Chapter one: 'Going out at night the medics gave you pills, Dexedrine breath like dead snakes kept too long in a jar... Whenever I heard something outside of our clenched little circle I'd practically flip... a couple of rounds fired off in the dark a kilometre away and the Elephant would be there kneeling on my chest, sending me down into my boots for a breath. Once I thought I saw a light moving in the jungle...' A groundbreaking piece of journalism which inspired Stanley Kubrick's classic Vietnam War film Full Metal Jacket. Michael Herr went to Vietnam as a war correspondent for Esquire. He returned to tell the real story in all its hallucinatory madness and brutality, cutting to the quick of the conflict and its seductive, devastating impact on a generation of young men. His unflinching account is haunting in its violence, but even more so in its honesty. First published in 1977, Dispatches was a revolutionary piece of new journalism that evoked the experiences of soldiers in Vietnam and has forever shaped our understanding of the conflict. It is now a seminal classic of war reportage. The book conveys all the facades of patriotism, heroism and the whole colossal fraud of American intervention. It all falls away to the bare bones of fear, war and death. With an introduction by Kevin Powers. Remainder mark, 288 page paperback.

A rollicking tour of the English country home after World War II, when swinging London collided with aristocratic values. As the sun set slowly on the British Empire, its mansions fell and rose. Ancient families were reduced to demolishing the parts of their stately homes they could no longer afford; dukes and duchesses desperately clung to their ancestral seats, and a new class of homeowners bought their way into country life. Tottering under the weight of rising taxes and a growing sense that they had no place in 20th century Britain, hundreds of ancestral piles were dismantled and demolished. Perhaps even more surprising was the fact that so many of these great houses survived, as dukes and duchesses clung desperately to their ancestral seats and tenants' balls gave way to rock concerts, safari parks and day trippers. From the Rolling Stones rocking Longleat to Christine Keeler rocking Cliveden, the book takes us on a lively tour of these crumbling halls of power, as a rakish, raffish, aristocratic Swinging London collided with traditional rural values and the Americans invaded too. Capturing the spirit of the age, historian Adrian Tinniswood proves that the country house is not only an iconic symbol, but a lens through which to understand the shifting fortunes of the British elite in an era of monumental social change. It's all about keeping up appearances, grandeur fit for a queen, a rich interior, country pursuits and balls, plus some jolly bad behaviour. Many colour plates, over 50 photographs. 422 pages.

In 1893, even as Gandhi, Ranji and Vivekananda were seeking to take their ideas and expertise out of India, a Western woman was making the reverse journey, bringing her ideas to India. Mrs Annie Besant and The Theosophical Society became major players in both Indian and International arenas. Benjamin Guy Horniman was a great journalist who believed that Indians should be given the same rights of liberty and freedom that Englishmen enjoyed. Freedom-loving American Samuel Evans Stokes and Madeline Slade who left England for India and became the adopted daughter of Mahatma Gandhi, Philip Spratt and his contributions in the Indian struggle for freedom are some of the seven people chosen to tell their little-known stories. Foreigners to India date from the late 19th century onwards arrived to join the freedom movement fighting for independence. Their lives thus span a century of tumultuous history incorporating two world wars, Independence and Partition, and the emergence of a state and society. Of the seven four were British, two American and one Irish, four men and three women. Before and after being jailed or deported they did remarkable and pioneering work from journalism and social reform to education, organic agriculture and environmentalism. The writer William Dalrymple called them the 'White Mughals' who slowly shed their Britishness and adopted Indian dress, studied Indian philosophy at a time when racial boundaries were more fluid. These renegades came to the sub-continent from diverse social and intellectual backgrounds. They all combined writing with activism, two of them working up north in the high and cold Himalaya, two in the deepest south, close to the hot and humid coast, and two were inspired to settle in villages, marrying Indians and raising children with them. One man stayed unmarried and was almost certainly gay, taking Indian lovers. 476pp, eight pages of photos.

From the Information is Beautiful author and website is a stunning example of graphic designs pulling together complex information into beautiful graphics and something very uplifting. Which are the happiest countries in the world? According to a 2020 report the UAE, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland. Life expectancy has shot up 38% between 1960 and 2018. There are now 85% of countries covered with domestic violence laws, where there were no such laws in 1970. Leaf area, meat substitutes, same-sex unions (where legal), global literacy, hundreds of new vaccines in the pipeline, women in Parliament around the world, 100 towns and cities now getting most of their energy from renewables like Bogotá, Montreal, Porto and Auckland, some of the poorest nations which are the most generous and Yay Africa! The new African Union passport allows visa free travel between 55 countries. Drones have revolutionised medical deliveries in Rwanda, oil spills have decreased, suicide is at its lowest rate for 46 years in Japan, there are renewable energy superstars, routes for solving plastics, land preservation, unendangered animals, a new device to clean plastic from our seas, and can next-gen nuclear energy get us to carbon zero? Positive, beautiful, statistics and research and data cuts through gloomy news and dark nights. Big bold colourful pages and graphics throughout, 256pp, 19.5 x 25.2cm.
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Sir Horace Wilson was chief adviser to the PM Neville Chamberlain at the time of the Munich crisis, and the policy of appeasing Hitler is always associated with the names of the two men. Wilson was a civil servant with no official cabinet role, reflecting Chamberlain's preference for seeking the advice of those outside official government decision-making. The chief enemy of appeasement was Winston Churchill, an unpopular figure in the Conservative party. Chamberlain's policy of averting war at all costs is often ascribed to the fact that he was buying time to allow Britain to rearm sufficiently to present a credible military challenge to the might of Germany, but the author's examination of the papers of the period reveals that Chamberlain and Wilson were together seeking to avert war entirely. When Wilson was sent to deliver a personal letter and encountered a shrieking rant from Hitler, he refused to be intimidated and Hitler told Wilson, "England could wish for no better friend than the Führer". At the time of Hitler's Nuremberg rally, as Wilson and Chamberlain agreed to try to avert the coming war by sacrificing the claim of Czechoslovakia to its provinces in the Sudetenland, Lord Halifax, the Foreign Secretary, began to realise that appeasement was futile. The abandonment of the Czechs under the Munich agreement created a conflict in the Conservative party which was finally resolved by the invasion of Poland and subsequent war. Wilson lost his job with Chamberlain's demotion and was subsequently unemployable. 448pp, photos.

Grayling is Professor of Philosophy and Principal of the New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University London. He believes that philosophy should take an active and useful role in society and in his book proposes a pragmatic and inspiring solution to the three biggest challenges that face the world today - climate change, technology and justice. In his timely book he asks: can human beings agree on a set of values that will allow us to confront the numerous threats facing the planet, or will we simply continue with our disagreements and antipathies as we collectively approach our possible extinction? As every day brings new stories about extreme weather conditions, spyware, lethal autonomous weapons systems, and the health imbalance between the northern and southern hemispheres, Grayling's question - Is global agreement on global challenges possible? - becomes ever more urgent. As we confront the danger of a warming world, AI and technology, justice and rights, relativism, he proves that it is hopelessly utopian to work for an end of division, and instead for all humanity to find common ground. An incredibly thoughtful read for all interested in philosophy and cultural affairs. 232pp.

A moving and sombre exploration of reality under Hitler's regime. People's fight against censorship, prejudice, beatings, imprisonment and murder are recounted and celebrated as victories against the violence of the Nazi rule, from the 'free university' in Brussels which saw students and teachers setting up underground classes in the face of Nazi 'guest professors' in 1941, to the Danish underground who were unique in seeking the approval of the workers affected by their sabotage. Read about the Nazi's execution of 60,000 people in Poland who were the country's intellectual élite and political and religious leaders, lament the murder of 1,300 civilians and the decimation of two villages in Czechoslovakia after a small group of Czech rebels assassinated Reinhard Heydrich in 1942, and understand further the violence of the Nazis against Dutch soldiers and workers who decided to strike against the invaders in 1943. In the end the Germans shot 180 strikers dead, wounded 400 more and arrested a further 900 who were transported to concentration and forced labour camps. This historical companion includes tragic diary extracts from Anne Frank which describe how, at any time of night or day, Jewish people were dragged out of their homes and families were torn apart. Photographs include a portrait of an unnamed French resistance fighter from Life magazine in 1944, a picture of a detachment of German troops crossing the river Vlatava in Prague on 23rd March 1939, and a snapshot of the Duke of Windsor visiting a stock factory on 11th October 1937 and sitting beside Robert Ley, whom Hitler liked to mock for his speech defect. Travel from Germany and France, to Denmark, Holland and Norway as you understand the far-reaching, tragic actions of the Nazis and how people stood up against them. Paperback, photographs, 224pp.

Gleaned from thousands of images, this book offers the best of American print advertising in the age of the "Big Idea." From the height of American consumerism, bold and colourful campaigns paint a fascinating portrait of the 1950s and '60s, as concerns about the Cold War gave way to the carefree booze-and-cigarettes capitalism of the Mad Men era. Digitally remastered for optimum reproduction quality, the ads burst with crisp fonts and colours, as well as a sexy sense of possibility, beguiling their audience to buy everything from guns to Biflex bras and girdles, cars to toothpaste, air travel to home appliances, telephones in all colours and shapes, Knoll modern furniture, HiFs, cigarettes advertised by smoking poodles, Marlboro by babies Marilyn in Playboy, glamous fqshion, cosmetics like Cutex and Neet, Yellow Pages, Martini and alcohol, Hot Oatmeal is Cool, Boy mints Girl and the youth market, Mobil - we want you to live. At turns startling, amusing and inspiring, this panorama of mid-century marketing is at once an evocative period piece and a showcase of design innovation and advertising wit. 15.6 x 21.7 cm, 512 pages. Text in English, French and German. New from Taschen.

Combining stunning visuals of both exciting and rare designs with an insightful text, this history shows the new pathways in fashion design development which have forever changed the way we dress today. It features 75 of the world's most legendary designers, their personal lives and innovative collections over the last century from Hermès, Worth, Burberry, Gucci, Chanel, Schiaparelli, Balenciaga, Hartnell, Dior, Balmain, Cardin, Givenchy, Oscar de la Renta, Ungaro, Armani, Mary Quant, Barbara Hulanicki, Yves Saint Laurent, Issey Miyake, Ralph Lauren, Vivien Westwood, Calvin Klein, Ossie Clark, Jil Sander, Paul Smith, Versace, Donna Karan, Prada, Lacroix, Jean Paul Gaultier, Helmut Lang, Dries Van Noten, Dolce & Gabbana, John Galliano, Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Alexander McQueen and Gareth Pugh among them. Arranged in a broadly chronological order, the book uses boxed features to display key dates, pull quotes and one glamorous full page left hand example of the designer's work, often modelled by celebrities, models or actresses like Yves Saint Laurent's muse Catherine Deneuve wearing a strictly tailored double-breasted velvet coat in 1970. One exceptionally glamorous image is Valentino's last haute couture show in Paris in 2008 with a finale seeing the models wearing identical backless, signature red bias-cut column dresses. Brocade, sequins, florals, denim, Twiggy modelling Biba, Peggy Moffitt wearing a sleeveless mini dress with a central plastic strip and houndstooth patterned boots from 1966, or David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust costumes by Yamamoto, this is a visual feast. 312 huge pages in sturdy softback, 19.7 x 29.2cm.
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Sub-titled 'The Enduring Anglo-American Relationship', since the end of the Cold War, so-called experts have been predicting the eclipse of America's 'special relationship' with Britain. But as events have shown, especially in the wake of 9/11, the political and cultural ties between America and Britain have grown stronger. Hitchens examines the dynamics of this relationship, its many cultural manifestations, from James Bond to Winston Churchill, Brit Kitsch, Vox Americana to nuclear jealousy and Rudyard Kipling, and explains why it still persists. Contrarian, essayist and polemicist, Hitchens notes that the special ingredient is empire, transmitted from an ancient regime which has tried to preserve and renew itself. England has attempted to play Greece to an American Rome, but ironically having encountered the United States to become an equal partner in the business of empire, Britain found itself supplanted. A mordent, episodic, brilliantly lucid history of transatlantic negotiations of power and cultural influence, Hitchens combines irresistible journalistic raciness with a distinction of scholarship. 398pp, paperback.