
|
|
Danziger's Travels, Beyond Forbidden Frontiers by Nick Danziger |
Hard to put down. Danziger, having been awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship, travels on foot and by local transport, through Asia, along the Silk Route; through forbidden areas [disguised as a Muslim] sharing the lives of diverse groups, including the Mujahedeen. He is the first foreigner since 1949 to enter the western province of China from Pakistan. Travel, culture, politics and danger. A communicator, listener and skilled writer. Stunning photographs. What more can you ask?
(bwl 10 August 2001) |
|
|
Feral: Rewilding the Land, Sea and Human Life by George Monbiot |
A timely book by a renowned environmentalist in which he debates the issues around re-wilding the planet looking closely at hidden agendas; constantly questioning himself and others. He looks at a number of conservation projects which attempt to control nature as versus enabling it to develop naturally after having put back some of the elements we have destroyed. His understanding of the natural world is prodigious. The need for debate and action is urgently needed. Lyrical.
(bwl 90 Autumn 2018) |
|
|
Hannie Bennet's Winter Marriage by Kerry Hardie |
I've read some superb books recently but currently no time for writing reviews, however, if you haven't read this one, do try it. It's a first novel published last year by Harper Collins. It won't be to everyone's taste but I thought it very special.
(bwl 9 June 2001) |
|
|
House of Stone: The True Story of a Family Divided in War-Torn Zimbabwe by Christina Lamb |
Robert Mugabe was seen as a liberation hero by the indigenous people of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe and received an Honorary Knighthood from the Queen. However he turned one of the most prosperous countries in Africa into a wasteland. The history is interspersed with interviews between a white farmer and the family's black maid who later joined the war veterans in seizing his property. It crosses the bounds between history, biography and autobiography and is a fascinating study of the inner growth through conflict of the farmer and the maid.
(bwl 99 Winter 2021) |
|
|
Human Cargo: A Journey among Refugees by Caroline Moorehead |
Over a two year period Caroline Moorehead travelled the world investigating the issue of asylum seekers and economic migrants. She interviewed various officials and organisations involved in the process; a process which currently in the UK lacks all humanity in proposing that arrivals on these shores be shipped off abroad. Her research is meticulous. The migrants' stories are terrifying and need to be heard. This is a book to share with as many people as possible for positive action to happen.
(bwl 108 Spring 2023) |
|
|
Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization by Nicholson Baker |
A strange but compelling book. Each page contains a number of entries taken from contemporary letters, diaries, newspapers etc. leading up to the Americans entering the war in 1941. The amount and breadth of research is astonishing. Baker makes no comments but obviously the choice of what to include will have a personal bias and without context or analysis could at times present a distorted picture of a person or situation. It raises a lot of questions. Absolutely fascinating.
(bwl 95 Winter 2020) |
|
|
In Extremis: The Life of War Correspondent Marie Colvin by Lindsey Hilsum |
A life lived at the extreme both personally and professionally. Colvin took risks smuggling herself into war zones where all those who could, including reporters, were getting out fast. Often afraid she knew the risks and died too young in a rocket attack - brave, passionate - unforgettable. Powerfully told by a fellow war correspondent - except for her early life where she appears to have only been given bland facts with nothing that indicates what formed her.
(bwl 91 Winter 2019) |
|
|
In Hiding: The Life of Manuel Cortes by Ronald Fraser |
When Franco's Fascists seized power, Cortes an active reformer and Republican mayor of a poor village in Andalucia became a marked man. For 30 years, until 1969's amnesty, he hid within his home from neighbours, friends and those who sought him. Not just the history of his ordeal but that of Spain, of abuses of power and the people's poverty prior to mass tourism. Oral history at it's best told to the author by a man of the people, his wife and daughter.
(bwl 89 Summer 2018) |
|
|
In the Place of Justice: A story of punishment and redemption by Wilbert Rideau |
The Autobiography of Wilbert Rideau - an award-winning journalist who spent 44 years in Angola Prison. He started his sentence on death row - aged 19, an uneducated black youth in the segregated South, sentenced for killing a white woman; brutality and death were his future. If you want to believe in hope and transformation read this! His multiple Awards include Human Rights and Criminal Justice. [
(bwl 85 Summer 2017) |
|
|
Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? by Michael J Sandel |
Moral Philosophy at its best but accessible, not dry or abstruse but written with clarity and simplicity. A rollercoaster ride - it is littered with examples from life (political and legal cases) for every step of the journey as well as conundrums such as a debate on whether to push a heavy bystander in front of a train to save five workmen on the track. Sandel challenges assumptions and adds depth to one's understanding - a tour de force.
(bwl 85 Summer 2017) |
|
|
Lessons from a Dark Time and other Essays by Adam Hochschild |
These updated articles from his long career as a journalist/author is a reflection of his fear that the world - 'awash in a bitter stew of revived nationalism, anti-Semitism and hostility towards Muslims and refugees.' is slipping backwards. A passionate activist each essay grips you as though you were there. One to pick up read and re-read; who wouldn't want to read a man who states 'Donald Trump has bent and twisted the truth like pretzel dough'?
(bwl 102 Autumn 2021) |
|
|
Lifting the Veil - Life in Revolutionary Iran by John Simpson |
and Tira Shubart
Published 1995 - This is a book for those who want to gain some understanding of the complexities of Islam, from the days of the Shah and some insight into the part played by the West and the prejudices on both sides. The text covers time spent with diverse individuals and groups, often in difficult conditions. Written with great warmth and in a very accessible style. Not for those who want life to be simplistic.
(bwl 11 October 2001) |
|
|
National Georgraphic Magazine - August 2019 by Various |
Beg or borrow a copy of this edition which focuses on migration/refugees from the beginnings of human kind to the present day. The opening article points out that humans are a migratory species; we are all migrants from the present moment/from the lives we have lived so far and for many from places. He proposes that rather than seeing ourselves as Natives [versus Migrants] 'the central challenge and opportunity every migrant offers us: to see in him, in her, the reality of ourselves.'
(bwl 93 Summer 2019) |
|
|
On the Front Line by Marie Colvin |
A journalist who cared deeply about the innocent people living through and suffering the effects of war - this collection covers conflicts in many countries over a 25 year period. Colvin risked her life constantly, was smuggled into countries, frequently travelling and living in basic conditions with rebel groups. A book to read in small doses, country by country; there is so much to absorb and so much we need to understand if the world is to change.
(bwl 93 Summer 2019) |
|
|
Our Bodies Their Battlefield: What War does to Women by Christina Lamb |
A powerful book regarding the use of mass rape as a weapon of War and of Ethnic Cleansing. Christina Lamb has covered many wars and interviewed women, children and some men - all victims. It is clear that the perpetrators are encouraged by those in power. Despite Legislation making rape a War Crime the International Criminal Court has failed to make even one conviction. I would urge people to read and share this book and to write to their MPs and anyone else of influence.
(bwl 100 Spring 2021) |
|
|
Riot: The Story of the East Lancashire Loom-Breakers in 1826 by William Turner |
A fascinating in-depth study of the destruction of a community and its way of life by the introduction of power looms. It is more than just the story of the riots in which the handloom weavers destroyed each factory as they marched from valley to valley over a number of days, of hangings, imprisonment and transport on prison ships to Australia. His research is far reaching and he is able to bring the individual voices to life. It lingers long in the memory.
(bwl 97 Summer 2020) |
|
|
Step by Step: The Life in my Journeys by Simon Reeve |
Part travelogue, part autobiography - he was brave to write this book as he is also brave in the situations he puts himself in. From a troubled youth to award winning Journalist and TV Presenter is quite a step. He is bright, intelligent and has the ability to get people to open up and is driven to seek for the truth. However the issues and complexities of the various countries mentioned deserve a book rather than a chapter. The autobiography needs more depth and to stand alone.
(bwl 94 Autumn 2019) |
|
|
The Choice by Edith Eger |
Probably the most powerful book I have ever read! Aged sixteen, the author entered Auschwitz; when it was liberated she was found, left for dead and with a broken back, in a pile of bodies. The book is not a memoir of horror but of hope and of the choices we have that nothing and no one can take from us. It is beautifully written and its message is central to all people throughout their lives. Aged 90 and a Psychologist she is still working on herself and others. Read and re-read.
(bwl 92 Spring 2019) |
|
|
The Famine Plot: England's Role in Ireland's Greatest Tragedy by Tim Pat Coogan |
Ireland's Famine in the 1840's, caused by potato blight, resulted in the loss of approximately a quarter of its population through death and mass emigration - the latter of which was encouraged by the British Government. Coogan posits the suggestion that a natural disaster was seen by those in power as a solution to the poverty of the masses and therefore were guilty of genocide. Well researched and totally absorbing - no doubt the jury is out!
(bwl 101 Summer 2021) |
|
|
The Ice Master: The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk by Jennifer Niven |
This Canadian Arctic Expedition set out in search of an undiscovered Continent with the largest Scientific Staff of any previous expedition but the incompetence of its Commander [Stefansson] in almost every choice - including choosing an elderly ship incapable of cutting through ice - doomed it to failure. The ship's Captain [Bartlett] with a small party trekked 700 miles to get help after Stefansson effectively abandoned ship and left them to die. The book is based on both the diaries of survivors [20] and those who perished.
(bwl 95 Winter 2020) |
|
|
The Philosopher and the Wolf: Lessons from the Wild on Love Death & Happiness by Mark Rowlands |
A very personal journey: a professor of philosophy adopts a Timber Wolf - Brennan - who he defines as his 'brother' and who accompanies him to lectures, parties, rugby matches and to various countries. They mature together and learn from each other. Rowlands is painfully honest about himself as he reflects on humanity, nature and what he learns from their relationship. A brave, moving and joyful book.
(bwl 83 Winter 2017) |
|
|
The Wreckers: A Story of Killing Seas, False Lights and Plundered by Bella Bathurst |
The author spent three years visiting, researching and interviewing Britain's coastal communities to explore the murky world of ship wrecks and those that profited by them. It raises many questions both legal and moral and the waters are muddy! Fascinating - grips you more than any thriller. All the big questions about life and death are there. JUDGE NOT!
(bwl 101 Summer 2021) |
|
|
Under an African Sky: A Journey to the Frontline of Climate Change by Peter Hudson |
The antidote to the exploitation involved in International Aid: small scale projects set up and run by local people. A friendship formed on a visit to Mauritania led to the establishment of an irrigation project after 3 years of almost no rain. This is not sanitised Tourist Africa but real life led on the edge of survival as Hudson and the people learn from each other. A challenge to us all as we continue to negatively affect the climate.
(bwl 84 Spring 2017) |
|
|
Where we have Hope by Andrew Meldrum |
A memoir by a journalist, who moved to Zimbabwe during the first days of Independence - a time of great hope - and who, 20 years later in 2003, was deported illegally by President Mugabe. Robert Mugabe was a dictator who created a police state and was responsible for human rights abuses, torture and killing on an industrial scale. His policies totally ruined the economy. Meldrum's and the people's love and hope for Zimbabwe shine through the horror.
(bwl 93 Summer 2019) |
|
|
Who Owns England?: How we Lost our Land and How to Take it Back by Guy Shrubsole |
Ground breaking research which shows that less than 1% of the population own half of England and why that matters (which includes issues of Climate Change). Shrubsole wondered why people were sleeping rough when large swathes of housing were standing empty. His research was getting nowhere so he set up a blog [whoownsengland.org] which together with trespassing on estates, digital mapping and the more recent 'Freedom of Information Act' enabled him to produce this important book.
(bwl 102 Autumn 2021) |
|
|
Why be Happy When You Could be Normal by Jeanette Winterson |
A courageous memoir from the author of Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. Adopted by a dysfunctional Pentecostal couple, aged 16 she was evicted by her mother so set up home in a car and put herself through university. Written with a light touch, it is a journey of pain, humour and the will to survive and grow as a person. All this built on her love of books which, other than the bible, her mother saw as works of the devil.
(bwl 97 Summer 2020) |
|
|
Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm by Isabella Tree |
A brave experiment: - facing bankruptcy a 3,500 acre Estate put nature in charge: fences removed, land left to revert to scrub, animals left to live off the land; neither housed nor fed. Eighteen years later wildlife is abundant and many rare species are breeding there. Hope at a time of environmental crisis. Interestingly while most conservation projects are managed with a view to reverting to a chosen state of nature - they just sat back to watch what nature could achieve - awesome.
(bwl 91 Winter 2019) |
|
