In Gerald Ronson: Leading from the Front, the last of the great British tycoons reveals how he fought his way to the top of the business ladder, lost everything twice, then clawed his way back up again. Amazingly for a man who now holds an iconic status in British business, Ronson quit school before his 15th birthday to work with his father in the family's furniture factory, and as a young man he and his friends were street fighters, using their fists to take on the British fascist movement. This propelled into a role as a leader in the country's Jewish community, and he is now considered to b the most influential secular Jew in the UK. Ronson will forever be associated with the famous Guinness affair, which was the biggest financial scandal of the '80s. He was found guilty after a media circus of a trial in which the cards were stacked against him and he spent six months in jail. Years later, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled that it had been an unfair trial. True to character, he organised his life in prison, tried to assist his fellow inmates and has since helped many of them find their way back into society. After Guinness, which Ronson calls the greatest crisis in his life, he suffered a major financial crash that nearly bankrupted him, and he has spent the last two decades rebuilding his empire and reputation. Now in his 70s, he spends a great deal of time raising money for charities and good causes. His company, Heron, was for a time the second-largest private company in the country, and he is arguably the most respected property developer in Europe. He is also responsible for bringing cut-price petrol to Britain, and it was he who turned petrol stations into convenience stores and introduced self-service at the pumps. Told in his own tough, no-nonsense words, Ronson's insights into British business, the British Establishment and justice system, and his family, friends and foes make this the single most important autobiography of the year.

Who made modern Britain? This book, drawn from the award-winning Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, tells the story of our recent past through the lives of those who shaped national life. Following on from the Oxford DNB's first supplement volume-noteworthy people who died between 2001 and 2004-this new volume offers biographies of more than 850 men and women who left their mark on twentieth and twenty-first century Britain, and who died in the years 2005 to 2008. Here are the people responsible for major developments in national life: from politics, the arts, business, technology, and law to military service, sport, education, science, and medicine. Many are closely connected to specific periods in Britain's recent history. From the 1950s, the young Harold Pinter or the Yorkshire cricketer, Fred Trueman, for example. From the Sixties, the footballer George Best, photographer Patrick Lichfield, and the Pink Floyd musician, Syd Barrett. It's hard to look back to the 1970s without thinking of Edward Heath and James Callaghan, who led the country for seven years in that turbulent decade; or similarly Freddie Laker, pioneer of budget air travel, and the comedians Ronnie Barker and Dave Allen who entertained with their sketch shows and sit coms. A decade later you probably browsed in Anita Roddick's Body Shop, or danced to the music of Factory Records, established by the Manchester entrepreneur, Tony Wilson. In the 1990s you may have hoped that 'Things can only get better' with a New Labour government which included Robin Cook and Mo Mowlam. Many in this volume are remembered for lives dedicated to a profession or cause: Bill Deedes or Conor Cruise O'Brien in journalism; Ned Sherrin in broadcasting or, indeed, Ted Heath whose political career spanned more than 50 years. Others were responsible for discoveries or innovations of lasting legacy and benefit-among them the epidemiologist Richard Doll, who made the link between smoking and lung cancer, Cicely Saunders, creator of the hospice movement, and Chad Varah, founder of the Samaritans. With John Profumo-who gave his name to a scandal-policeman Malcolm Fewtrell-who investigated the Great Train Robbery-or the Russian dissident Aleksandr Litvinenko-who was killed in London in 2006-we have individuals best known for specific moments in our recent past. Others are synonymous with popular objects and experiences evocative of recent decades: Mastermind with Magnus Magnusson, the PG-Tips chimpanzees trained by Molly Badham, John DeLorean's 'gull-wing' car, or the new British Library designed by Colin St John Wilson-though, as rounded and balanced accounts, Oxford DNB biographies also set these events in the wider context of a person's life story. Authoritative and accessible, the biographies in this volume are written by specialist authors, many of them leading figures in their field. Here you will find Michael Billington on Harold Pinter, Michael Crick on George Best, Richard Davenport-Hines on Anita Roddick, Brenda Hale on Rose Heilbron, Roy Hattersley on James Callaghan, Simon Heffer on John Profumo, Douglas Hurd on Edward Heath, Alex Jennings on Paul Scofield, Hermione Lee on Pat Kavanagh, Geoffrey Wheatcroft on Conor Cruise O'Brien, and Peregrine Worsthorne on Bill Deedes. Many in this volume are, naturally, household names. But a good number are also remembered for lives away from the headlines. What in the 1980s became 'Thatcherism' owed much to behind the scenes advice from Ralph Harris and Alfred Sherman; children who learned to read with Ladybird Books must thank their creator, Douglas Keen; while, without its first producer, Verity Lambert, there would have been no Doctor Who. Others are 'ordinary' people capable of remarkable acts. Take, for instance, Arthur Bywater who over two days in 1944 cleared thousands of bombs from a Liverpool munitions factory following an explosion-only to do the same, months later, in an another factory. Awarded the George Cross and the George Medal, Bywater remains the only non-combatant to have received Britain's two highest awards for civilian bravery.

In Countering Contemporary Antisemitism in Britain, Sarah Cardaun presents a thorough scholarly analysis of responses to present-day antisemitism in the UK. Examining discourses and practical measures adopted by the British government, parliamentary groups, and non-governmental organisations, the book provides a comprehensive overview of different approaches to addressing anti-Jewish prejudice in Britain. It offers a critical perspective on universalistic interpretations which have traditionally characterised responses towards it in various fields, such as Holocaust remembrance and education. Against this background, the study highlights the importance of organisations with a more specific focus on counteracting hostility towards Jews, and the role civil society can play in the fight against the new antisemitism. Overall, this book makes a significant contribution to the academic debate on contemporary antisemitism and to the vital but neglected question of how today’s resurgent anti-Jewish prejudice may be tackled in practice.

'A cracking read ... Ghislaine Maxwell's story has had endless column inches, but John gives such a great overview, and has mined so many sources that it still feels fresh and compelling.' Mail on Sunday Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess who suffered a tragedy, the death of her father, a war hero, a philanthropist, a good man, in suspicious circumstances. She fled to New York where she made a new life with a brilliant mathematician. Her name is Ghislaine Maxwell and her lover was Jeffrey Epstein. Through Jeffrey, and her family name, Ghislaine became friends with some of the most powerful people on earth, ex-President Bill Clinton and President-to-be Donald Trump and the second son of the Queen of England, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York. But this is no fairy tale. HUNTING GHISLAINE sets out the other side of the story, and it's one of the darkest you will ever read. Ghislaine's father, Robert Maxwell, was a sadist, a war criminal, a monster. His cruelty deformed Ghislaine Maxwell long before she met Jeffrey Epstein. Her one-time lover was convicted for being a paedophile. So Ghislaine's life has been spent serving not one monster but two. In HUNTING GHISLAINE, legendary investigative journalist John Sweeney uncovers the truth behind this fairy tale story in reverse.

The fifth volume in a series published since 1988. Lists books and articles, mainly in English. See the index for works on antisemitism.

The true story of Assistant U.S. Attorney Bonnie Klapper's and Special Agent Romedio "Rooney" Viola's thirteen-year journey to systematically dismantle the Colombian cartel responsible for 60 percent of all the cocaine entering the United States.