At the start of the 1980s it seemed that the Cold War, with its logic of 'mutually assured destruction', was a permanent stand-off between two irreconcilable foes. Yet the years between Mikhail Gorbachev becoming Soviet General Secretary in 1985 and the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 saw everything change. In this study Service analyses the thaw in US/USSR relations, focusing on the work of the 'big four': Gorbachev, Reagan and their foreign ministers Shevardnadze and Shultz.

Christopher Moran, a British scholar of American national security, examines how the CIA balances the need to maintain its own secrecy with the public's right to know, and how the Agency has attempted to control the 'storytellers', usually ex-CIA officers writing their memoirs. Central to that effort are the vetting activities of the Publications Review Board (PRB), and Moran provides an engrossing account of the veterans' stories as they encounter the PRB 'roadblock'.

'I drove the children to school, then went to see the revolution.' This diary by Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov describes the events he saw unfolding in Kiev's Independence Square during 2013's pro-European protests and the following months of political unrest. It paints a vivid picture of the developing crisis and the family's efforts to continue everyday life amid the barricades, grenades and gunshots just 500 yards from their home.

The genocide of one million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915-16 was the greatest atrocity of the First World War, and remains a divisive, hotly contested issue to this day. This major study attempts to understand not only the tragedy itself, but the contending narratives that have surrounded it over the century that followed. Meticulously researched and scrupulously fair, it also charts the courageous attempts at reconciliation between Armenians and Turks.

With characteristic rigour, balance and readability, one of the world's foremost experts on the Israel-Palestine conflict charts its development from the 1917 Balfour Declaration to the 2008 invasion of Gaza. Shlaim assesses the impact of key figures such as Yasser Arafat, Ariel Sharon, Edward Said and Benny Morris, re-examines the role of the US, explores the many missed opportunities for peace, and considers the troubled region's future prospects.

In 2008, as Robert Mugabe refused to cede power after losing an election, Godwin defied the ban on foreign journalists and returned to his native Zimbabwe to see at first hand the violence and injustices of the dictator's regime during the period known as the Fear. In this book he describes his visits to the opposition leaders, farmers, churchmen and diplomats who courageously put their lives on the line as they resisted Mugabe's thugs. Felt-tip mark on lower trimmed edge.

In eight conversations with David Barsamian, Chomsky discusses urgent concerns of today, including democracy in the Arab world and the breakdown of American mainstream political institutions.

As Scotland, Wales and England go their separate ways, what is left of Great Britain? Founding editor of the Independent on Sunday, now a columnist with the Guardian, Ian Jack is one of Britain's most insightful social commentators. This collection of his articles spans 20 years and ranges from the Titanic to consumerism, and reflects - often ruefully - on what it means to be British today.

Afghanistan is one of the world's most ancient and fascinating countries, yet in recent decades it has been scarred by successive invasions and civil conflict. These stunning, richly atmospheric photographs by Seamus Murphy - taken on many expeditions over 14 years - inevitably confront the ravages of war, but they also capture the stark beauty of the landscape, the dignity and resilience of its people, and the richness of its culture.

Since 2001, the US 'War on Terror' has achieved what Osama bin Laden could not: the unification of the jihad under the banner of Al-Qa'ida. In this important and meticulously researched study, Lebanese-born investigative journalist Camille Tawil draws on his unique access to key players to show how the failure of nationalist struggles in Egypt, Libya and elsewhere has drawn insurgents into Al-Qa'ida's orbit, with alarming implications for global security.

Bird and Marshall examine how and why the international community failed to achieve its October 2001 objectives in Afghanistan and why life has got worse rather than better for many Afghan citizens.

In this history of modern Wales - that 'complex and contradictory nation' - Martin Johnes focuses on the central issue of national identity as he examines in detail the remarkable transformations the country has undergone since the Second World War and what those transformations have meant in the lives of Welsh people. Covering a period during which 'Wales was remade from an idea into something more tangible', the study culminates in devolution. No jacket.

Telling the story of the military elite who run the country and why they can't make peace with its neighbours, Tyler reveals the inner workings and innermost fears of the embattled Israeli state.

Islamic fundamentalism has grabbed the headlines as both a threat to the West and a potentially revolutionary trend in the Middle East. This authoritative study provides a much-needed overview of its origins and diverse strands, the effects of colonialism on Islam, secularism and the Islamic reaction, the effects of globalization, and political violence in the 9/11 era. This fully revised and updated edition also examines recent developments in the wake of the Arab Spring of 2011.

No jacket.

More than 3,500 people were killed during the conflict in the North of Ireland between 1969 and 1998, leaving a terrible legacy of grief and bitterness. Drawing on interviews with survivors, families and friends on both sides of the sectarian divide, this book explores the difficult aftermath of the Troubles, as some seek truth and justice while others prefer to forget. Humane, impartial and moving, it gives voice to the ordinary people too often overlooked in official histories.

While painstaking in its search for the truth, this brilliant history of postwar Britain acknowledges the role of psychodrama in the life of a nation. Drawing on newly declassified documents, Hennessy examines the perceived reduction of Britain's place in the world and its remaining influence to explain the choices made by prime ministers from Attlee to Cameron.

John Simpson spent over two decades reporting from Saddam Hussein's Iraq. This is his compelling account of his experiences. He examines the period leading up to the 1991 Gulf War, the increasing tyranny of the regime in the years that followed, and the controversial question of the country's weapons programme. He offers his frank assessment of George Bush and Tony Blair's decision to go to war in 2003, and traces its chaotic aftermath up to the capture of Saddam.

Dealing analytically with the movement as a whole, this is a study of the East German uprising that overthrew Honecker's regime and culminated in the transition to parliamentary democracy in 1990. No jacket.

Alain de Botton reflects on the modern-day addiction to the news and tries to show how 'this ubiquitous and familiar habit' is actually 'a lot weirder and rather more hazardous' than we think. He takes a number of news stories - from MPs' expenses to an air crash - and subjects them to intense analysis, while also examining our responses to news items such as murder, disasters and celebrities' love lives.

Britain in the 1980s was a polarized country led by a polarizing politician, Margaret Thatcher. This lively history charts the political and social developments of the decade, from the riots that shook Britain's cities to the privatization of state-owned industries, from the miners' strike to Live Aid, from the Falklands War to the emergence of alternative comedy. It illustrates in vivid detail how this strife-torn era reshaped the nation.

In 28 essays, in sections on politics and government, policy studies and wider relations (including relations with Ireland and Europe, defence policy and climate change), specialist scholars and commentators describe the impact of the Blair years.

Plans to establish an effective government in Iraq in place of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship quickly proved ill-judged as the country descended into factional violence and the British were forced into an ignominious withdrawal. In this analysis of the complex events Jack Fairweather, former Baghdad bureau chief for the Daily Telegraph and an embedded journalist during the invasion, gives a comprehensive account of the political and military manoeuvres of the disastrous British interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Written by a leading specialist who has had many meetings with President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, this lucid and timely book will help you to comprehend the country's bitter civil war and the tragedy of the siege of Aleppo. Tracing events from Assad's accession in 2000, when he was hailed as a reformer, to his violent reaction to the Arab Spring of 2011, it analyses the failure of his leadership and the forces that turned a liberal into a tyrant.

This comprehensive survey of sects in the Arab world argues that conflict among Muslims arises from the struggle between religious authorities (imams) and political leaders (emirs). It examines a wide range of groups, including Sunnis, Shias, Alawis, Druze and Yazidis, to explore the contradictions between modern state structures and the Islamic community, or 'umma'. In demonstrating how religious concepts can take on nationalistic meanings, this classic study remains as relevant today as when it was first published in 1990.

In 2012 the security journalist Glenn Greenwald received an email from Edward Snowden, a contractor for the National Security Agency. At a clandestine meeting in Hong Kong Snowden handed over flash drives detailing the scale of illegal spying by the USA and Britain. This bestselling book gives the inside story of what followed: the fear of discovery and arrest, Snowden's flight to Russia, and the attempts to cover up this massive abuse of power.

After the Cold War ended, the world heaved a sigh of relief that nuclear catastrophe had been avoided. This book from the bestselling author of Fast Food Nation will dispel any such complacency. Drawing on newly declassified archives and paced like a thriller, it catalogues a series of accidents and near misses, celebrates the heroic efforts of scientists, military planners and ordinary servicemen and women to avert disaster - and warns that our nuclear arsenals are by no means safe today.

Western commentators usually attribute the turmoil in the Middle East to interference by global powers such as Britain, France, Russia and the USA. This provocative study aims to overturn that view, arguing that it is the culmination of long-existing trends in the region, from the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire to the rise of Isil, and that only when Middle Eastern people take responsibility for their actions, and the West drops its condescending approach, can the region look forward to a real Arab Spring.

Israel's victory in the Six-Day War of 1967 gave the young nation new confidence, but not all of its consequences were beneficial. In the final volume of his acclaimed trilogy charting Israel's history, Leslie Stein provides a vivid account of the country's economic, social and political development over the past four decades, its military engagements, its relations with the Palestinians, the settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, and the varying fortunes of migrants from Russia and Ethiopia.

In 2003, for the first time since the Second World War, the UK invaded a sovereign state: Iraq. In 2016 Sir John Chilcot delivered his long-awaited report on the war; its 2.6 million words fill twelve volumes. This accessible edition of the executive summary allows the reader to make up their own mind about the crucial questions. Did Saddam have chemical weapons? Were they a threat? Was the war legal? And was the planning adequate?

The overthrow of Qaddafi in 2011 appeared to signal a new dawn for Libya, but the country's future now seems uncertain once again. This comprehensive study navigates Libya's long history of occupation and despotic rule, from the ancient Greeks, through the Ottoman Empire to Mussolini. It provides an in-depth account of Qaddafi's regime, the Lockerbie bombing and the Arab Spring, and assesses the prospects for democracy in this troubled land.

Fidel Castro (1926-2016) was a towering figure, the leader of Cuba's revolution and one of the world's last Communist strongmen, although his fiercely defended privacy meant that biographers could barely scratch the surface of his reign. Here Juan Sanchez, once his bodyguard but later persecuted by the regime, shares his intimate knowledge of this 'man of the people' who amassed vast personal wealth, partly through government-sanctioned drug-running, and enjoyed a lavish lifestyle including a luxury yacht and secret island marina.

Described by The New York Times as 'painstakingly researched and elegantly written', this history draws on newly declassified documents and access to senior officials from both countries to trace the development of the cold war between Iran and the USA, from the hostage crisis of 1979-1981 to Iran's nuclear programme. Crist reveals how the conflict has frustrated five American presidents, divided administrations and frequently brought the two nations to the brink of open warfare. Felt-tip mark on lower trimmed edge. 

A photographic investigative account of the massacre in 1999 of the inhabitants of the small village of Luska near the Kosovan city of Pec by Serbian security and paramilitary forces, and of the world of ethnic cleansing. 10 inches x 9 inches b&w throughout

This volume presents recent historical research into aspects of the complex relationship between the sciences and National Socialism, in many cases reaching back to the earlier years of the 20th century. Beginning with the editor's introductory essay and a study of Humboldt's concept of the university, the essays deal with disciplines including geography, eugenics, biochemistry and aeronautics; technologies such as bio-technology and area planning; and the careers of individual scientists.

Books 3 and 4 (The Certainties of Place and A Thicker Cut), here bound in a single volume, continue Kynaston's extraordinarily evocative narrative, from an ailing King George VI opening the Festival of Britain and the Conservative victory that made Churchill once more Prime Minister, to the Suez crisis, Soviet action in Hungary and bus fares raised in Lowestoft to offset petrol rises. Slightly off-mint.

This thought-provoking study tracks the Rev Ian Paisley's progress from maverick fringe to political centre stage - a career that raises uncomfortable questions about mixing religion and politics.

This expose by two intrepid Russian journalists reveals how the KGB's successor, the FSB, consolidated its hold on Russian society while the West's attention was turned elsewhere after 9/11.