'Exquisite . . . A genuine, melancholy masterpiece' WILLIAM DALRYMPLE'A journalistic marvel' JAMES MEEK'A powerful, unforgettable book' NADIFA MOHAMMEDFrom Orwell Prize winning journalist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad comes a searing and nuanced biography of a lost IraqThis is the story of a people who once lived under the rule of a megalomaniac leader who shaped the state in his own image. Then one day, after yet another war, a foreign army invaded, toppled the leader, destroyed the state, and proceeded to invent a new country. This is the story of a people who watched with horror as their world fragmented into a hundred different cities, as walls rose between them and bodies piled in the streets.From the American invasion to the Arab Spring, ISIS and beyond, A Stranger in Your Own City offers a remarkable de-centring of the West in the history and contemporary situation of the region. What comes to the fore is the effect on the ground: the human cost, the shifting allegiances, the generational change.'Shatters western assumptions . . . and offers cautious hope' The Observer'Haunting' Financial Times Read more

Winner of the RSL Ondaatje PrizeShortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award‘A striding, glorious book . . . A flat-out masterpiece’ The New York Times Book ReviewCaught between hostile nations, warring factions and competing ideologies, Afghanistan was in turmoil following the US invasion. Travelling entirely on foot and following the inaccessible mountainous route once taken by the Mughal emperor Babur the Great, Rory Stewart was nearly defeated by the extreme, hostile conditions.Only with the help of an unexpected companion, and the generosity of the people he met on the way, did he survive to report back on his journey with unique insight on a region closed to the world by twenty-four years of war.‘This evocative book feels like a long-lost relic of the great age of exploration’ The Guardian Read more

A moving account of a death-defying walk across war-torn Afghanistan in January 2002 from Rory Stewart, bestselling author of Politics on the Edge and host of the hit podcast The Rest Is Politics.Caught between hostile nations, warring factions and competing ideologies, at the time Afghanistan was in turmoil following the US invasion. Travelling entirely on foot and following the inaccessible mountainous route once taken by the Mogul Emperor, Babur the Great, Stewart was nearly defeated by the extreme, hostile conditions.Only with the help of an unexpected companion and the generosity of the people he met on the way did he survive to report back with unique insight on a region closed to the world by twenty-four years of war.'With a deft, at time poetic vividness, he describes an awesome landscape . . . His encounters with Afghans are tragic, touching and terrifying – Daily TelegraphWinner of the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Award and the Spirit of Scotland Award.Shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize, and the Scottish Book of the Year Prize. Read more

***THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER****A FINANCIAL TIMES, TELEGRAPH, NEW STATESMAN AND TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR*'Excellent... first class... both fair and damning.' Daniel Finkelstein, The Times 'Authoritative, gripping and often jaw-dropping' Andrew Rawnsley, Observer'Invaluable' New Statesman'Explosive' Isabel Hardman, The iAfter his dramatic rise to power in the summer of 2019 amid the Brexit deadlock, Boris Johnson presided over the most turbulent period of British history in living memory. Beginning with the controversial prorogation of Parliament in August and the historic landslide election victory later that year, Johnson was barely through the door of No. 10 when Britain was engulfed by a series of crises that will define its place in the world for decades to come. From the agonising upheaval of Brexit and the devastating Covid-19 pandemic to the nerve-shredding crisis in Afghanistan, the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the Partygate scandal, Johnson's government ultimately unravelled after just three years.This gripping behind-the-scenes work of contemporary history maps Johnson's time in power from start to finish and sheds new light on the most divisive Prime Minister to have led the United Kingdom since Thatcher. Based on more than 200 interviews with key aides, allies and insiders, Johnson at 10 gives the first full account of Johnson's premiership, the shockwaves of which are still felt today.***A WATERSTONES BEST POLITICS BOOK OF 2023*** Read more

What if you could combine the agility, adaptability, and cohesion of a small team with the power and resources of a giant organization?When General Stanley McChrystal took command of the Joint Special Operations Task Force in Iraq in 2003, he quickly realized that conventional military tactics were failing. The allied forces had a huge advantage in numbers, equipment and training - but none of the enemy's speed and flexibility.McChrystal and his colleagues discarded a century of conventional wisdom to create a 'team of teams' that combined extremely transparent communication with decentralized decision-making authority. Faster, flatter and more flexible, the task force beat back al-Qaeda.In this powerful book, McChrystal and his colleagues show how the challenges they faced in Iraq can be relevant to any leader. Through compelling examples, the authors demonstrate that the 'team of teams' strategy has worked everywhere from hospital emergency rooms to NASA and has the potential to transform organizations large and small.'A bold argument that leaders can help teams become greater than the sum of their parts' Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit'An indispensable guide to organizational change' Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs Read more

From master storyteller Andy McNab, this is the opening book in an adventure-filled and action-packed new series telling, for the first time ever, the true stories of Special Forces missions.'A must for Special Forces fans.' The SunIt is 2007 and the rogue Taliban leader Mullah Dadullah is using Afghanistan as a base to mastermind bombings around the world.Special Forces must be sent to stop him.Using classified sources and his unique insight into the SAS, Andy McNab gives a page-turning account of the secret mission to take down Dadullah, the most dangerous man alive.The Hunt is an explosive story of hostage negotiations, undercover missions and a final, epic assault on Dadullah's compund that could leave only one side alive.'The operation is told like a novel... compellingly immediate.' Daily Express Read more

***THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER****A FINANCIAL TIMES, TELEGRAPH, NEW STATESMAN AND TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR*'Excellent... first class... both fair and damning.' Daniel Finkelstein, The Times 'Authoritative, gripping and often jaw-dropping' Andrew Rawnsley, Observer'Invaluable' New Statesman'Explosive' Isabel Hardman, The iAfter his dramatic rise to power in the summer of 2019 amid the Brexit deadlock, Boris Johnson presided over the most turbulent period of British history in living memory. Beginning with the controversial prorogation of Parliament in August and the historic landslide election victory later that year, Johnson was barely through the door of No. 10 when Britain was engulfed by a series of crises that will define its place in the world for decades to come. From the agonising upheaval of Brexit and the devastating Covid-19 pandemic to the nerve-shredding crisis in Afghanistan, the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the Partygate scandal, Johnson's government ultimately unravelled after just three years.This gripping behind-the-scenes work of contemporary history maps Johnson's time in power from start to finish and sheds new light on the most divisive Prime Minister to have led the United Kingdom since Thatcher. Based on more than 200 interviews with key aides, allies and insiders, Johnson at 10 gives the first full account of Johnson's premiership, the shockwaves of which are still felt today.***A WATERSTONES BEST POLITICS BOOK OF 2023*** Read more

The thrilling retelling of a real-life hostage rescue mission, by SAS hero and million-selling author, Andy McNab.It is 2012 and in Northern Afghanistan, an international crisis has erupted.A group of aid workers have been kidnapped by local insurgents and are now hidden in a winding mountain region. After attempts to negotiate a deal with the bandits fail, and with the lives of the hostages hanging in the balance, there is only option...SAS and Navy SEALs are sent in to find and free them.The Rescue is the action-packed story of the special forces' attempts to save the hostages from almost certain death. Drawing on classified sources and using his own personal insight into the inner-workings of these units, Andy McNab gives a page-turning account of this incredible mission.A heart-pounding true story of covert scouting missions, dangerous parachute jumps and fighting to survive in the face of impossible odds, this is the SAS like you've never read before. Read more

Through conflicts in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan, this is the vivid memoir of British sniper Craig Harrison.It takes a tough mindset to be a successful sniper, to be able to dig in for days on your own as you wait for your target, to stay calm on a battlefield when you yourself have become the target the enemy most want to take out. Craig Harrison has what it takes and in November 2009 in Afghanistan, under intense pressure, he saved the lives of his comrades with the longest confirmed sniper kill – 2,475 metres, the length of twenty-five football pitches.In The Longest Kill, his unflinching autobiography, Craig catapults us into the heat of the action as he describes his active service in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan, and gives heart-stopping accounts of his sniper ops as he fought for his life on the rooftops of Basra and the barren hills of Helmand province. Craig was blown up by an IED in Afghanistan and left battling severe PTSD. After his identity was revealed in the press he also had to cope with Al Qaeda threats against him and his family. For Craig, the price of heroism has been devastatingly high. Read more

Through conflicts in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan, this is the vivid memoir of British sniper Craig Harrison.It takes a tough mindset to be a successful sniper, to be able to dig in for days on your own as you wait for your target, to stay calm on a battlefield when you yourself have become the target the enemy most want to take out. Craig Harrison has what it takes and in November 2009 in Afghanistan, under intense pressure, he saved the lives of his comrades with the longest confirmed sniper kill – 2,475 metres, the length of twenty-five football pitches.In The Longest Kill, his unflinching autobiography, Craig catapults us into the heat of the action as he describes his active service in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan, and gives heart-stopping accounts of his sniper ops as he fought for his life on the rooftops of Basra and the barren hills of Helmand province. Craig was blown up by an IED in Afghanistan and left battling severe PTSD. After his identity was revealed in the press he also had to cope with Al Qaeda threats against him and his family. For Craig, the price of heroism has been devastatingly high. Read more

In a remote outpost of Now Zad, in Helmand Province, Pen Farthing and his troup of young Royal Marines survive frequent engagements with the Taliban and forge links with the local community. Pen's tour of duty will change his life forever, but for entirely unexpected reasons ...Appalled by the horrors of a local dog fight, he intervenes to free the victims. One of these dogs finds his way into the Marine compound - and into Pen's heart. Soon other strays are being drawn to the santuary provided by Pen's makeshift pound, including one young mum who crawls under the compound fence carrying her newborn pups to safety. But as his tour of duty draws to an end, Pen cannot leave the dogs of Now Zad to their own fates. he begins hatching plans to help them escape to a better life. This is Pen's gripping account of his time in Now Zad, the friends he made there and the remarkable journey they - and he - undertook. Above all, it is the story of one man's courage and humanity and his fight to make a difference in the most hostile and dangerous environment - one dog at a time. Read more

The Sunday Times Top Ten BestsellerThousands of lives have been saved by this spaniel. He is a best friend in dog’s clothing. An RAF dog with his mossy feet firmly on the ground. A brave dog who has served his colleagues and his country with unstinting devotion. A dog in a million.This is the story of the partnership of Buster and Will, told by Will himself, describing how each came to save the other’s life. This is a relationship that produced some heroic feats in the dust and desert heat of Afghanistan - and beyond. Buster, uniquely, has served five tours of duty - more than any other military dog. “With some dogs you share a boil in the bag breakfast and maybe a blanket on a cold desert floor. Some you wouldn’t leave in charge of your Grandma unless you wanted to find out just how fast the old girl could run. But, if you’re very, very lucky there will be the one dog you would lay down your life for – and for me that dog is Buster.”As told to Isabel George. Read more

From master storyteller Andy McNab, this is the opening book in an adventure-filled and action-packed new series telling, for the first time ever, the true stories of Special Forces missions. 'McNab's first major non-autobiographical work of non-fiction ... The operation is told like a novel [...] and it is as refreshingly informal and compellingly immediate as his other books' Daily Express'Part history lesson, part military manual, part fixed-bayonets thriller. A must for Special Forces fans' The SunIt is the early 2000s and 9/11 is fresh in the world's memory. The Taliban have taken over Afghanistan, and armed militants and explosive devices are terrorising the people. And now a new threat is emerging in the country: suicide bombings, ordered by military commander of the Taliban, Mullah Dadullah.Special Forces are sent in to stop him.The Hunt is the thrilling story of the secret mission to catch Dadullah, one of the most dangerous men alive. Using classified sources and his unique insight into the way the SAS works, Andy McNab gives a page-turning account of what it took the Special Forces to find their target and what they would have to do to take him down.An explosive story of hostage negotiations, undercovers missions and a final, epic assault on Dadullah's compound that could leave only one side alive, The Hunt is a powerful retelling of a real-life Special Forces mission. Read more

'An adrenalin-fuelled, gritty story of heroism on the frontline in Afghanistan' - Andy McNabUnflinching and laced with wry humour, Johnny Mercer's We Were Warriors is an action-packed account of his journey from young commando to a captain with one of the most pressurized and skilled jobs in the army.A captain in 29 Commando, Johnny Mercer served in the army for twelve years. On his third tour of Afghanistan he was a Joint Fires Controller, with the pressurized job of bringing down artillery and air strikes in close proximity to his own troops. Based in an area of northern Helmand that was riddled with Taliban leaders, he walked into danger with every patrol, determined to protect them. Then one morning, in brutal close quarter combat, everything changed . . . In We Were Warriors Johnny takes us from his commando training to the heat, blood and chaos of battle. With brutal honesty, he describes what it is like to risk your life every day, pushing through the fear that follows watching your friends die. He took the fight back to the enemy with a relentless efficiency that came at a high personal cost. Back in the UK, seeing the inadequate care available for veterans and their families, he was inspired to run for Parliament in the hope he could improve their plight.'This is NOT the stereotypical account of war, it's without doubt the best first hand account in a war zone I've ever read.' – Tom Marcus, ex MI5 Surveillance Officer, author of Soldier, Spy Read more

We in the west share a common narrative of world history. But our story largely omits a whole civilization whose citizens shared an entirely different narrative for a thousand years.In Destiny Disrupted, Tamim Ansary tells the rich story of world history as the Islamic world saw it, from the time of Mohammed to the fall of the Ottoman Empire and beyond. He clarifies why our civilizations grew up oblivious to each other, what happened when they intersected, and how the Islamic world was affected by its slow recognition that Europe—a place it long perceived as primitive and disorganized—had somehow hijacked destiny. Read more

“A book that conveys the realities of life for the sniper in Afghanistan, the highs and lows, the fear, boredom and excitement . . . thrilling.” —FiretrenchFew soldiers are deemed good enough to be selected and trained as snipers and even fewer qualify. As a result, snipers are regarded as the elite of their units and their skills command the ungrudging respect of their fellows—and the enemy. The author is one such man who recently served a full tour of duty with 1st Battalion the Royal Anglian Regiment in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. James describes the highs and lows of almost daily front-line action experienced by our soldiers deployed on active service in arguably the most dangerous area of the world. As part of the Battle Groups crack Mobile Operations Group, James’s mission was to liquidate as many Taliban as possible. The reader experiences sniper tactics and actions, whether in ambush or quick pre-planned strikes, amid the ever-present lethal danger of IEDs. His book, the first to be written by a trained sniper in Afghanistan, reveals the psychological pressures and awesome life-and-death responsibility of his role and, in particular, the deadly cat-and-mouse games with the enemy snipers intent on their own kills. These involved the clinical killing of targets at ranges of 1,000 meters or greater. Sniper in Helmand is a thrilling action-packed, yet very human, account of both front-line service in the intense Afghanistan war and first-hand sniper action. Andy McNab inspired James to join the army and has written a moving foreword. Read more

What if you could combine the agility, adaptability, and cohesion of a small team with the power and resources of a giant organization? 'Team of Teams provides a blueprint for how to cope with increasing complexity in the world. A must read for anyone who cares about the future - and that means all of us' Daniel Levitin, author of The Organized Mind ________________­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ When General Stanley McChrystal took command of the Joint Special Operations Task Force in Iraq in 2003, he quickly realized that conventional military tactics were failing. The allied forces had a huge advantage in numbers, equipment and training - but none of the enemy's speed and flexibility. McChrystal and his colleagues discarded a century of conventional wisdom to create a 'team of teams' that combined extremely transparent communication with decentralized decision-making authority. Faster, flatter and more flexible, the task force beat back al-Qaeda. In this powerful book, McChrystal and his colleagues show how the challenges they faced in Iraq can be relevant to any leader. Through compelling examples, the authors demonstrate that the 'team of teams' strategy has worked everywhere from hospital emergency rooms to NASA and has the potential to transform organizations large and small. ________________ 'A bold argument that leaders can help teams become greater than the sum of their parts' Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit 'An indispensable guide to organizational change' Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs'A must-read book for anyone serious about taking their leadership further, faster' John Venhuizen, president & CEO, Ace Hardware Corporation Read more

Patrick Hennessey's The Junior Officers' Reading Club is a lucid, witty account of all the horror, boredom and exhilaration of war. Patrick Hennessey is pretty much like any other member of Generation X: he spent the first half of the noughties reading books at university, going out, listening to house music and watching war films. He also, as an officer in the Grenadier guards, fought in some of the most violent combat the British army has seen in decades. Telling the story of how a modern soldier is made, from the testosterone-heavy breeding ground of Sandhurst to the nightmare of Iraq and Afghanistan, The Junior Officers' Reading Club is already being hailed as a modern classic. 'Soldiers who can write are as rare as writers who can strip down a machinegun in 40 seconds' Christopher Hart, Sunday Times 'An extraordinary memoir ... Hennessey has a reporter's eye for detail and a soldier's nose for bullshit' John Shirley, Guardian 'High tempo, full-on, honest and revealing' Patrick Bishop, Evening Standard 'The most accomplished work of military witness to emerge from British war-fighting since 1945' Boyd Tonkin, Independent 'Remarkable ... conveys vividly what it's like to experience combat' Jeremy Paxman, Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year Patrick Hennessey (b. 1982) joined the Army in January 2004, undertaking officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst where he was awarded the Queen's Medal and commissioned into The Grenadier Guards. He served as a Platoon Commander and later Company Operations Officer from the end of 2004 to early 2009 in the Balkans, Africa, South East Asia and the Falkland Islands and on operational tours to Iraq in 2006 and Afghanistan in 2007, where he became the youngest Captain in the Army and was commended for gallantry. Read more

The groundbreaking investigative story of how three successive presidents and their military commanders deceived the public year after year about America’s longest war, foreshadowing the Taliban’s recapture of Afghanistan, by Washington Post reporter and three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Craig Whitlock.Unlike the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 had near-unanimous public support. At first, the goals were straightforward and clear: to defeat al-Qaeda and prevent a repeat of 9/11. Yet soon after the United States and its allies removed the Taliban from power, the mission veered off course and US officials lost sight of their original objectives. Distracted by the war in Iraq, the US military became mired in an unwinnable guerrilla conflict in a country it did not understand. But no president wanted to admit failure, especially in a war that began as a just cause. Instead, the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations sent more and more troops to Afghanistan and repeatedly said they were making progress, even though they knew there was no realistic prospect for an outright victory. Just as the Pentagon Papers changed the public’s understanding of Vietnam, The Afghanistan Papers contains startling revelation after revelation from people who played a direct role in the war, from leaders in the White House and the Pentagon to soldiers and aid workers on the front lines. In unvarnished language, they admit that the US government’s strategies were a mess, that the nation-building project was a colossal failure, and that drugs and corruption gained a stranglehold over their allies in the Afghan government. All told, the account is based on interviews with more than 1,000 people who knew that the US government was presenting a distorted, and sometimes entirely fabricated, version of the facts on the ground. Documents unearthed by The Washington Post reveal that President Bush didn’t know the name of his Afghanistan war commander—and didn’t want to make time to meet with him. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld admitted he had “no visibility into who the bad guys are.” His successor, Robert Gates, said: “We didn’t know jack shit about al-Qaeda.” The Afghanistan Papers is a shocking account that will supercharge a long overdue reckoning over what went wrong and forever change the way the conflict is remembered. Read more

A raw, honest and evocative account of life as the most highly decorated serving soldier in the British Army.From the breakneck pace of an opening where he is in action in Helmand province, under fire from the Taliban, Mick Flynn pulls no punches. It's obvious that he is a trained killer. But how did it reach this point? The journey starts with his childhood, a working class lad, learning to fight and finding himself repeatedly on the wrong side of the law. Even after joining the Army he is found at fault and jailed, an experience that finally shocks him into behaving himself. From there, it is off to Northern Ireland and straight into hotspots where Mick's courage and determination are all that keep him alive. There's love too: his estranged wife, Denise, is being brought back into the picture, just as Mick tries to start a new life with his girlfriend Rachel. Can he manage to separate his ferocious soldiering persona from the real Mick? As things remain complicated, Mike flings himself into further tours of duty, in Bosnia, Iraq, the Falklands. Action-packed, shoots-from-the-hip narration from an engaging hero, this is gritty realism at its most shocking. Read more