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  The Dirty Tricks Department -...

  John Lisle

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  "In this oddly entertaining audiobook, narrator Pete Cross takes listeners through the many experiments and devices created by the R&D branch of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during WWII... Listeners will be both transfixed and horrified by the decisions weighed, and taken." - AudioFile MagazineJohn Lisle reveals the untold story of the OSS Research and Development Branch—The Dirty Tricks Department—and its role in World War II.In the summer of 1942, Stanley Lovell, a renowned industrial chemist, received a mysterious order to report to an unfamiliar building in Washington, D.C. When he arrived, he was led to a barren room where he waited to meet the man who had summoned him. After a disconcerting amount of time, William “Wild Bill” Donovan, the head of the OSS, walked in the door. “You know your Sherlock Holmes, of course,” Donovan said as an introduction. “Professor Moriarty is the man I want for my staff…I think you’re it.”Following this life-changing encounter, Lovell became the head of a secret group of scientists who developed dirty tricks for the OSS, the precursor to the CIA. Their inventions included bat bombs, suicide pills, fighting knives, silent pistols, and camouflaged explosives. Moreover, they forged documents for undercover agents, plotted the assassination of foreign leaders, and performed truth drug experiments on unsuspecting subjects.Based on extensive archival research and personal interviews, The Dirty Tricks Department  tells the story of these scheming scientists, explores the moral dilemmas that they faced, and reveals their dark legacy of directly inspiring the most infamous program in CIA history: MKULTRA.A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

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  Hands: An Anxious Mind Unpicked...

  Lauren Brown

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  ‘Raw, intense and absorbing.’ Matt Haig 
  ‘As tender and funny as it is painful.’ TLS 
  ‘I didn’t give my hands much thought before they turned against me. … They have been chipping away at my life, slowly, slowly, in a way I could never have predicted.’ 
  Lauren Brown is anxious. And when she feels worried, she picks at her skin. Secretly, quietly, but increasingly compulsively, her skin-picking begins to affect her day-to-day life until she realizes she must unravel the reasons behind it. 
  This sparkling memoir follows the thread of Lauren’s anxiety – tangled and frayed – back to its source. Written with rare wit and insight, it is an attempt to redirect the anxiety that’s pooled in her fingertips for as long as she can remember, released in odd bursts in caravan parks, on European holidays, at GP surgeries and on the wind-stung north-east coast. It is a moving and joyful exploration of obsession, forgiveness, stigma and healing, and a true love-song to the north. 
  Thoughtful, unsparing and at times darkly comic, Hands is the masterful debut of a luminous new talent. 
  Lauren Brown's Hands is a literary masterpiece that delves into the depths of OCD and personal anxieties. It's a top-rated autobiography that offers a unique perspective on mental health disorders and the journey towards healing. 
  For fans of Daisy Buchanan (The Sisterhood), Kate Fox (Where There’s Muck, There’s Bras), Baek Sehee (I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki), Paul Burston (We Can Be Heroes), and Jade Angeles Fitton (Hermit). 
  HarperCollins 2022

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  Last Man Standing - The Memiors...

  Norman Collins

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  A first-hand account of World War I by a nineteen-year-old Englishman who led a platoon into the carnage of the Battle of the Somme. While researching his excellent earlier book: Veterans of World War I, author Richard Van Emden encountered a fascinating personality of that long-ago conflict. After witnessing German naval attacks on British civilians, Norman Collins enlisted in the Seaforth Highlanders of the 51st Highland Division, even though he was under age. Collins fought at the battles of Beaumont Hamel, Arras, and Passchendaele, and was wounded several times. Collins lived to be 100 and had an unusually detailed collection of letters, documents, illustrations and photographs. Richard Van Emden has written a moving biography of a unique personality at war, and his long life after the dramatic events of his youth.“This is a harrowing tale of battle, loss and the horrors of war.” —Scotland Magazine“His collection of letters, photographs and the record of interviews as an old man are a treasure trove of information on Western Front fighting.” —British Army Review/Soldier Magazine“Enthralling memoir. These letters form the freshest part of this book, full of detail about kit and food that obsessed soldiers but which do not find a place in the history books.” —Who Do You Think You Are?“This is one of the last great first-person memoirs of the Great War. Extraordinary diary, letter collection and photos.” —Scottish Legion News

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  The Life & Pontificate of Pope...

  Frank J. Coppa

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  “Focuses not just on . . . the pope’s response to the Holocaust, but on [his] life and papacy . . . as a whole . . . A refreshingly balanced approach” (Catholic Courier).   Written by one of the foremost historians of Pius XII, this present biographical study—unlike the greater part of the vast and growing historiography of Pope Pius XII—is a balanced and nonreactive account of his life and times. Its focus is not on the pope’s silence during the Holocaust, though it does address the issue in a historical and objective framework. This is a biography of the man before and during his papacy. It probes the roots of his traditionalism and legalism, his approach to modernity and reformism in Church and society, and the influences behind his policies and actions.   “This book adds a great deal to what we currently know about this most written about pope. The author introduces a number of principles which need to be discussed by experts and also by biographers of this pope, most importantly the concepts of papal impartiality and anti-Judaism as related to Pope Pius XII.” —Charles R. Gallagher, S.J., assistant professor of history, Boston College   “It sets up a closer examination and better understanding of Pius XII’s decisions and behaviors dealing with three distinct historically important topics: the Holocaust, the question of Palestine and Israel after World War II, and the Cold War.” —Catholic Books Review   “Tries to move away from the controversy and toward a greater and broader focus on the entire life of Pacelli—his formative influences, personal interests, and papacy after the war.” —New Oxford Review

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  Beetle - The Life of General...

  D.K.R. Crosswell

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  This biography recounts one of the most significant yet unsung military careers of the twentieth century: “a major contribution to the history of World War II” (Foreign Affairs).   General Walter Bedell Smith began his public service career of more than forty years at age sixteen, when he joined the Indiana National Guard. His bulldog tenacity earned him an opportunity to work with General George C. Marshall in 1941, playing an essential role in formation of the Combined and Joint Chiefs of Staff.   After his appointment as chief of staff to Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1942, Smith took a central part in planning the major Allied operations of World War II in Europe. Among his many duties, Smith negotiated the surrenders of the Italian and German armed forces in 1945. Smith’s postwar career included service as the US ambassador to the Soviet Union, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and undersecretary of state.   In Beetle, D. K. R. Crosswell offers the first full-length biography of the general, including insights into his close relationships with Marshall and Eisenhower. Meticulously researched and long overdue, Beetle sheds new light on Eisenhower as supreme commander, as well as the WWII campaigns in North Africa, Italy, and Europe.

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  Cathal Brugha

  Fergus O'Farrell

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  Cathal Brugha was a figure of central importance to the Irish Revolution. Active in the Gaelic League, GAA, IRB, and Irish Volunteers, he first rose to public prominence when he led an advanced column of Volunteers in the Howth gun-running of July 1914. He went on to hold important leadership positions during the 1916 Rising, in the Irish Volunteers and in Dail cabinets until his death in July 1922. Despite this, he is almost totally neglected in the history of this period. This is the first dedicated English-language biography to focus on this fascinating figure.Using new archival material from the Bureau of Military History, Fergus O'Farrell documents Brugha's career as a revolutionary. This closely-researched work examines Brugha's complex attitudes to violence as well as illuminating his commitment to political methods. Historians have previously stressed Brugha's commitment to militancy over politics and he has been portrayed as a strong advocate of violence and distrustful of politics. This simplistic outlook is here challenged, showing that Brugha sought to marry force with politics in the pursuit of Irish independence.

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