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Anansi's Gold: The Man Who Looted the West, Outfoxed Washington, and Swindled the World
by Yepoka YeeboThe astounding, never-before-told story of how an audacious Ghanaian con artist pulled off one of the 20th century's longest-running and most spectacular frauds.When Ghana won its independence from Britain in 1957, it instantly became a target for home-grown opportunists and rapacious Western interests determined to snatch any assets that colonialism hadn't already stripped. A CIA-funded military junta ousted the new nation's inspiring president, Kwame Nkrumah, then falsely accused him of hiding the country's gold overseas. Into this big lie stepped one of history's most charismatic scammers, a con man to rival the trickster god Anansi. Born into poverty in Ghana and trained in the United States, John Ackah Blay-Miezah declared himself custodian of an alleged Nkrumah trust fund worth billions. You, too, could claim a piece--if only you would “invest” in Blay-Miezah's fictitious efforts to release the equally fictitious fund. Over the 1970s and '80s, he and his accomplices-including Ghanaian state officials and Nixon's former attorney general--scammed hundreds of millions of dollars out of thousands of believers. Blay-Miezah lived in luxury, deceiving Philadelphia lawyers, London financiers, and Seoul businessmen alike, all while eluding his FBI pursuers. American prosecutors called his scam “one of the most fascinating--and lucrative--in modern history.” In Anansi's Gold, Yepoka Yeebo chases Blay-Miezah's ever-wilder trail and discovers, at long last, what really happened to Ghana's missing wealth. She unfolds a riveting account of Cold War entanglements, international finance, and postcolonial betrayal, revealing how what we call “history” writes itself into being, one lie at a time.
Anansi's Gold: The Man who swindled the world
by Yepoka Yeebo'Fabulously entertaining' Daily Telegraph 'This astonishing book reveals some of the most important global events of the twentieth century' Afua Hirsch'Perfect for fans of Frank Abignale Jr.'s Catch Me If You Can' Publishers WeeklyThe astounding, never-before-told story of how an ingenious Ghanaian con artist ran one of the 20th century's longest and most audacious frauds.When Ghana declared independence from Britain in 1957, it immediately became a target for opportunists determined to lay hold of whatever assets colonialism hadn't already stripped. The military ousted the new nation's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, then falsely accused him of stealing the country's gold and hiding it overseas.Into this story stepped one of history's most charismatic scammers, John Ackah Blay-Miezah – a con man to rival the trickster god Anansi. Born into poverty, Blay-Miezah declared himself the custodian of an alleged Nkrumah trust fund worth billions. You, too, could claim a piece, if only you would help him rescue it – with a small investment. Over the 1970s and '80s, he grew his scam to epic proportions, amassing hundreds of millions of pounds from thousands of marks all over the world. He baffled Henry Kissinger, scandalised Shirley Temple-Black, and had Nixon's former attorney-general at his beck and call. Many tried to stop him, but Blay-Miezah continued to live in luxury, protected by ex-SAS soldiers while he deceived lawyers, businessmen and investigators around the globe.In Anansi's Gold, Yepoka Yeebo chases the ever-wilder trail of Blay-Miezah – and unfolds a riveting account of Cold War entanglements and African dreams – revealing the untold story of the grifter who beat the West at its own thieving game.
Edward IV (The English Monarchs Series)
by Charles RossIn his own time Edward IV was seen as an able and successful king who rescued England from the miseries of civil war and provided the country with firm, judicious, and popular government. The prejudices of later historians diminished this high reputation, until recent research confirmed Edward as a ruler of substantial achievement, whose methods and policies formed the foundation of early Tudor government. This classic study by Charles Ross places the reign firmly in the context of late medieval power politics, analyzing the methods by which a usurper sought to retain his throne and reassert the power of a monarchy seriously weakened by the feeble rule of Henry VI. Edward's relations with the politically active classes—the merchants, gentry, and nobility—form a major theme, and against this background Ross provides an evaluation of the many innovations in government on which the king's achievement rests.
Ethel Rosenberg: A Cold War Tragedy
by Anne Sebba"Totally riveting. I couldn't put it down" VICTORIA HISLOP"Masterful, original and painfully gripping" PHILIPPE SANDS"A heart-piercingly brilliant book about a woman whose personal life put her in the cross-hairs of history" HADLEY FREEMAN"I don't think I've ever read a book that has moved me more" ANTHONY HOROWITZ"A brilliant and fresh take on a famous case" SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIOREEthel Rosenberg's story has been called America's Dreyfus Affair: a catastrophic failure of humanity and justice that continues to haunt the national conscience, and is still being played out with different actors in the lead roles today.On 19th June 1953 Ethel Rosenberg became the first woman in the US to be executed for a crime other than murder. She was thirty-seven years old and the mother of two small children. Yet even today, at a time when the Cold War seems all too resonant, Ethel's conviction for conspiracy to commit espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union makes her story still controversial. This is an important moment to recount not simply what FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover called the 'trial of the century', but also a timeless human story of a supportive wife, loving mother and courageous idealist who grew up during the Depression with aspirations to become an opera singer. Instead, she found herself battling the social mores of the 1950s and had her life barbarically cut short on the basis of tainted evidence for a crime she almost certainly did not commit.Anne Sebba's masterly biography makes full use of the dramatic prison letters Ethel exchanged with her husband, lawyer and psychotherapist over a three-year period. Sebba has also interviewed Ethel's two sons and others who knew her, including a fellow prisoner. Ethel's tragic story lays bare a nation deeply divided and reveals what happens when a government motivated by fear tramples on the rights of its citizens.
Full Hearts And Empty Bellies: A 1920s Childhood from the Forest of Dean to the Streets of London
by Winifred FoleyWinifred Foley grew up in the 1920s, a bright, determined miner's daughter - in a world of unspoilt beauty and desperate hardship, in which women were widowed at thirty and children died of starvation. Living hand-to-mouth in a tumbledown cottage in the Forest of Dean, Foley - 'our Poll' - had a loving family and the woods and streams of a forest 'better than heaven' as a playground. But a brother and sister were dead in infancy, bread had to be begged from kindly neighbours and she never had a new pair of shoes or a shop-bought doll. And most terrible of all, like her sister before her, at fourteen little Poll had to leave her beloved forest for the city, bound for a life in service among London's grey terraces.
Keith Douglas, 1920-1944: A Biography
by Dr Desmond GrahamKeith Douglas was almost certainly the greatest poet of the Second World War. He was killed in Normandy three days after D-Day. He was only twenty-four. His short life was one of contradictions: the gifted artist and romantic, always in love with the wrong girl also enjoyed soldiering and was quick to volunteer at the beginning of the war. The brave and resourceful tank commander with the Sherwood Rangers in the Western Desert, in the campaign of which his Alemein to Zem Zem is the classic account, was also an outspoken critic of the military establishment and often in trouble with his superiors. There was always another side to Keith Douglas: difficult, even arrogant, he was at the same time, as Desmond Graham, observes in his original preface, 'generous, sensitive to the difficulties of others, remorselessly honest, energetic, and passionately, innocently open.' Douglas made in his brief life some friends who never forgot him, and whose memories of him have contributed much to this book.For this biography, Desmond Graham had access to much private and unpublished material. From that, interviews, Keith Douglas' own poems, letters and drawings emerges a definitive biography.'An almost unqualified success . . . Mr Graham has used his material with great skill and tact.' Roy Fuller'It is difficult to imagine a better biography than this being written about Keith Douglas . . . Desmond Graham provides us with an astonishing amount of information.' Stephen Spender'Extremely well-done . . It is written with authority and it will be standard.' Peter Levi'Sumptuously evocative' John Carey
The Lost Children: Part 1 of 3
by Mary MacCrackenThe Lost Children can either be read as a full-length eBook or in 3 serialised eBook-only parts. This is PART 1 of 3 (Chapters 1-4 of 25). You can read Part 1 two weeks ahead of release of the full-length eBook and paperback.
The Lost Children: Part 2 of 3
by Mary MacCrackenThe Lost Children can either be read as a full-length eBook or in 3 serialised eBook-only parts. This is PART 2 of 3 (Chapters 5-11 of 25). You can read Part 2 one week ahead of release of the full-length eBook and paperback.
The Lost Children: Part 3 of 3
by Mary MacCrackenThe Lost Children can either be read as a full-length eBook or in 3 serialised eBook-only parts. This is PART 3 of 3 (Chapters 12-25 of 25). You can read Part 3 on release of the full-length eBook and paperback.
Masks and Facades: Sir John Vanbrugh the Man in his Setting (Routledge Revivals)
by Madeleine BinghamFirst published in 1974, Masks and Facades paints an authentic picture of John Vanbrugh as a man of character, talent, wit and charm, moving in an age where patronage held the key to worldly advancement. Yet against a backcloth of theatre, of the great palaces of the aristocracy, and the sycophancy which Court, rank and riches demanded, he always remained his own man. Whether imprisoned in the Bastille as the ‘guest’ of Louis XIV, or in his long contest with the insufferable Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough over the building of Blenheim, he invariably retained his balance and good humour, and as he said of one of his own buildings, ‘presented a manly appearance.’ This book will be of interest to students of history and literature.
Masks and Facades: Sir John Vanbrugh the Man in his Setting (Routledge Revivals)
by Madeleine BinghamFirst published in 1974, Masks and Facades paints an authentic picture of John Vanbrugh as a man of character, talent, wit and charm, moving in an age where patronage held the key to worldly advancement. Yet against a backcloth of theatre, of the great palaces of the aristocracy, and the sycophancy which Court, rank and riches demanded, he always remained his own man. Whether imprisoned in the Bastille as the ‘guest’ of Louis XIV, or in his long contest with the insufferable Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough over the building of Blenheim, he invariably retained his balance and good humour, and as he said of one of his own buildings, ‘presented a manly appearance.’ This book will be of interest to students of history and literature.
Mother Knew Best: Memoirs of a London Girlhood (Dorothy Scannell's East End Memoirs)
by Dorothy Scannell‘Cheer up,’ said Mother. ‘Don’t make your unhappy life miserable.’Before Jennifer Worth and other East End memoirists, there was Dorothy ‘Dolly’ Scannell.In the East End of Dolly’s childhood, people met poverty and hardship with unfailing optimism and humour. Dolly grew up with nine brothers and sisters, her father - a plumber earning ?2 a week and a man who believed that ‘all aristocratic men were disease-ridden and possessed bald-headed wives because of the rich food and wine they consumed’ - and of course Mother, who cared for her large brood with rare wisdom, laughter, and unbounded love.The menagerie also occasionally included members of the animal kingdom, but no mere cats and dogs - instead there were chinchillas, cannibalistic chickens, a ferocious eel kept in a pail of water, and even, eventually, the pride of mother’s wardrobe, a kangaroo-fur coat.With the sure touch of a natural story-teller, who combines a perfect memory with a true writer’s gift, Dolly vividly recreates her childhood world: the streets in which she played - and the playground where she was rescued from a child molester; the local shops and the adulterated goods sold within; the new house that her father was going to pay for with his ever-madder schemes to make a fortune, such as a revolutionary kind of truss.‘A proper treat, I can tell you, bright as Pearlie buttons, colourful as a street market’ Evening Standard
The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 19: January 1791 to March 1791
by Thomas Jefferson Julian P. BoydVolume 19, covering the final critical weeks of the First Congress, reveals Washington and Jefferson in the closest and most confidential relationship that existed at any time during their official careers. It opens with the proclamation announcing the exact location of the Federal District, an unexplained choice made in the utmost secrecy by the President in consultation with the Secretary of State some weeks before Washington toured the upper Potomac in an ostensible journey to inspect rival sites and to encourage competition for the location of the national capital. It includes the politically related question of the chartering of the Bank of the United States, on which Jefferson delivered his famous opinion challenging its constitutionality. But the conflict with Hamilton over the Bank, important as it was, did not bring the two men on the public stage as contestants. Instead, the first focusing of public attention on the breach in the administration occurred with the publication of Jefferson's report on the whale and cod fisheries. This widely disseminated report is here presented in a context showing that, after Hamilton declined to cooperate in reciprocating the favors France had granted to American trade, Jefferson deliberately and publicly challenged the Hamiltonian opposition. In unusually blunt language, his report called for commercial retaliation against Great Britain, thus causing a sensation both in the ... ministry. This volume shows Jefferson's concern over the growing discontent in the South and West over fiscal and other policies of the national government, his resistance to interested promotion of consular appointments in business circles, his grappling with the political and constitutional questions concerning the admission of Kentucky and Vermont, his involvement in the political consequences of the death of Franklin that affected even the proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, his cautious relationship with Tench Coxe as a source of statistical information which the Secretary of the Treasury failed to supply, and his report to Washington on a judicial appointment that brought on both embarrassment and constitutional questions. Once Congress had dispersed, Jefferson was able to turn his attention to long-neglected private concerns and to the correspondence that gave him most satisfaction, that with the family at Monticello.
The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 19: January 1791 to March 1791 (PDF) (Papers of Thomas Jefferson #19)
by Thomas Jefferson Julian P. BoydVolume 19, covering the final critical weeks of the First Congress, reveals Washington and Jefferson in the closest and most confidential relationship that existed at any time during their official careers. It opens with the proclamation announcing the exact location of the Federal District, an unexplained choice made in the utmost secrecy by the President in consultation with the Secretary of State some weeks before Washington toured the upper Potomac in an ostensible journey to inspect rival sites and to encourage competition for the location of the national capital. It includes the politically related question of the chartering of the Bank of the United States, on which Jefferson delivered his famous opinion challenging its constitutionality. But the conflict with Hamilton over the Bank, important as it was, did not bring the two men on the public stage as contestants. Instead, the first focusing of public attention on the breach in the administration occurred with the publication of Jefferson's report on the whale and cod fisheries. This widely disseminated report is here presented in a context showing that, after Hamilton declined to cooperate in reciprocating the favors France had granted to American trade, Jefferson deliberately and publicly challenged the Hamiltonian opposition. In unusually blunt language, his report called for commercial retaliation against Great Britain, thus causing a sensation both in the ... ministry. This volume shows Jefferson's concern over the growing discontent in the South and West over fiscal and other policies of the national government, his resistance to interested promotion of consular appointments in business circles, his grappling with the political and constitutional questions concerning the admission of Kentucky and Vermont, his involvement in the political consequences of the death of Franklin that affected even the proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, his cautious relationship with Tench Coxe as a source of statistical information which the Secretary of the Treasury failed to supply, and his report to Washington on a judicial appointment that brought on both embarrassment and constitutional questions. Once Congress had dispersed, Jefferson was able to turn his attention to long-neglected private concerns and to the correspondence that gave him most satisfaction, that with the family at Monticello.
Surprised by Joy: The Shape Of My Early Life (The\c.s. Lewis Signature Classics Ser.)
by C. LewisFor many years an atheist, C. S. Lewis vividly describes the spiritual quest that convinced him of the truth and reality of Christianity, in his famous autobiography.
Tamarisk Row
by Gerald MurnaneClement Killeaton transforms his father’s gambling, his mother’s piety, his fellow pupils' cruelty and the mysterious but forbidden attractions of sex into an imagined world centred on horse-racing and played out in the dusty backyard of his home, across the landscapes of the district, and the continent of Australia. An unsparing evocation of a Catholic childhood in a country town in the late 1940s, Tamarisk Row’s lyrical prose is charged with the yearning, boredom, fear and fascination of boyhood.First published in Australia in 1974, and previously unpublished in the UK, Tamarisk Row is Gerald Murnane’s debut novel, and in many respects his masterpiece.
W-3: A Memoir
by Bette Howland'W-3 is one hell of a debut' Lucy Scholes, Paris Review'Remarkably perceptive and wise' Katy Waldman, New Yorker'Howland is finally getting the recognition that she deserves' Sarah Hughes, iNewsW-3 is a small psychiatric ward in a large university hospital, a world of pills and passes dispensed by an all-powerful staff, a world of veteran patients with grab-bags of tricks, a world of disheveled, moment-to-moment existence on the edge of permanence.Bette Howland was one of those patients. In 1968, Howland was thirty-one, a single mother of two young sons, struggling to support her family on the part-time salary of a librarian; and labouring day and night at her typewriter to be a writer. One afternoon, while staying at her friend Saul Bellow’s apartment, she swallowed a bottle of pills. W-3 is both an extraordinary portrait of the community of Ward 3 and a record of a defining moment in a writer’s life. The book itself would be her salvation: she wrote herself out of the grave.This beautiful edition features an original introduction by Yiyun Li, author of Where Reasons End.‘For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin—real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way. Something to be got through first, some unfinished business; time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life could begin. At last it had dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.’
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit (Essential Modern Classics)
by Judith KerrPartly autobiographical, this is first of the internationally acclaimed trilogy by Judith Kerr telling the unforgettable story of a Jewish family fleeing from Germany at the start of the Second World War
Analogia: The Entangled Destinies of Nature, Human Beings and Machines
by George DysonHow did we end up in a world where humans coexist with technologies we can no longer fully control or understand? George Dyson plots an unexpected course through the past 300 years to reveal the hidden connections that underpin our digital age, ending with a premonition of what lies ahead. From an eighteenth-century Russian voyage across the North Pacific, to the mirror signals that heralded the age of digital telecommunications and the invention of the vacuum tube, Analogia interweaves historical adventure with scientific insight in a deeply personal story that frames the pursuit - and cost - of the digital revolution in a captivating new light.
Autobiography: Autobiography
by Neville CardusAutobiography was first published in 1947 and was described by J. B. Priestley as 'one of the best pieces of writing that ever found a way to our Book Society. He is a writer who has learned how to write and the result is glorious.' Sir Neville Cardus is best remembered as a writer on both cricket and music and during his lifetime achieved an unparalleled reputation as one of England's greatest journalists on these two very different subjects. Born in Rusholme in Manchester Cardus carved out an international reputation for himself by his own ability, efforts and imagination and created, as his biographer Christopher Brookes put it, 'a beguiling personal legend in the course of a career which extended over fifty years.' 'This is a very, very good book. Cricket and music - how he makes both these worlds pulsate, life comic as well as life magnificent.' Robert Lynd'A superb work by a master of English.' Wilfred Pickles
Before We Was We: Madness by Madness
by Lee Thompson Mike Barson Mark Bedford Chris Foreman Graham McPherson Cathal Smyth Dan WoodgateIn Before We Was We, their first official book, Madness tell us how they became them. A story of seven originals, whose collective graft, energy and talent took them from the sweaty depths of the Hope & Anchor's basement to the Top of the Pops studio. In their own words they each look back on their shared adventures. Playing music together, riding freight trains, spraying graffiti and stealing records. Walking in one another's footsteps by day and rising up through the city's exploding pub music scene by night. Before We Was We is irreverent, funny and full of character. Just like them.
Critical Studies in Indian Grammarians I: The Theory of Homogeneity (Savar?ya) (Michigan Series In South And Southeast Asian Languages And Linguistics)
by Madhav M. DeshpandeIn the historical study of the Indian grammarian tradition, a line of demarcation can often be drawn between the conformity of a system with the well-known grammar of Pa?ini and the explanatory effectiveness of that system. One element of Pa?ini’s grammar that scholars have sometimes struggled to bring across this line of demarcation is the theory of homogeneity, or savar?ya, which concerns the final consonants in Pa?ini’s reference catalog, as well as phonetic similarities between sounds. While modern Sanskrit scholars understand how to interpret and apply Pa?ini’s homogeneity, they still find it necessary to unravel the history of varying interpretations of the theory in subsequent grammars. Madhav Deshpande’s The Theory of Homogeneity provides a thorough account of the historical development of the theory. Proceeding first to study this conception in the Pa?inian tradition, Deshpande then passes on to other grammatical systems. Deshpande gives attention not only to the definitions of homogeneity in these systems but also the implementation of the theory in those respective systems. Even where definitions are identical, the concept may be applied quite differently, in which cases Deshpande examines by considering the historical relationships among the various systems.
Golden Lads: A Study of Anthony Bacon, Francis and Their Friends (Virago Modern Classics #655)
by Daphne Du MaurierPrior to the publication of this biography, the elusive Anthony Bacon was merely glimpsed in the shadow of his famous younger brother, Francis. A fascinating historical figure, Anthony Bacon was a contemporary of the brilliant band of gallants who clustered round the court of Elizabeth I, and he was closely connected with the Queen's favourite, the Earl of Essex. He also worked as an agent for Sir Francis Walsingham, the Queen's spymaster, living in France where he became acquainted with Henri IV and the famous essayist Michel de Montaigne. It was in France that du Maurier discovered a secret that, if disclosed during Bacon's lifetime, could have put an end to his political career . . . Du Maurier did much to shed light on matters that had long puzzled historians, and, as well as a consummate exercise in research, this biography is also a strange and fascinating tale.
The Green Fool (Penguin Modern Classics)
by Patrick KavanaghMy part of Ireland had a poet at one time, a poor ragged fellow whom no respectable person whom no respectable person would be seen talking to, but he left doors open as he passed. Time hardly mattered in the village of Mucker, the birthplace of poet and writer Patrick Kavanagh. Full of wry humour, Kavanagh's unsentimental and evocative account of his Irish rural upbringing describes a patriarchal society surviving on the edge of poverty, sustained by the land and an insatiable love of gossip. There are tales of schoolboy skirmishes, blackberrying and night-time salmon-poaching; of country-weddings and fairs, of political banditry and religious pilgrimages; and of farm-work in the fields and kicking mares.Kavanagh's experiences inspired him to write poetry which immortalized a fast-disappearing way of life and brought him recognition as one of Ireland's great poets.
I Can't Stay Long (Penguin Modern Classics)
by Laurie Lee'They are memorials to times and countries whose best is probably past and gone . . . I was lucky to have known them when I did, before darkness began to fall from the air.'In this much-loved volume, a mature Laurie Lee returns to the Gloucestershire childhood familiar to readers of Cider with Rosie, a world lost even at the time of writing to the march of twentieth-century technology. Lee also explores the post-war travels that took him to, amongst others, the Netherlands, Tuscany, Mexico and the West Indies. With pieces dating from the 1940s and 50s, Lee captures a world now for ever changed by war and mass tourism, 'when to be a traveller was not yet to be just a labelled unit'.